Gibbs Defends Himself to Left Base...Again

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs found himself again having to clarify and backtrack comments he made about his own party after bashing the left in an interview.

This is the second time this summer he's had to explain statements he made and avoid furthering alienating his political base after first predicting last month that Democrats could lose the House in the mid-term elections.

In an interview published in "The Hill" newspaper Tuesday, he unleashed on the left, saying they would never be happy with what the president has done.

He called them the "professional left" saying, "They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we've eliminated the Pentagon. That's not reality."

Gibbs has now called the statements "inartful" and called for greater unity within the party.

To underscore how his comments created party in-fighting again, some Democratic lawmakers responded negatively to Gibbs' charges.Rep. Ellison, D-Minn. even initially indicated to the liberal website the HuffingtonPost that that he felt Gibbs should be out of his job.

He later clarified to Fox News, "If you read the body of the story you will see exactly what I said. The quotes that are in there are accurate the headline is dramatically inaccurate. So that's all I have to say about it."

The headline for the story was, "Rep. Ellison Demands That Gibbs Resign In Wake Of 'Professional Left' Comment".

However, his quote in the article appears to still point that he supported a resignation, "That'd be fair, because this isn't the first time. And, again, people of all political shades worked very hard to help the president become the president."

In "The Hill" interview, Gibbs was referring to criticism from those within his own party that President Obama had compromised his values on issues like health care and downsizing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. "They wouldn't be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president," Gibbs said, referring to the very liberal representative from Ohio.

"I hear these people saying he's like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested," Gibbs said. "I mean, it's crazy."

Gibbs went on to say there are plenty of things this administration has accomplished, "There's 101 things we've done," and included Iraq and health care as two of them.

The press secretary also added that "progressives" in America and outside of the Beltway bubble are not part of this "professional left" and is not representative of those who got Obama in office.

Gibbs then clarified his statements, telling the HuffingtonPost that he was "inartful" and he wanted to renew unity among his party.

He told the website that Democrats, "me included," need to "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."

At Tuesday's White House briefing, fill-in briefer Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton was asked about "The Hill" interview. Burton said Gibbs was "having one conversation with one reporter" about "frustrations" and "answered honestly. Shouldn't be read more than that."

Burton then listed items he says the president accomplished, "Our focus isn't on one article in a Hill publication."

The deputy press secretary also responded at the briefing to Ellison's reported charge, "I don't think there's any danger of that happening, next question?"

This comes on the heels of a statement he made on NBC's Meet the Press in July where Gibbs said Democrats had a good chance of losing in the House in the November elections. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was furious behind-the-scenes, although later publically said there was no tension between Capitol Hill Democrats and the White House. Gibbs later walked back his prediction and said he thought Democrats would "do very well" in the mid-term elections.

Fox News' John Brandt contributed to this report.