It was probably a slip of the tongue, but Twitter was swift and unforgiving in its skewering of Sarah Huckabee Sanders after the White House press secretary referred to âJFKâ and âKennedyâ as two different presidents during a Tuesday press briefing.
Speaking to reporters about White House Chief of Staff John Kellyâs controversial comments about Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, Sanders, reading from notes, contended that âall of our leaders have flaws.â
âWashington, Jefferson, JFK, Roosevelt, Kennedy. That doesnât diminish their contributions to our country. It certainly canât erase them from our history. And Gen. Kelly was simply making the point that just because history isnât perfect doesnât mean itâs not our history,â she said.
Her flub did not go unnoticed.
In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Kelly had said that a âlack of ability to compromiseâ had led to the Civil War.
The White House chief of staff went on to describe Lee, whoâd fought to protect Southern statesâ rights to own slaves, as âhonorable.â
CNN White House reporter Jeremy Diamond noted that Sandersâ JFK/Kennedy mistake was perhaps the least thing wrong with her defense of Kellyâs statements.