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One must have an incredible imagination to describe the WH press office as a former site of "honesty and integrity," or a fmr State Dept spokesperson as the person to do so… @davidaxelrod/1333204619426664450Permalink On twitter.com
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The White House and State Department podium is a hub for generating official denials of "secret" policies, those the US government designates are not to be revealed to the American public. Lying is part of the job description.Permalink On twitter.com
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Psaki (@jrpsaki) in 2015: "as a matter of longstanding policy, the United States does not support political transitions by non-consitutional means." Objectively false. But also the kind of routine lie required from "the podium."Permalink On twitter.com
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Robert Gibbs: “When I went through the process of becoming press secretary [in the Obama WH], one of the first things they told me was, ‘You’re not even to acknowledge the drone program. You’re not even to discuss that it exists' …”Permalink On twitter.com
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"… Here's what's inherently crazy about that proposition: You're being asked a question based on reporting of a program that exists. So you're the official government spokesperson acting as if the entire program -- pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."Permalink On twitter.com
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"Inherently crazy" because the spokesperson, the journalists, the militants being bombed, and the countries helping run the program all know it's real. Only in the US press is the "secret" treated like a secret.Permalink On twitter.com
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In another through-the-looking-glass moment, here's @jrpsaki lying about the US interfering with Bolivian President Evo Morales' airplane b/c they thought @Snowden was on it.On twitter.com
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Morales, UNASUR, the US allies who diverted Morales out of their airspace, and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen all admitted the US did it. Psaki denied it. Only Americans are meant to be fooled.Permalink On twitter.com
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"The podium" routinely denies policies everyone in the room knows exists, pretends the US has always been a force for good, and creates webs of verbiage to separate Americans from direct knowledge of their own government's policies. woborders.blog/2013/07/28/state-secrecy/Permalink On twitter.com
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This brand of state secrets is not about protecting complex operations or securing the lives of operatives. It's about keeping the public out of decisionmaking. It's about reducing accountability. It's about subverting democracy.Permalink On twitter.com
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I suspect, by the way, that Jen Psaki is both smart and talented. So were the people who lied to the America public about the Vietnam War, keeping their personal reservations to themselves while their day job was deepening it.Permalink On twitter.com
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This is why the same disastrous failures of decisionmaking characterize the Afghanistan papers as the Pentagon Papers. washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/documents-database/Permalink On twitter.com
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Both times buttressed by a complex of lying that allowed decisionmakers to mislead themselves along with the American public. washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/Permalink On twitter.com