Conservatives were quick to label the White House’s push for equal pay for women a “backfire” on Tuesday.
At Monday’s press briefing, White House press secretary Jay Carney defended the Obama administration’s own gender pay gap. Then after Tuesday’s press briefing, which followed a day of Democrats touting the Paycheck Fairness Act as well as executive actions geared toward federal contractors who are women, White House director of communications Jennifer Palmieri observed on Twitter that just one correspondent from the seven front-row news organizations present was a woman (that’s the Associated Press’s Julie Pace, by the way).
Love all these guys, but note that 6 of 7 news orgs in front row sent men to ask @pressec abt the problem of gender pay inequity.
— Jennifer Palmieri (@JPalm44) April 8, 2014
Ed Henry, Fox News’ White House correspondent, sent a snarky reply noting that White House press secretary Jay Carney took questions about the equal pay efforts even though he’s a man. Other responses echoed Henry’s line of thinking, with conservative pundit Michelle Malkin labeling Palmieri’s tweet a “gender card backfire.”
WH sent man to podium right? RT @JPalm44 Love these guys, but 6 of 7 news orgs in front row sent men to ask @pressec abt gender pay inequity
— Ed Henry (@edhenryTV) April 8, 2014
.@JPalm44 Do you believe men have the inability to report fairly on the issue because of their gender? Is that what you’re insisting here?
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) April 8, 2014
White House gender card backfire of the day. Love the responses==> https://t.co/BcJxD5KAJz
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) April 8, 2014
Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), also fired off a bunch of tweets Tuesday that criticized the White House’s approach to the gender wage gap.
The White House today: Nuance for me, but not for thee.
— Brendan Buck (@BrendanBuck) April 8, 2014
Here’s the politifact noting the president’s use of the 77-cents statistic is “mostly false” http://t.co/F9AGprR9ub
— Brendan Buck (@BrendanBuck) April 8, 2014
We would be having a much more constructive dialogue if the White House would stop over-reaching with its stats.
— Brendan Buck (@BrendanBuck) April 8, 2014
