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White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs plunges into the icy depths -- well, into a dunk tank anyway. President Obama held a luau last night for members of congress and Gibbs was one of the warm-up acts allowing himself to get dunked for the enjoyment of others.

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Robert Gibbs gets dunked by reporters (does not drown)

By Jimmy Orr | 06.26.09

Who wouldn’t want to dunk Robert Gibbs?

Reporters had their shot last night at putting President Obama’s press secretary underwater. No, this wasn’t some weird Keith Olbermann/Sean Hannity waterboarding challenge or anything like that. It was Gibbs volunteering to sit in a dunk tank on the South Lawn at the White House during an Hawaiian luau.

Come to think of it, this sounds pretty weird. Actually it was harmless fun. President Obama held a luau for members of congress last night and Gibbs was one of the warm up acts.

It was just like a carnival. You know, you get three softballs to hit a target. If you hit it, you win. But unlike a carnival there were no velvet Elvis paintings to win and everyone had teeth.

Regardless, four reporters took Gibbs up on the invitation and two of them were successful. The Associated Press’ Mike Fuller went one for three putting Gibbs in the tank on his final throw. “Bam. Success. Down goes Gibbs,” Fuller said.

How about longtime CBS correspondent Bill Plante? Only needed one shot to put Gibbs underwater. Perhaps he was still smarting over Gibbs attempt to confiscate his cell phone last month.

Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet gave it a shot too, but was unable to connect. In her always entertaining blog, Sweet wrote, “I tried next, not having used my southpaw overhand pitch for years. I threw hard. I came close on my first two tries. I think some folks were surprised that I had a pitching arm. I always wanted to throw like the boys.”

Fox News reporter Mike Emanuel pitched about as well as John Smoltz did last night missing the target every time he tried.

“We need to get one of these for the briefing room,” Gibbs said.

Who wouldn’t agree with that?

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Just in case the dunk tank is moved to the briefing room, we’ll let you know via Twitter. So follow us!

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Comments

1. ROZ | 06.26.09

Its a Pleasure to see President Obama and His Administration act as normal
Human Beings, not the stuffed shirts of the Bush/Cheney Administration!
Robert Gibbs should get an award, for being the good sport, and his Patience
with some of the reporters that he has to deal with during his briefings every
day.

2. blackorwhite | 06.27.09

Obama has better things to do. He has done his share in his thoughts. Gibbs is the his spokesman and that is his job -is to speak for our President. What more do you want from the President?. see tears? see blood? what?

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