WATCH: White House press secretary shoots down 'ridiculous' high school intern
The Daily Caller sends a 16-year-old to ask why Obama isn't protecting George Zimmerman. Jay Carney is not amused.
![Jay Carney](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/bN8WDoyRVp7UTwRYpi9TXY-415-80.jpg)
The Daily Caller, a conservative news and opinion website, has a history of angering the White House. Usually, however, it's not done by a 16-year-old high school intern.
But this week, Gabe Finger, a junior at the Potomac School in Virginia, asked White House Press Secretary Jay Carney whether the Obama administration would "take any action" for the security of George Zimmerman and his family.
Carney responded that President Obama had called for calm in the wake of the Zimmerman verdict, to which Finger replied, "So they're on their own?"
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"You can editorialize all you want, and I'm sure that you will, but that is a ridiculous statement," said Carney.
Later, Finger tweeted about the experience:
So why did The Daily Caller send a teenager to the White House? Apparently he was filling in for Neil Munro, who is famous for interrupting a speech by President Obama on immigration, a move that was condemned even by conservatives like Tony Fratto, former deputy press secretary to George W. Bush.
The Daily Caller defended Munro then and is defending Finger now:
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Some reporters in Washington are asking why The Daily Caller sent our intern Gabe Finger to the White House press briefing this afternoon. Talk about missing the point. The real question is, why did it take a 16-year-old intern to raise an obvious and important question that the White House press corps should have asked days ago? [The Daily Caller]
The Daily Caller'sTucker Carlson and Neil Patel ended their defense of Finger by quoting lines from Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of All." Really.
[We] believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be
-Whitney Houston
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Keith Wagstaff is a staff writer at TheWeek.com covering politics and current events. He has previously written for such publications as TIME, Details, VICE, and the Village Voice.
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