Are you implying he was so far down in the spokespeeple pecking order that no one in the world would pay attention to what critical things he was saying because he's a nobody?
Or are you implying that he was a rogue low-level spokesman shooting off his mouth without authorization from above?
Funny, I've seen no reprimand to him for saying what he said. I've seen no denials from the State Dept. or the White House in contradiction to what he said.
Obviously, then, this spokesman spoke on the issue with permission from the highest level.
More than likely he may have been low enough on the totem pole to be assigned the task of outlining the U.S. policy while at the same time charitably serving as the Administration's lightning rod for incoming flack from outraged citizens.
There is very little that is not planned ahead of time in the political Big Leagues.
Leni
I'm saying it's possible, not so much that he was a rogue, but rather that he was speaking for a small faction within state, and not for the higher ups. If the people he is spokesman for authorized his statement then they'd be the ones who would be rightly reprimanded. But you'd likely never hear of it. It's quite possible that no one authorized or endorsed what he said, because it was a response to a question, not part of a prepared statement.
This guy is so far down I don't think there is anyone under him. Maybe some admin types to type up his releases. I didn't have time to try to figure out exactly which entities within the State Department he is spokesman for, as it seems the "Press Officers" each cover certain organizations within the State Department. It's on the directory listing, but you'd have to cross check that with the org chart or with the headings on the sections of the directory.
Funny, I've seen no reprimand to him for saying what he said. I've seen no denials from the State Dept. or the White House in contradiction to what he said.
And it's been how long since he made the statement? The Story is datelined Fri Feb 3, 2006 3:28 PM ET, and it doesn't really give the context in which the question was asked, nor when it was made. Was it a formal news conference, a telephone interview with someone the Reuters person knew would be sympathetic to the Muslims? Followed by a call to CAIR for their "reaction". You see any formal release or statement on the State Department site? I didn't but I'll check again....It wasn't in either today's, yesterday's or Wednesday's daily briefing, as those were conducted by THE state department spokesman, Sean McCormack.There was no formal release on the subject either.