Posted on 07/05/2013 1:42:53 PM PDT by Kaslin
Good news everyone. While Egypt (the country we just sent F16s to) was experiencing a coup this week, Secretary of State John Kerry was boating in Nantucket. Photo courtesy of the Boston Herald:
First, State Department Spokesman Jen Psaki (who also worked as a spokesman for the Obama campaign) denied Kerry was in Nantucket despite multiple reports, sitings and a Kerry motorcade traffic jam.
Kerry spokesperson Jen Psaki denied the report.
“Since his plane touched down in Washington at 4 am, Secretary Kerry was working all day and on the phone dealing with the crisis in Egypt,” Psaki said in a statement.
Kerry was absent from a White House photo showing President Obama meeting with members of his national security team to discuss the situation in Egypt, but Psaki said he had dialed in on a secure phone line for that meeting.
“He participated in the White House meeting with the President by secure phone and was and is in non-stop contact with foreign leaders, and his senior team in Washington and Cairo.”
Earlier a State Department spokesperson said she could not comment on Kerry’s whereabouts on Wednesday, but said Kerry is kept in the loop on all the latest developments.
“The secretary’s department is in touch with officials regarding the developments in Egypt at all levels at all times,” State Department Press Secretary Beth Gosselin said in a statement.
Secretary of State John Kerry's motorcade gets stuck in #Nantucket rotary traffic. #awkwardhttps://t.co/ZEOlDHo39Y — Jason Graziadei (@JasonGraziadei) July 3, 2013
State Dept's @jrpsaki says re CBS tweet on @JohnKerry: "Any report or tweet that he was on a boat is completely inaccurate." — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 4, 2013
State Dept spox @jrpsaki corrects previous statement: Secretary of State @JohnKerry "was briefly on his boat on Wednesday" cc: @Mosheh — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 5, 2013
U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry — who spent the Fourth of July on sun-splashed Nantucket even as the chaos from a military takeover rocked Egypt — drew fire from Republican critics who said it’s a bad time for the nation’s top diplomat to be seen cavorting on an island getaway.Then of course, Psaki tried to run cover by reassuring everyone Kerry was hard at work solving the world's problems...from his kayak of course.
“It doesn’t look good, and I think it sends the wrong message” said Republican strategist Brad Marston. “If I were advising him, I’d already have him on a plane.”
As first reported on bostonherald.com, Kerry, who owns a house and a yacht on the ritzy retreat, was seen yesterday strolling down Federal Street away from July Fourth festivities on Main Street in jeans and a light-colored polo shirt.
Later in the afternoon, Kerry was seen offloading bags from a single-person kayak to a boat in Nantucket Sound after launching from the beach behind his home at 5 Hulbert Ave.
Republicans pounced on the image of the vacationing secretary of state and sought to use it as a symbol of what they deem a big Obama administration failing — the inability to convey a clear message on foreign policy on hotspots like Syria, Turkey and Egypt.
“I would think the secretary of state would interrupt his vacation and at least send a very clear signal — even by flying back to Washington for a day or two — that on our Independence Day we are very concerned about the freedom and democracy that we hope is instilled for some period of time in the Arab World,” said Patrick Griffin, a New Hampshire-based GOP strategist.
Kerry’s staff yesterday insisted he’s fully engaged and has been logging long hours and high miles, including a recent 12-day, 25,000-mile trip to the Middle East and Asia.As a reminder, the violence in Egypt was expected to be so bad, the State Department pulled all U.S. diplomats. But hey, Kerry had some tanning to do, okay?
Yesterday he dialed into a meeting with President Obama and members of his national security team in the Situation Room, according to the State Department. Kerry also called foreign dignitaries from Egypt, Israel, Norway, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
“Secretary Kerry has been working tirelessly around the clock since he returned from his 10-day trip and there has not been a moment where he has not been focused on doing everything possible to communicate with his team in Washington and in Egypt, within the administration and with his counterparts around the world,” Kerry spokeswoman Jen Psaki told the Herald last night.
The State Department has ordered all nonessential U.S. diplomats and the families of all American Embassy personnel to leave Egypt in anticipation of potential violence.And in case you're wondering, things in Egypt are just getting worse.
Egyptian troops reportedly opened fire Friday on supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi outside the Republican Guard headquarters, where he was believed held, but there were conflicting reports on casualties.
The Associated Press, which had a photographer at the scene, said at least one protester was killed.
Citing security sources, Reuters reported security forces fatally shot three demonstrators.
I guess you’ve not been following Newsbusters or Breitbart or Rush or Free Republic or any of those other organizations .... but then .....
Looks like he has a little dinghy.
The world maybe, but as to us...
TJ hit it dead on: "The government you elect is government you deserve.”
We did it to ourselves.
It’s not like John Kerry has withheld his sentiments about his feelings for this country. Forty years of contempt, statements, and video proudly made public by the Vietnam vet himself.
Haaa, haaaa, haa Excellent!!
Not exactly.
No one elected to have the IRS target political organizations, except for maybe a few air head Democrats.
No one elected to have the NSA spy on every communication, except for maybe a few airhead Republicans.
No one elected to have a foreign policy that promotes Islamic Terrorists, except for maybe a few airhead Islamists.
Going back to the root of the problem, no one elected to have the Federal Reserve formed, except for maybe a few airhead Bankers.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
John Kerry’s hero was John F. Kennedy.
In 1961, after the first substantive reports about the Berlin Wall were delivered, Kennedy, too, went yachting.
He came back to shore for an update, then continued sailing for another couple hours.
Yes, the argument can be made, “What could he do?”
Probably nothing, except go to war.
But the message of his apparent indifference was instantly noted by the Soviets and by America’s enemies everywhere.
Living in Illinois, I never had a doubt that this administration would be terrible. The only surprise that I got from their election is that they turned out to be much worse that I'd imagined they would be.
It was obvious during the first week of 0's first term when he wiped out the east coast mafia to clear the decks for his home boys in Chicago.
Anyone who paid any attention to what Obama was doing in his first term, and still voted for him for a second, deserves any and everything they get.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.