The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for January, 2017

Yes, it's time to announce the second Ass Clown Award recipient for 2017. It was hard to make selections last year, largely as a result of the presidential election season, but I think it will be more difficult in 2017, largely as a result of the presidential election fallout. The available pool of potential dishonorees is, as the military might say, a target-rich environment.

And so Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, we announce

The Left-Cheek Ass Clown for January, 2017

And the award goes to

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer

Mr Spicer, as the White House's primary press spokesman, seems to spend more time yelling at the members of the media for doing their jobs than responding to their questions. At his first press briefing on Saturday, January 21st, Mr Spicer berated the press corps - without evidence - for deliberately understating the size of the crowd that attended the inauguration of President Trump, calling them "shameful and wrong." His attack ignored photographic evidence and official ridership statistics from the DC Metro system that showed that both Obama inaugurations, the previous George W. Bush inauguration, and the January 21st Women's March all significantly outdrew the Trump inauguration.

It should be noted that Mr Spicer is in the difficult position of being the spokesman for a president whose relationship with the truth is - to say the least - tenuous. Nevertheless, to push out bogus claims that are so easy to discredit does not serve the interests of the White House or the nation at large. Of course, those who have drunk the Kool Aid of belief in a "dishonest media" and believe everything Mr Trump and his spokesman say, no matter how foolish or easily disproven, will not be swayed. It should also be noted that Mr Spicer more-or-less backed away from some of his larger whoppers at his Monday press briefing.

One of my friends has coined a neologism* that I think will be able to get lots of use in the future: "seanspicer (noun): a really big, shameless whopper told in brazen disregard for the fact that everyone in the room, including the speaker, knows it's a lie." It's a shame that we need such a word, but I think it deserves the widest possible use.

For his blatant disregard for the truth, and his shameless abuse of a position that provides a vital service to the media and the American people, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is named our Left-Cheek Ass Clown for January, 2017.

Have a good day, and come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday ... at least there, the laughs are intentional. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* Neologism (n): a new word, usage, or expression.