Officials Say the Darndest Things


It’s the new Tumblr blog by ProPublica, an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

Here is how ProPublica describes it: “At ProPublica, we’re always following what officials say. Sometimes they mislead, sometimes they apologize, and you know, sometimes they just say the darndest things. To commemorate those moments, we’ve started a Tumblr —a kind of super-simple blog—cataloging what officials in business and government (and any other centers of power) let slip.”

Here is a sampling:

It’s because of that lack of competence on our part … that we want to bring in a professional. —BP’s incoming CEO Bob Dudley, on his company’s not-so-good job of handling claims, and his intentions to hire an independent administrator soon.

Uh, uh, I have to get off the phone just a moment here. … I’m sorry, I’m talking with a police officer here.— Rep. Dan Lundgren (R-CA), on the radio with KFBK Morning News, getting pulled over for driving over the speed limit after he called in to the radio station to tout the passage of a bill for tracking sex offenders.

You TV guys all look shiny together.—White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, joking with reporters about how he lumps the media together.

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Author: Rick Outzen

Rick Outzen is the publisher/owner of Pensacola Inweekly. He has been profiled in The New York Times and featured in several True Crime documentaries. Rick also is the author of the award-winning Walker Holmes thrillers. His latest nonfiction book is “Right Idea, Right Time: The Fight for Pensacola’s Maritime Park.”