There’s an old adage, often ascribed to Abraham Lincoln, that holds it’s “better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” This is advice that Department of State spokeswoman Marie Harf would be wise to heed.
After being ridiculed for suggesting on MSNBC that the key to quelling the passions of the Islamic State is to find jobs for its members, she reappeared, first claiming that her comments were too nuanced for some viewers, which elicited a new round of guffaws, then again to dismiss her critics as “crazy.”
You’d think she’d be ready to cut her losses and move on. Guess again. Just as the uproar over her dimwitted remarks was dying down, Harf turned up on CNN with her latest diagnosis. Her critics, she now insists, are sexist — ageist, too.
Have a listen for yourself. The money quote comes around 1:10:
Harf also surmises that her appearance might have something to do with her rude treatment, and there she might be onto something. The dyed blond hair and the goofy glasses (the kind that dumb blonds wear to look smart) do serve to feed the impression she’s a tad slow. Her refusal to recognize the folly in her original remarks or to let the kerfuffle over it die only reinforce that impression.
She now has a whole new plethora of hurtful tweets to contend with.
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