'Democracy Dies in Darkness:' WaPo reports on Jen Psaki saying, 'Sometimes the best things happen in the dark'

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The Washington Post appeared to backtrack on its famous slogan, "Democracy Dies in Darkness," in a Monday report on the Biden administration.

Yasmeen Abutaleb and Tyler Pager reported on the background of what they called President Biden’s "hot streak" of legislative victories with bills such as the Inflation Reduction Act. One of the ways this was accomplished, they found, was for Biden "to reverse himself sharply and let senators negotiate among themselves, rather than playing a leading role himself."

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki told The Post this idea of keeping negotiations "in the dark" was a lesson learned by the administration.

"One of the lessons learned — a big lesson learned — was that letting the negotiations with senators dominate the public conversation was a mistake, because it made it so that disagreements about minutiae became what the public consumed instead of how pieces of legislation were going to impact people’s lives," Psaki said. "Sometimes the best things happen in the dark, away from the public."

A general view of the exterior of The Washington Post company headquarters in Washington, D.C., March 30, 2012. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo)

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This appeared to contradict the Washington Post’s assertion that "Democracy Dies in Darkness," the slogan that appears on every page of its online publication.

Breitbart White House correspondent Charlie Spiering pointed out the quote and tweeted, "Actually, democracy thrives in darkness says Jen Psaki."

The report also included a quote from Biden himself where he agreed he should be less involved in public discussions involving the Senate.

"The public doesn’t want me to be the ‘President Senator.’ They want me to be the president, and let senators be senators," Biden said. "If I’ve made a mistake, I’m used to negotiating to get things done, and I’ve been in the past relatively successful at it in the United States Senate, even as vice president. But I think that the role of president is a different role."

The Washington Post quoted former White House press secretary Jen Psaki as saying, "Sometimes the best things happen in the dark, away from the public." (Twitter)

The slogan, "Democracy Dies in Darkness," was originally introduced on the Washington Post’s website on Feb. 22, 2017. The phrase was later added to print copies one week later.

Many critics accused the paper of introducing its first official slogan in more than 140 years of existence as a slight against then-President Donald Trump, who frequently criticized mainstream media. However, The Post has denied that.

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"The addition of the dramatic and alliterative phrase was generally misinterpreted as an indirect reply to President Trump’s phrasemaking about the news media (‘dishonest,’ ‘the enemy of the American people,’ etc.). But that’s not the case," Post media reporter Paul Farhi wrote at the time. 

He also insisted that the phrase came from owner Jeff Bezos during a forum the previous May before Trump’s election.

The entrance to The Washington Post corporate building in Washington, D.C. (Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images)

In 2021, the Washington Post published a piece from columnist Dana Milbank advising the press to be "partisans for democracy" and less caught in "mindless neutrality." He also claimed that Biden received more "unrelentingly negative" coverage from the media during his first 11 months in office than Trump did in his first 11 months.

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Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.