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.