Ask any cop or, for that matter, ask any parent -- the more a person tries to explain, the deeper the hole they dig.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appeared before the Capitol Hill press corps today with a prepared statement, explaining (again, for the umpteenth time) what, when, and how she knew about harsh interrogation tactics used on suspected terrorists -- waterboarding, alleged torture and all that nasty stuff.
After reading her statement, she should've turned her exposed tail and left the room. But being human -- and having a massive ego, even for a powerful politician -- she didn't.
She couldn't. She had to explain.
So she took questions. Here are a few gems from her answers:
This is the citizen who stands just two heartbeats from the American presidency. And this is the kind of nonsense we get when we keep re-electing the same ideological faces to the same political places."The point is that I wasn't briefed. I was told -- informed that someone else had been briefed about it."
"I wasn't informed. I was informed that a briefing had taken place."
"I was not briefed. I was only informed that they were briefed, but I did not get the briefing."
"I have not been briefed as to what they were briefed on.... I was just briefed that they were informed..."
All together now: It's the government we deserve.
Non-Pelosi quote of the week
"...[Carrie Prejean's] awkward attempt to now transition from the woman with the implants to a virtuous moral crusader lacks all credibility. A veneer of pseudo-Christian hypocrisy will not camouflage Ms. Prejean’s vapid breast obsession, no matter how tightly she wraps herself with it." (from "Carrie Prejean and Her Breast Obsession" by Sheldon Filger)