Gibbs: Comments about left were inartful

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs stood by his comments to The Hill about the “professional left,” but did say they were “inartfully” put.

{mosads}Gibbs became the target of liberal blogs Tuesday after The Hill published an interview with the White House press secretary, where he blasted the left.

“I hear these people saying [President Obama’s] like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said in the interview. “I mean, it’s crazy.” He also said they would only be satisfied “if [Democratic Ohio Rep.] Dennis Kucinich was president.”

In a statement to the Huffington Post and a few other outlets, Gibbs said he’s guilty of watching “too much cable.”

Gibbs was scheduled to hold the Tuesday press briefing, according to the schedule the White House released Monday, but the administration announced early Tuesday afternoon that deputy press secretary Bill Burton would handle it.

Burton told The Hill the decision for him to take over the briefing was not a result of Gibbs’s original comments.

In his statement on his interview with The Hill, Gibbs said Democrats “should all, me included, stop fighting each other and arguing about our differences on certain policies, and instead work together to make sure everyone knows what is at stake because we’ve come too far to turn back now.”