ABC News Professional Journalist Jim Avila had some very serious questions for White House Press Secretary Jay Carney today about Barack Obama's brief interview with comedy human Zach Galifianakis. Avila seemed really worried about it, if none too lucid:
"How much discussion was there in the White House about the dignity of the office and whether or not, in order to reach these people who don't watch us at 6: 30, or who don't watch this briefing ... how much the dignity of the office might be lost? This is an interview like no other probably ever done by a president."
Good question! After all, the website is called "Funny or Die," and if people didn't laugh, might not Obama die? But Carney simply noted that the webcast appearance was a chance to "reach Americans who don't necessarily get information about HealthCare.gov from evening news broadcasts or from the newspapers."
Still, Avila was not reassured, and asked again, "I understand the purpose, but was the presidency in any way damaged?"
This is a serious question from a serious journalist, and deserves a completely serious answer.

[ TPM ]
Follow Doktor Zoom on Twitter. Yes, he knows it was Seth Rogen.
Sock it to me!
Tl:dr Avila: "Hey! Look at me! Me! I'm a goddamn Serious Journalist over here! Doing goddamn Serious Journamalism! Hey! Over here! Goddamnit!" (Drops mic, hiccups, stumbles over corpse of Helen Thomas, leaves.)