White House Accidentally E-Mails Story On Iraqi PM Backing Obama Withdrawal Plan To Reporters

As Reuters reported earlier today, Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki has voiced his support for Obama's withdrawal plan. Needless to say, such support is not a PR victory for the Bush administration. And so it was no doubt embarrassing when, according to ABC's Jake Tapper, the White House sent the article--accidentally--to reporters:

The White House this afternoon accidentally sent to its extensive distribution list a Reuters story headlined "Iraqi PM backs Obama troop exit plan - magazine." [...}

The White House employee had intended to send the article to an internal distribution list, ABC News' Martha Raddatz reports, but hit the wrong button.

The misfire comes at an odd time for Bush foreign policy, at a time when Obama's campaign alleges the president is moving closer toward Obama's recommendations about international relations -- sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, discussing a "general time horizon" for U.S. troop withdrawal and launching talks with Iran.

Comments

[soot]

"General time horizon."

HAHA, OH WOW. I'm sorry, I still can't get over that. Haha.

"General time horizon." Oh man.

[Rotwang]

Wretched fool! A "timetable" and a "time horizon" are TWO SEPARATE AND DISTINCT THINGS. Seriously.

It's like the difference between "high" and "elevated," or "deck shoes" and "espadrilles." I'm talking categorical, orders-of-magnitude different.

But then, you probably don't know the difference between "sunset" and "sundown."

Did I yell "Wretched fool!" yet?

[mouselion]

Umm, sorta like the difference between Surge and Escalation?

You must look very nice in those espadrilles, don't ya'!

[johnqeniac]

huh, so he's the guy replacing Petraeus?

[Ishmael1]

Yeah. We had General Catastrophe first. He was replaced by General Calamity. Then we had General Confusion followed by General Incompetence. General Corruption replaced him only to be relieved by General Malaise. After General Time Horizon we can look forward to the final commander, Genenral Mistake.

[cameoz]

General Time Horizon. Is he a three star or four star general?

[fetchezlavache]

No, it's the Event Horizon, as the Bush administration gets sucked down a Black Hole.

[Rjmartinelli]

Well this is my personal favorite gaff of '08.

Can't have that information reaching the press, eh Mr. Bush? Makes the presumptive Presidential Nominee of the Democratic party look too good!

[kellygrrrl]

I can just hear Faux News calling the WH press secty's office
"Are you sure you want us to talk about this?"

[bosshogg]

faux news just going bury their heads in the sand...................

[nomobull]

with shame

[wanj]

LOL! So true!! The shocking part is foxnews.com actually has this story on it's front page.

[ChristianEcon.com]

They didn't bother to read it--it came from the WH so it goes up.

[dorkenergy]

It's not on the front page any more (9 pm EST). And the faux news search engine doesn't show it.

But one can still find their story via a Google news search (search for iraq spiegel). Google shows "MALIKI: I SUPPORT OBAMA’S WITHDRAWAL TIMETABLE" with a time tag of ca. 12 noon EST) with a pointer to http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/19/maliki-i-support-obamas-withdrawal-timetable.

Apparently someone at faux news hit "hide" instead of "delete".

[watcher269]

Incompetence on a Brave American Level. Thank you.

This is what America is about - and the TRUTH will come out sooner rather than later.

This person should get the Congressional Medal of Honor!

OOH-RAH

[JRandomPoster]

Look at what time horizon and time horizon mean, in terms of strategic planning, especially in the financial world:

A time horizon is a set length of time to evaluate or complete something. It has a set, finite amount of time associated with it. At the end of this time, the evaluation is made, or the project terminated.

A general time horizon, however, is slightly different. It may have a loose time value associated with it, but it is generally so far out that it is very vague, and the goals may change before then.

By calling it a general time horizon, shrub-co has spun things in a way that can let them take credit for O's approach and, and also, perhaps get a certain segment of the population to believe that they are worthy of just a bit more support. On the other hand, a "general time horizon" promises exactly nothing, unless one takes it as a declaration of intent of an open ended policy of more of the same.

[JRandomPoster]

So, anyway - I don't think that the WH has really changed it's views or intent. I figure that this is just one more ploy; keep the target moving forever - on the horizon.

[mouselion]

Just found this little gem. Our dear leader is on the ballot to be commemorated in SF:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25735046/

[MizLiz]

How apropos

[wanj]

Gotta love SanFran!!!

[macintoshsauce]

ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha There I am done.

[roshni]

Awesome, ROFLOL!

[eggman]

Most of the comments so far indicate a misunderstanding of what happened here: 1) The Iraqi PM publicly backed Obama's plans; 2) Reuters and presumably other wire services like AP, spread the news to media outlets and direct to "news feed" sources--at this point it is PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE; 3) A WH staff member, in a perfectly normal attempt to inform internal personnel, accidentally forwarded the ALREADY PUBLIC article to media sources who ALREADY KNEW ABOUT IT.

It's just a stupid mistake by some nobody.

[SnapShots]

Ha! I love it. I also love the way that Obama is stepping up, building a foreign policy platform, building relationships abroad and already, seemingly, directing U.S. foreign policy. He's putting Bush to shame already.

[Flagal]

You would think once the blunder was discovered the WH would have lied like usual and said they wanted the Nation to be up to date on news out of Arak. Instead they admit it was a mistake thereby saying they would not have released the info to the public.
The other disturbing thing is that if Mal-iki had agreed with Johnny M it would get non-stop coverage. Instead you have to search hard to find the news on MSM sites.

The fix is in folks.

[reshas1]

McCain proposed the surge, McCain convinced Bush to adopt the surge, and now the surge has brought VICTORY to the U.S. and its allies. We can withdraw our troops and leave a stable Iraq behind. WE OWE THIS VICTORY TO McCAIN'S GOOD JUDGMENT AND POLITICAL COURAGE.

Obama opposed the surge. He said it would be worse than useless. If it had been up to Obama, we would have cut and run and Iraq would be in chaos.

[kasinca]

So why is the White House writing the news in the first place. The call Democrtic ideas socialist while everything they do smells like fascism. Them choosing the stories we get is no different than the Pravda in Russia. These crooks and thugs must go down forever.

[DevilAdvocate]

can someone say fired! LOL

[nomobull]

but what a way to go. first time in history you should be proud to be fired.

[Tropiholic]

HA!

[wanj]

Jenna "Obamacan" Bush sent out the email... ;-)

[LaFilleEnRose]

Yeah, sure, she hit the wrong button. You go girl!

[AtticusinPa]

Tell me Rosemary Woods has a granddaughter working at the White House?

[zigzag1]

No doubt another ditzy blonde graduate of Liberty University.

[DShawn233]

Yep, I bet she can get a new job Monday in Chicago at Obama Campaign HQ.

[kellygrrrl]

either they did it by accident - further proving their incompetence
or
they did it on purpose - further proving their sinister MO

[wanj]

Jenna Bush sent out the email... a closet 0bamacan!!

[scouserinlondon]

I think it was done on purpose by someone who want's Obama in WH. as much as everyone else,
Strikes me as sabotage........ maybe someone with inside knowledge and does not want to see a 3rd war started with Iran, or disproves of the way this Govt, has torn the country apart.......or could be a Dem.mole.
Not buying the incompetent thing.