As everyone knows, Marie Harf, the State Department’s deputy spokeswoman, achieved fame or infamy with her recent comments about the Islamic State. Sent out by the state department she essentially said yeah, okay, we will kill some of them but we cannot kill them all.
What the warriors of Allah really need is jobs. And once they become gainfully employed, presumably doing the jobs even illegal immigrants won’t do, they will give up all thoughts of beheading infidels, burning their enemies, killing babies and children and their desire to establish a worldwide caliphate.
Harf compounded her ridiculous statements during a subsequent interview by saying her comments were just too “nuanced” for dumb Americans to understand.
Harf later mentioned Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army as proof positive terrorism has absolutely nothing to do with Islam.
In making her comments, Harf achieved attention and fame well beyond that achieved by spokespeople who appear on television on behalf of the administration. She has become the brunt of jokes, which is good considering the current situation in the United States is such people need something to laugh at. And as has been said, Brian Williams is so last week. As for Williams, how many pictures of historical events with the former NBC anchor Photoshopped into them can a person see before it ceases to be funny? Harf came along just in time.
Of course famous people can add to their fame simply by doing something stupid. A good example is Toronto’s former mayor, Rob Ford. While most city mayors are unknown at least outside their own country, Ford achieve fame all over the world by having his picture and videos taken while appearing to smoke crack with some drug dealers. But Harf’s comments took her to a whole new level.
Marie Harf has become a verb.
On February 21, the Urban Dictionary added a new word: harfing. The dictionary defines harfing as “to say or assert something so patently stupid and preposterous as to generate mockery.” Example: “The State Department Spokesperson was harfing on about how Islamic State jihadists only needed job opportunities in order to give up their evil ways.”
According to Hot Air, Harf was sent out to do the initial interview as a test run to see if she is qualified to assume the duties of the chief State Department spokesperson as the current spokesperson, Jen Psaki, is going to the White House on April 1. Hot Air also reports a State Department official as saying Harf will not get the top job because of the reaction to her comments.
It is tempting to feel sorry for Harf because there is little doubt she did her job well. All she did was put the position of her boss, John Kerry, the State Department and the Obama administration out there as she was supposed to do. No one can say that what she said, from the jobs for jihadists to the Lord’s Resistance Army to the American people being too dumb to understand her points was not the position of the State Department and the administration.
It is also unfortunate that she may not get a promotion for doing exactly what she was supposed to do and doing it well. Criticism of Harf is nothing more than shooting the messenger. The worst part of what happened is Harf is taking all the criticism while it seems her boss, Kerry, is seemingly let completely off the hook.
Her career might be over but at least she can revel in the fact she is now a verb. Not many people can say they have achieved that status. Her family must be so proud.
I could go on but if I do I am probably going to harf.
