Congratulations, Marie Harf!
At the tender age of 33, Marie Harf has attained a special kind of immortality, joining a list of luminaries (for instance, Thomas Crapper) whose names have become verbs. The Urban Dictionary now lists “Harfing” as a verb:
To say or assert something so patently stupid and preposterous as to generate widespread mockery. Named in honor of State Department Spokesperson Marie Harf.
The State Department Spokesperson was harfing on about how Islamic State jihadists only needed job opportunities in order to give up their evil ways.
And yesterday, Marie gave us another example:
Noah Rothman of Hot Air explains:
The issue of post-deal sanctions relief for Iran – how much, when, and in what form – is a matter of some dispute. If you ask the mullahs in Tehran, that relief will be total and complete on the day that a nuclear accord is signed. According to officials in Washington, however, sanctions relief must come in stages and only as a result of verified compliance with the terms of the deal agreed to in Switzerland. The discrepancies on this issue are persistent.
But a compromise might have been worked out, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. That Friday report suggests that Iran’s desire to see immediate financial relief might be satisfied if Washington unfreezes the Islamic Republic’s estimated $100 to $140 billion offshore assets. “U.S. officials said they expect Tehran to gain access to these funds in phases as part of a final deal. Iran could receive somewhere between $30 billion and $50 billion upon signing the agreement, said congressional officials briefed by the administration,” The Journal’s Carol Lee reported.
It seems that this report, and the exchange it prompted in the State Departments briefing room, has finally driven State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf up a wall.
“It’s not true,” Harf said of the dispatch. She added that there had been no change in the administration’s position regarding phased sanctions relief, but she didn’t seem to realize that this assertion failed to contradict The Journal’s reporting.
“They won’t get relief until they take nuclear-related steps,” the State Department spokeswoman added. “And those cannot technically, probably happen on day one.”
Well, that’s reassuring.