It keeps getting better
NEW YORK President Barack Obama's candid thoughts about Kanye West are provoking a debate over standards of journalism in the Twitter age - and it gets better.
ABC News says it was wrong for its employees to tweet that Obama had called West a "jackass" for the rapper's treatment of country singer Taylor Swift. The network said some of its employees had overheard a conversation between the president and CNBC's John Harwood and didn't realize it was considered off the record.
Obama was asked whether he was annoyed by Moran's Twittering that the President had referred to Kanye West as a "jackass".
"I thought that was really inappropriate," Obama says. "What are you Twittering after I asked you not to? ... I was just voicing my opinion about Kanye, an opinion shared by most Americans. Why did Terry (Moran) have to leak it like an incontinent grandma?"
A questioner chimes in, "Why would he do it?"
"He's a fuck-knob," Obama replies, which is met with laughter from several people.
The president seems to quickly realize he may have gone too far, and jovially appeals to those assembled that the remark be kept private. "Come on guys," he says. "Cut the president some slack. I've got a lot of other stuff on my plate."
Chris Wallace, a former White House correspondent, logged on to Twitter and typed: "Pres. Obama just called Terry Moran a 'fuck-knob' for relaying that the President had called Kanye West a 'jackass'. Now THAT'S presidential."
When Fox News authorities found out about it, Wallace was given a raise and partial ownership of News Corp.