Facts Are Better Than Dreams
The feud over what happened to the Winston Churchill bust in the Oval Office ended today with White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer apologizing to Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer.
The controversy flared last week when Krauthammer wrote a column mentioning how President Obama returned the bust to the British embassy in 2009. Calling the story "patently false," Pfeiffer issued a "fact check" claiming that the bust, which Tony Blair had originally given to George W. Bush, had simply been moved to a different wing of the White House, so Obama could make space for a bust of Abraham Lincoln in the Oval Office. As I pointed out here Friday, that explanation made no sense because Obama's predecessor already had a bust of Lincoln in the Oval Office along with the bust of Churchill. Why take out one bust out to make room for another one already there?
As it turned out, that wasn't the only problem with the White House's "fact check." Within hour of challenging Krauthammer, Pfeiffer was forced to admit that, in fact, Obama had returned the bust of Churchill to the British embassy. To his credit, Pfieffer publicly apologized today in a letter to Krauthammer.
Pfeiffer still claims that Obama returned the bust to the embassy "as a matter of course," even though a spokesperson for the British embassy said at the time that the loan could be extended. Nevertheless, it is a resolution worthy of the man whose bust was at issue. He once wrote, "Facts are better than dreams."
- Comment (8)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
Comments:
Aug '10
Re: Facts Are Better Than Dreams
Pfeiffer changed the essential point of his objection with a flick of the rhetorical wrist:
--------------------
"...a rumor that’s so patently false ... this ridiculous claim [that Obama] “started his Presidency by returning to the British Embassy the bust of Winston Churchill that had graced the Oval Office.”"
and in the update:
"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. " (my emphasis, though I think a similar point was made by someone else here or at NRO)
--------------------
Relativists seem to be terribly satisfied with themselves when they switch a premise, change to a definition further down in the dictionary, sneak in a false premise, etc. Decent folk try to avoid logical fallacies, but these guys seem to relish getting away with them.
Mar '11
Re: Facts Are Better Than Dreams
Call that weasel-speak an apology? Where does "Having said all that, barring a miracle comeback from the Phillies I would like to see the Nats win a world series even if it comes after my apology" belong in an apology?
The purpose was to make Krauthammer look petty and the whole business about the Churchill bust look silly. Being a liberal means never having to say sorry.
Oct '10
Re: Facts Are Better Than Dreams
Good grief, what a useless Lib (but I repeat myself). He doesn't even know that World Series is capitalized. Is he even an American?
May '10
Re: Facts Are Better Than Dreams
Weasel is right! Look at all the passive phrasing: "you are owed an apology", "there was clearly an internal confusion", "there was no intention to deceive". He never actually admits fault nor apologizes.
Aug '10
Re: Facts Are Better Than Dreams
Mark Wilson
Weasel is right! Look at all the passive phrasing: "you are owed an apology", "there was clearly an internal confusion", "there was no intention to deceive". He never actually admits fault nor apologizes. · 4 minutes ago
Wow. Great catch Mark. The little eel had me fooled with that one. I have a lot of respect for Krauthammer's capacity for verbal dissections, but I wonder if he saw that when he accepted the "apology." If he did, he may have been exercising magnanimity or he simply may have recognized that picking at the picayune would make him appear more petty than Pfeiffer.
May '10
Re: Facts Are Better Than Dreams
Clandesteyn
Wow. Great catch Mark. The little eel had me fooled with that one. I have a lot of respect for Krauthammer's capacity for verbal dissections, but I wonder if he saw that when he accepted the "apology." If he did, he may have been exercising magnanimity or he simply may have recognized that picking at the picayune would make him appear more petty than Pfeiffer. · 6 minutes ago
I suspect you're right. Krauthammer recognized that it was all he's gonna get, and to complain would only squander the high ground.
May '11
Re: Facts Are Better Than Dreams
That's an apology? Gimme a break.
This is an apology.
Dec '11
Re: Facts Are Better Than Dreams
For the record, the Churchill bust was replaced with one of Martin Luther King, Jr. That was a known fact in 2009 as was Obama's enormous grudge (shared by his father, as well) against England's colonial past.