Marie Harf gets in public Facebook fight with family friend

It’s been another tough week for State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.

Two days after she was ridiculed for criticizing the “big words” used in an editorial co-authored by former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Schultz, the Obama administration staffer engaged in a long, drawn-out Facebook battle with a family friend who posted an article critical of the incident, according to The Daily Caller.

marie-Harf

The skirmish came at an inopportune time for Harf: on a Friday afternoon, in the middle of the workday.

Harf’s Facebook friend, William M. Todd, posted a Daily Caller article that quoted New York Times columnist David Brooks mocking Harf’s “big words” criticism, adding a comment: “Team Obama bans polysyllabic words!!”

In a radio interview later that day with conservative author and lawyer Hugh Hewitt, Brooks called Harf’s response “the lamest rebuttal” possible.

“Are we in nursery school?” the columnist said. “No polysyllabic words?”

Come again? You won’t believe why State Dept.
spox doesn’t like Kissinger-Schultz column

Taxpayers may expect federal employees to have better things to do than spend their day arguing on social media, but Harf’s calendar was apparently clear that day, because she responded twice to assail Todd for posting “a hurtful comment and a mean-spirited story.”

“Bill – I’m not sure how you could think this article accurately portrays me or how I view complicated foreign policy issues, given how long you’ve personally known me and my family,” Harf wrote in her first response on Facebook. “Does your hatred of this administration matter so much to you that it justifies posting a hurtful comment and a mean-spirited story about the daughter of someone you’ve known for years and used to call a friend? There’s a way to disagree with our policies without making it personal. Growing up in Ohio, that’s how I was taught to disagree with people. I hope your behavior isn’t an indication that’s changed.”

Others jumped in to defend Todd.

“Marie, your job performance has been highlighted by quite a few PR slips,” one friend wrote. “As an Ohioan, you should know that we don’t give someone a pass simply for being a Buckeye.”

A short time later, Todd referred in another comment to Harf’s “condescending and, almost childish criticism” of the Kissinger/Schultz editorial.

“Despite our disagreements over the policies of this Administration, I have tried to avoid even discussing your role in communicating those mistaken ideas,” he wrote, adding that he was compelled to respond because he admired Kissinger.

Harf wasn’t content to let Todd have the last word, furthering the debate by posting the full transcript of her remarks about Kissinger and Schultz.

Your tax dollars hard at work.

 

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.
Tom Tillison

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

PLEASE JOIN OUR NEW COMMENT SYSTEM! We love hearing from our readers and invite you to join us for feedback and great conversation. If you've commented with us before, we'll need you to re-input your email address for this. The public will not see it and we do not share it.

Latest Articles