<<<<< This particular bust was packed up and sent back to England before the Obama's moved into the White House.
We have the Obama “apology” but first, a little historical reminder. Charles Krouthammer did not start this fight, Mitt Romney did with a statement regarding him looking forward to returning the Churchill Bust back to Washington, as he began his trip overseas. Krouthammer was merely defending that statement and the implicit fact that the bust had been returned by Obama.
In response to Krouthammer, Pfeiffer was instructed to write this retourt:
From the "White House Blog,"
Lately, there’s been a rumor swirling around about the current location of the bust of Winston Churchill. Some have claimed that President Obama removed the bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office and sent it back to the British Embassy.
[Midknight Review was one of the first blogs on Net to make mention of this circumstance, ask the question “why,” and persistently pursue this story. My sources for this story were the British media. Dan Pfeiffer, who wrote this story at the bequest of Barry Obama, obviously, never explains why the bust was removed and sent back – blog editor]
Now, 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. He said President Obama “started his Presidency by returning to the British Embassy the bust of Winston Churchill that had graced the Oval Office.”
[In fact, this was one of the first presidential decisions Obama made. It was duly unreported by his Compliant Media; the Brits sent Obama notice that they welcomed his keeping the bust in Washington; the British media wrote dozens of articles/editorials bashing Obama for his unexplained decision, and a bit of history was written in stone much to the eventual chagrin of Obama and his minion, Mr. Pfeiffer – blog editor].
This is 100% false. The bust still in the White House. In the Residence. Outside the Treaty Room.
[Why Obama thought he could get away with this particular lie is beyond me . . . . .and he didn’t. Why he took more than a week to ‘apologize’ is a tribute to his thinned skin arrogance – blog editor].
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After dozens of blogs (mine included) and mainstream news media began turning on Obama’s denial, after a week of allowing this story to fester into a noteworthy lie, Pfeiffer came out with this statement, also found at the White House blog - hardly an apology – addressed to Charles Krouthammer:
Charles,
I take your criticism seriously and you are correct that you are owed an apology. There was clearly an internal confusion about the two busts and there was no intention to deceive. I clearly overshot the runway in my post. The point I was trying to make – under the belief that the Bust in the residence was the one previously in the Oval Office– was that this oft repeated talking point about the bust being a symbol of President Obama’s failure to appreciate the special relationship is false. The bust that was returned was returned as a matter of course with all the other artwork that had been loaned to President Bush for display in his Oval Office and not something that President Obama or his Administration chose to do. I still think this is an important point and one I wish I had communicated better.
A better understanding of the facts on my part and a couple of deep breaths at the outset would have prevented this situation. 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
Thanks,
Dan Pfeiffer
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The problem with this explanation is the fact that it continues, yet, another blatant lie. The return of the bust was not “a matter of course” nor was it a decision in which Obama did not “chose to do.” It was a decision made by our first anti-colonial president, a man who came to Washington with absolutely no experience of any kind qualifying for being president, a man who had pre-determined to change America by first restructuring its foreign alliances. England, France, Israel and the Muslim world were at the top of his list. His snub of England in returning the bust without explanation, his public statements as to France being our greatest ally, his disgraceful treatment of Netanyahu in ’09 and ’10 (walking out of meetings, refusing photo-ops) and his first post-inaugural news interview, with the Muslim media before conferring with our own media are glaring examples of this man’s initial strategies.
Why the man continues to believe that he can actually say anything that comes to mind, and the American voter will not search out the truth of his statement(s) is laughable. All we can hope for is that he will continue his rhetorical idiocy right up to the day of the election.
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End notes:
(Feb 14, 2009) Barack Obama has sent Sir Winston Churchill packing and pulse rates soaring among anxious British diplomats. . . .
Churchill bust debacle: ‘amateurish’ Obama White Houseremains firmly in denial over snub to Britain [