Let’s go through the timeline on this, just so we have a solid understanding of how easily the State Department issues false statements to cover for its leadership and happily allows the smearing of others who report the truth, even on something as seemingly trivial and easily defused as the report that Sec. of State John Kerry was on his yacht Wednesday as Egypt’s revolution unfolded.
Wednesday, one of a pair of CBS producers caught sight of Kerry on his yacht, the Isabel, in Nantucket and the other, Mosheh Oinounou, reported it on his Twitter account:
A @CBSThisMorning producer just spotted Secretary of State Kerry on yacht in the Nantucket Boat Basin. No response when she shouted "Morsi"
— Mosheh Oinounou (@Mosheh) July 3, 2013
Secretary Kerry was aboard his yacht, the "Isabel" this afternoon pic.twitter.com/R6v1UDFNGu
— Mosheh Oinounou (@Mosheh) July 3, 2013
The second of those two tweets went understandably viral, at which point, the State Department could have issued a statement saying, “The Secretary of State is in Nantucket but is actively engaged in diplomatic blah, blah, blah.” But that’s not what they did. Instead, they unequivocally denied the report:
But the State Department said Kerry was not aboard a boat on Wednesday and has spent the day working the phones on Egypt. “Since his plane touched down in Washington at 4 a.m., Secretary Kerry was working all day and on the phone dealing with the crisis in Egypt,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “He participated in the White House meeting with the president by secure phone and was and is in non-stop contact with foreign leaders, and his senior team in Washington and Cairo. Any report or tweet that he was on a boat is completely inaccurate.”
That’s Jen Psaki, formerly of the Obama campaign, if the elegant ease of her B.S. syntax rings a bell for you. In the face of conflicting reports and photographic evidence from other Nantucket denizens that Kerry was indeed in Nantucket and his boat was on the water, State finally admitted to CBS that Kerry was “briefly” on his boat Wednesday.
As regime change was unfolding in Egypt, Secretary of State John Kerry spent time on his boat Wednesday afternoon in Nantucket Sound, the State Department acknowledged to CBS News on Friday, after repeatedly denying that Kerry was aboard any boat.
“While he was briefly on his boat on Wednesday, Secretary Kerry worked around the clock all day including participating in the President’s meeting with his national security council,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, naming a series of Egyptian and international officials Kerry had spoken with on Wednesday.
Psaki’s acknowledgment marked a stark reversal from previous denials that Kerry was on any boat whatsoever.
A “CBS This Morning” producer spotted Kerry on his boat Wednesday afternoon on Nantucket, where Kerry has a vacation home. When “CBS This Morning” senior producer Mosheh Oinounou tweeted about the sighting, Psaki issued a denial, calling the tweet “completely inaccurate” and said Kerry has been “working all day and on the phone dealing with the crisis in Egypt.”
Hey, our bad for calling you a liar in public, Mr. Oinounou, but we’re just gonna ignore that we did that. There’s a picture at the link, for good measure, and Oinounou tweeted one, too.
But no worries, ABC’s got Kerry’s back. And, Kerry’s back on the boat today.
And, now for some fun with someone who doesn’t need to be putting out fires in Egypt, and is free to grill it up over July 4th.
Remy’s always worth watching, and especially on a holiday weekend. Today, we continue to celebrate the signing of the document that established ours as a country in which the government can’t be all up in your grill. Except, you know, when it comes to the size of our sodas, the emissions of our gas grills, the temperature of our burgers, and the moldiness of our cheese. Overzealous food regulation, as you may have noticed, is a hot button for me. Here, Remy offers me a delightful outlet for my anger at the nanny state. Burgers for everyone, and make ’em rare! Bonus points for the Ted Kennedy reference:
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