The White House incorrectly claimed that a bust of Winston Churchill was not removed from the White House when President Obama moved in, insisting with emphatic certainty that it had simply been moved to the residence but then retracting the assertion.
In a “Fact Check” post added to the White House website Friday, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer scornfully dismissed as “100% false” the “rumor” that Obama had removed the Churchill bust that had presided over the George W. Bush Oval Office and shipped it back to the British.
Turns out Pfeiffer’s was the false statement.
Here is a portion of Pfeiffer’s initial post:
Lately, there’s been a rumor swirling around about the current location of the bust of Winston Churchill. Some have claimed that President Obama removed the bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office and sent it back to the British Embassy.
Now, normally we wouldn’t address a rumor that’s so patently false, but just this morning the Washington Post’s Charles Krauthammer repeated this ridiculous claim in his column. He said President Obama “started his Presidency by returning to the British Embassy the bust of Winston Churchill that had graced the Oval Office.”
This is 100% false. The bust still in the White House. In the Residence. Outside the Treaty Room . . .
Last year the AP reported that President Obama “replaced the Oval Office fixture with a bust of one of his American heroes, President Abraham Lincoln, and moved the Churchill bust to the White House residence.”
In case these news reports are not enough for Mr. Krauthammer and others, here’s a picture of the President showing off the Churchill bust to Prime Minister Cameron when he visited the White House residence in 2010.
Pfeiffer then provided a White House photo of Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron admiring the Churchill bust in the White House residence.
“Hopefully this clears things up a bit and prevents folks from making this ridiculous claim again,” Pfeiffer sneered.
Well.
In what he labeled an “Update” but which is actually a “Correction,” Pfeiffer later added that there are in fact two busts, and the one that was in the Oval Office was indeed removed when Obama took office.
Update:
Since my post on the fact that the bust of Winston Churchill has remained on display in the White House, despite assertions to the contrary, I have received a bunch of questions — so let me provide some additional info. The White House has had a bust of Winston Churchill since the 1960’s.
At the start of the Bush administration Prime Minister Blair lent President Bush a bust that matched the one in the White House, which was being worked on at the time and was later returned to the residence. The version lent by Prime Minister Blair was displayed by President Bush until the end of his Presidency. On January 20, 2009 — Inauguration Day — all of the art lent specifically for President Bush’s Oval Office was removed by the curator’s office, as is common practice at the end of every presidency. The original Churchill bust remained on display in the residence.
The idea put forward by Charles Krauthammer and others that President Obama returned the Churchill bust or refused to display the bust because of antipathy towards the British is completely false and an urban legend that continues to circulate to this day.
Notice what Pfeiffer now says is completely false: “. . . that President Obama returned the Churchill bust or refused to display the bust because of antipathy towards the British.”
Gone is the truculent assertion that the bust that had been in the Oval Office wasn’t removed from the White House. The claim now is merely that Obama doesn’t hate the British.
Missing also is any acknowledgement of what I presume – I know you all will think I’m naïve – was an honest mistake.
As originally stated by those wild rumormongers, the bust is in possession of the British, at their ambassador’s residence in Washington, presumably awaiting return to the Oval Office should Mitt Romney become president.
651 thoughts on “White House Busted!!”
What else would one expect from the Chimp in Chief and his toadies? After all, THEY sure didn’t build that!
Racist
You’re a joke. Stop trying to drum up fake controversy. We’ve got enough problems combating the Limbaughs and Palins of the world without inventing new ways to make the Right look foolish.
Voshea…what will be the drummed up fake controversy be when Obama gets buried in an electoral landslide on Nov 6th, 2012? Better get you appt made now to counsel with a Grief Counselor. They will be plenty busy once the Kool-Aid punch bowl goes dry.
I have a hypothetical for you Voshea: You walk into a used car dealership looking to buy a car. It is noon. You walk up to a salesman with a name-tag that says Bob and he introduces himself as Fred and says “Good evening” to you. You ask about the 2006 Buick and he tells you that the Ford has only been driven by a little old lady to church.
Do you buy the car?
If yes, have another glass of Kool-Aid.
If no, then welcome to the vast Right Wing Conspiracy.
You’re absolutely correct, Palin and Limbaugh (you forgot Hannity and Levin) are problems for the leftards because they have the audacity to point out the inconsistencies and failures of the Demo-rats, which in reality, really isn’t all that hard.
What a huge waste of everyone’s time. This article, this non-issue. I want my 2 minutes back.
Only a “progressive” could think that! Thanks for letting us know where you stand!
It is NOT a non issue. It simply adds another layer of arrogance, lies, and deceit from this king. Wake up.
moron.
Obama wants his cocaine head carved at Mount Rushmore with a joint hanging out of his mouth.
The man (BHO) is either a pathological. liar, or something far worse. I fear it is some of both. I am truly amazed that the administration will lie straight faced and expect there to be no repercussions.
This story makes the whole fake Iraqi WMD thing look trivial.
Yeah, almost as trivial as liberal obfuscation and lies about the WMDs which everyone (including your Demo-rat heroes) knows were moved to Syria.
Wow, the Obama administration caught in a lie. Shocker that.
It’s not that the truth is relative for Bari Malik Shabazz, it’s a conceptual void.
Everything about Obama and his administration is a fraud. Somehow, we managed to elect a loser to the highest office in the land. Hopefully we won’t make the same stupid mistake again in November because this time, he will have the chance to really screw things up worse than in the first 4 years -if you could imagine it getting any worse!
If Obama gets re-elected he will “inherit” the worst economy since the great depression, and keeping with his tradition, he can only blame the administation of the four immediately preceeding years, the first Obama Administration.
Ollie, what a mess! Yes Stanley, and guess whose fault it is!
How about this…he runs for President this next time under another of his aliases and then blames a previous administration for the entire mess.
So Oblamo and his administration are liars then? And this is news because………………………….
FYI, they’ve been liars from the start of his political career and the Lamestream media have been accomplices to those aforementioned lies! What the Lamestream media does not realize is, THEY will be the first segment of Amerika that will be FORCED BY GUNPOINT to ascribe to that Fascist agenda!
Love the poster who said he ‘lifted his leg and…..’ Very well said. These people lie when the truth would do. Obama chucked that bust back across the pond just as hard and fast as he could. It was a major insult that he absolutely meant. In the wildest stretch of my imagination I never could have envisioned the people in this nation being stupid enough to elect a monster to the presidency and this man is a monster. Four more years of him and I wonder how many of us he will have had killed or incarcerated? I don’t trust one soul in this government, and especially not Obama.
Your are correct and the reason for that Bust being sent back to England is “Colonialism” which Oblamo’s father HATED with a white hot passion! As does he!
Another 4 years of Oblamo = United Socialist States of Amerika, which will lead to, “The United Communist States of Amerika”!
Well, at least Winston Churchill is half American. Maybe that’s why obama doesn’t like it.
“Lately, there’s been a rumor swirling around..”
This has been well known for years..
“..an urban legend that continues to circulate to this day.”
From a “recent rumor” to a long standing “legend”..
///
What can clearly be taken from the totality of Pfieffers comments is that he believes and hopes the reader is an absolute ignorant idiot.
I’ve long thought that Krauthammer would be the best candidate to run for President. This just reinforces that belief.
Oh, Gezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz They have the dusting rag there on the floor when the photo was made. “Crop City”
Fact is if you’re over 60 you may remember the Mau Mau uprising here’s some info
August 1951
Information is filtering back about secret meetings being held in the forests outside Nairobi. A secret society called the Mau Mau, believed to have been started in the previous year, requires its members to take an oath to drive the white man from Kenya. Intelligence suggests that membership of the Mau Mau is currently restricted to members of the Kikuyu tribe, many of whom have been arrested during burglaries in Nairobi’s white suburbs.
The Mau Mau killed European farmers and their families . Obama’s grandfather was jailed by the British during this period. Consequently the Obama family is not terribly fond of the Brits.
Update
30 October 1952
British troops are involved in the arrest of over 500 suspected Mau Mau activists. Obama’s Grandfather is detained. I know I know until Jon Stewart tells you then it didn’t happen
14 November1952
Liars beget liars and spew forth lies.
Obama begins smearing the men the moment he wakes up, and continues to deride the man’s accomplishments throughout the day, before finally blaming the man for something shortly before bed. Strangely, no one has ever heard even one negative word about a black man from him.
I don’t really care why you lie… the lie itself is worse than any anti-British feelings.
Remove Obama from the White House and put the bust of churchill back in, it would provide much better leadership.
Concur.
Doesn’t matter. This lying SOB will be sent packing on Nov.6, 2012. What a disgrace this POS is.
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These guys couldn’t spell the word ‘truth’ even if you spotted them all of the consonants!!
Can’t wait for Nov. 6.
Good F-ING BYE to the worst president in U.S. history.
Who cares if there is a Winston Churchill bust in the white house? Why does there need to be? The president can put whatever bloody bust he wants in there. They probably don’t even have one in the PMs office at 10 Downing. He isn’t considered by the Brits to be such a great guy. They tossed him out of office as soon as the war was over.
Obama and his team DID return it. The Brits did not plan on having this bust of Churchill returned. If his team can’t tell the truth about a bust, then how can we trust him about legislation devised behind closed doors?
The man has a borderline pathological ego.
The a-hole had no right to remove it.
Can he ever just tell the truth about anything?
What lieing dirt bags.
Another “misteak” like on the Presidents radio broadcast today where we were told we must not make the error of giving a Trillion (that is Trillion with a capitol T) dollars of tax breaks to the wealthy. The President knows what a trillion is as that is what he charges us the American citizen each year with deficit spending.
Not sure that this is all that important . The fact that a Democrat appointee was caught lying ? That he originally was surly in his dismissal of the story ? That he then “updated” his statement, but didn’t apologize for, or retract, his previous statement ? That’s not news, that’s the way it is.
Wait ’til you see how they savage the White House in January 2013 when they’re all kicked out.
Perfect example of “crazy lying”. People who think they are smarter
Than everyone else and too arrogant to even care if they are found
Out.
Deceit is the motto of the Obama Administration.
@ MaskRider:
Which “poll” did you see? In most public opinion polls, Winston Churchill ranks first as the most popular Prime Minister of the modern era.
A recent BBC poll had him ranked first followed by Clement Atlee and Margarot Thatcher. In another national poll naming the “Greatest Britons,” Churchill won by an overwhelming majority of votes.
In addition, a poll conducted by British Politcs Group saw Churchill ranked first.
In fact, national polls conducted by the Times including rankings by Matthew Parris, Ben Macintyre and Peter Riddel, Churchill ranked first in every ballot.
It is strange that so many Leftists repeat this claim about people like Churchill, Reagan or Margaret Thatcher. It is almost as if they think that they can lower the popularity if they repeat this lie often and loudly enough.
They tossed him out of office as soon as the War was over. He didn’t win that poll did he, genius?
And as I said before: who cares whether there is a bust of Churchill in the White House?
I mean I can’t stand Barak Obama or his true-believing supporters. But the drones on the other side are no better.
Obama Sucks…..
I doubt the British will allow Mittsy to display a bust of anybody from Great Britain.
Yea the guy that flys into town and promptly tells them how to run things, Mitt the Twit, how appropriate.
Ah yes. Another pair of morons heard from.
He answered a question honestly, and spit-roasted for it by the liberal rag media both there and here.
Might want to do a bit of research prior to spouting off about how he ‘told them how to run’ anything.
As if they could have any say-so at all over what gets displayed in the White House.
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This sham of a leader is a joke. He lies with such ease. t makes me sick to my stomach to hear his voice……how the hell did this Manchurian candidate get in????
He has got to be kicked out on his socialist a** in 101 days, Who;s in????
Being a patriotic American, I sort of consider a bust of an American such as Abraham Lincoln to be a quite acceptable substitute for a bust of Churchill. I know some Republicans don’t like him because he helped a minority group, but come on, he was one of our greatest presidents.
Was there not room for BOTH ?
Perhaps, had the obama’s stayed home from just 1 of their 23 vacations, they could have saved enough money to add on another wing- maybe even call it the Lincoln wing ? just to add a bust of good old Abe.
The W/House is going to be redecorated after the 06 November election!!! The ignorant “buffoon” goes back to Chicago!!! Case closed!!
Here, here. Give me Lincoln any day over Churchill. If the Brits and the Republicans want a statue of Churchill in the white house let them build a house. Paint it white. And fill it up with busts of Winston Churchill.
Obama will lie anytime, anywhere, anyhow, and he knows he has a willing media to cover for him.
What a non-story.
Spending time on this silly crap is time not spent hammering away on the economy.
Yep, if the the Republicans think they are going to change minds with drivel like this they are dreaming away in la-la land. Might as well nominate John McCain again and be done with it.
This is the thing about the entire Obama team–they can look at you right straight in the eye and tell the biggest whoppers without a hint of shame or embarrassment. This is just one more example among hundreds.
The obama administration would rather climb a tree and lie, then they would stand flat footed on the ground and tell the truth.
All I know is, if obama wins re-election, he’s gonna have one heck of a mess handed to him. Wonder how he’s gonna spin that one ?
I thought each persident decorated the Oval Office however he wanted to decorate it. If Mittsy wins, will he put maps of Switzerland, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands all over the walls?
Yeah, you thought. Like Obama thought there were 57 states, Navy corpse men, and an Intercontinental Railroad. Think again.
@Tom. You thought right. The president can rearrange and redecorate the White House any old way he wants. A bust of Lincoln is a huge improvement over Churchill. I say this as a total non-supporter of Obama
Lying in this administration has become institutionalized. It is truly stunning, and reminds one of the best efforts of Baghdad Bob or of some third world communist dictatorship. Coupled with the fact that everyone around Obama (including, especially, him) is ignorant, incompetent, and not very bright, I can only wonder, what the hell were the American people thinking when they elected this train wreck?
I am no Obama supporter but Obama has no monopoly on lying. The biggest lie of the last couple of decades was told by Republicans. Remember all those WMDs? Still haven’t found those elusive little buggers have we?
This is really a story you can be proud of Keith. Hard hitting investigative journalism that spurs meaningful debate. This story makes the whole Iraqi WMD thing look trivial.
Hehe, you nailed it.
Lie about and wage war over non-existent WMDs? Thats OK.
Lie about some worthless piece of junk bust of Winston Churchill? That’s a problem.
The WMDs are moved to Syria, and your Demorat party leaders (who made impassioned speeches in the House and Senate in favor of the war on the basis of WMDs being in Iraq) know it. Just like everyone else, whether you want to admit it or not. Even the lamestream media reported on it, and they’re gods to you leftards, aren’t they?
Yeah they were moved to Syria. Did you see the classifieds today? The Brooklyn Bridge is for sale.
My dear, have you not considered the fact that S.H. killed his own people with chemical weapons? That there were traces of said weapons when inspectors were sent in? That there were images, several of them, of covered military vehicles moving from “points of interest” in Iraq to Syria? No, because it’s all a big ‘ol lie, I know. It helps you to sleep better at night to think that despots wouldn’t and couldn’t have that kind of destructive power. And stop protesting your support of O; ever heard, “The lady doth protest too much.”?
This bunch lies about everything else so why is anyone surprised by this lie?
I’d like to send Odummer back to Kenya…. In a heart-beat!!!
You would expect people lying for the President would be better at their jobs.
All they do is lie. It seems the American people love a lier.
And if Bush had removed the Bust the GOP would say that its because “Bush is an American” and he is “just being patriotic. Obama is one of the worst Presidents in US history so there has to be a better use of our time then pointing out the redecorating of the White House. Let’s focus on his treasonous violations of the Constitution, his fraudulent birth certificate, the murder of 300 Mexican civilians during Fast and Furious, the murder of innocent babies in abortion clinics, the deliberate dismantling of the US economy and his betrayal of our ONLY ally in the Middle East, Israel. With this list–by no means exhaustive–criticizing him for moving the bust of a foreign Prime Minister seems…superfulous?
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