Almost all political junkies have known since 2009 that Barack Obama returned the Churchill Bust to Britain....well, all but Obama spokesperson Dan Pfeiffer that is.
From 2009:
A bust of the former prime minister once voted the greatest Briton in history, which was loaned to George W Bush from the Government's art collection after the September 11 attacks, has now been formally handed back.
The bronze by Sir Jacob Epstein, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds if it were ever sold on the open market, enjoyed pride of place in the Oval Office during President Bush's tenure.
But when British officials offered to let Mr Obama to hang onto the bust for a further four years, the White House said: "Thanks, but no thanks."
Diplomats were at first reluctant to discuss the whereabouts of the Churchill bronze, after its ejection from the seat of American power. But the British Embassy in Washington has now confirmed that it sits in the palatial residence of ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald, just down the road from Vice President Joe Biden's official residence. It is not clear whether the ambassador plans to keep it in Washington or send it back to London.
This was confirmed at the time by every major news outlet.
Jump forward to the unenforced bruhaha created by Pfeiffer when he decided to publicly challenge Charles Krauthammer after Krauthammer wrote "Obama started his presidency by returning to the British Embassy the bust of Winston Churchill that had graced the Oval Office," in a column last week.
Krauthammer's original column came after Mitt Romney told supporters at an event in London " I’m looking forward to the bust of Winston Churchill being in the Oval Office again."
Pfeiffer wrote on 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.
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.”
This is 100% false. The bust still in the White House. In the Residence. Outside the Treaty Room.
A little fact checking on Pfeiffer's fact checking was done and lo and behold, Charles Krauthammer was right and Dan Pfeiffer was wrong, spectacularly and very publicly, wrong.
Dan Pfeiffer was forced to offer a very public apology to Krauthammer:
Yesterday following his column, I sent the following email to Charles Krauthammer. Charles asked that I make the email public and I have agreed.
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
This brings up two points.
First point, in the apology shown above was yet another direct lie:
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.....
Back to the 2009 piece:
But when British officials offered to let Mr Obama to hang onto the bust for a further four years, the White House said: "Thanks, but no thanks."...
The second point is more of a question.
Now that Pfeiffer has admitted that Krauthammer and Mitt Romney were both correct, will progressive liberal puppets and liberal media now apologize for their attacks on Romney accusing him of lying about the Churchill Bust in his comments from London?
Okay, yes, that was rhetorical because a whole day has gone by and yet birds are chirping on the left since the White House blog posted the public apology to Krauthammer.
In the long run this Churchill Bust kerfluffle won't amount to a hill of beans in influencing how voters will vote in the November 2012 presidential election but it is noteworthy in showing how the White House will directly lie, mislead and misinform, waiting almost a week to set the record straight or apologize, and then only when it has been proven without a doubt that they were lying to begin with.
