A Pointless, Sanctimonious White House Lie, Spread Via a Supposed "Fact Check"

Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer has the details.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

In my view, this whole affair was completely unnecessary. Pfeiffer devoted an entire post (with accompanying photography) on the White House Blog to a single sentence in a larger argument about foreign policy, and blew it up into an indignant defense of truth itself and a handy club with which to discredit the credibility of a persistent critic of his boss.

The indignant response was definitely unnecessary but de rigueur for this administration's communications people. The thin skin makes for some very unprofessional behavior.

[Tulpa the White]

I'm scratching my head trying to figure out any area where this administration/campaign is remotely competent.

If the media weren't in the tank for BO and the GOP weren't shoving statists down our throats, he would be at 25% now.

[invisible furry hand]

I misread the title as "spread via a supposed fat chick".

[DEG]

What's a little thing like the truth for "Great Men" and their hangers-on?

[Mike M.]

When they'll blatantly lie about something so small and silly, you know they'll lie about anything and everything.

[The Late P Brooks]

I hate Charles Krauthammer.

[Tulpa the White]

The comics with his Kids are funny though.

[R C Dean]

I dunno, P. He's a conventional wisdom kind of BosWash corridor thinker, but he has been a brutal and relentless critic of Obama, so he's got that going for him.

[Tulpa the White]

"I got some facts wrong, because I made the mistake of relying on a White House blog post by the communications director Dan Pfeiffer."

I'm sure Mr Rosenthal has learnt his lesson and will never accept the word of the administration as unvarnished truth again.

[Michael]

Is this an example of the left's "messaging problem" I keep hearing about? Maybe Pfeiffer should enlist Lakoff to work some of his rhetorical magic to get this matter straightened right out. I mean, what's the point in presenting "facts" when your "framing" chops are so damn impressive?

[Michael]

By the way, here's hoping this administration's brazen arrogance reaches critical mass come October. I can't imagine anyone but the most myopic partisans not being completely put off by this kind of shit.

[Anonymous Coward]

An apology would be nice, but given this White House's arm's-length relationship with truth ? and given Ryan Zimmerman's hot hitting ? I reckon the Nationals will win the World Series before I receive Pfeiffer's mea culpa.

Ouch!

[Boomer]

Pfeiffer's response to Krauthammer on the White House Blog:

Since my post on the fact that the bust of Winston Churchill has remained on display in the White House, despite assertions to the contrary, I have received a bunch of questions -- so let me provide some additional info. The White House has had a bust of Winston Churchill since the 1960's. At the start of the Bush administration Prime Minister Blair lent President Bush a bust that matched the one in the White House, which was being worked on at the time and was later returned to the residence. The version lent by Prime Minister Blair was displayed by President Bush until the end of his Presidency. On January 20, 2009 -- Inauguration Day -- all of the art lent specifically for President Bush's Oval Office was removed by the curator's office, as is common practice at the end of every presidency. The original Churchill bust remained on display in the residence. The idea put forward by Charles Krauthammer and others that President Obama returned the Churchill bust or refused to display the bust because of antipathy towards the British is completely false and an urban legend that continues to circulate to this day.

Oh...

[alex griggs]

It's like student government politics.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

"normally, we wouldn't address a rumor that's so patently false, but just this morning the Washington Post's Charles Krauthammer repeated this ridiculous claim in his column .?.?. This is 100% false. The bust [is] still in the White House. In the Residence. Outside the Treaty Room."

I love the HOW DARE YOU tone on this pile of horseshit.

[db]

It's nice they have something to point to that they can claim is untrue. It must be so hard listening to people talk about how many innocents Nobel Laureate Obama has killed since he took office and not be able to refute them.