Gee whiz! Hoocoodanode!?
The White House and Treasury are not too happy with Ron Suskind’s forthcoming book, to put in very mildly. Beyond the big picture stuff on whether Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner ignored an Obama directive regarding the preparation of plans to dissolve Citigroup (Treasury says he absolutely did not), officials have been busy compiling lists of what they say are a stunning number of basic factual errors.
An administration official sent along a partial list under the headline “The Suskind Book Game: ‘Too Big to Fact Check?’” From the list of alleged errors: “1.) Suskind wrote that Larry Summers needed Senate confirmation to lead the National Economic Council. 2.) Suskind wrote that Secretary Geithner served as ‘Chairman’ of the New York Fed. 3.) Suskind wrote that Gene Sperling served as ‘an assistant Treasury Secretary.’ 4.) Suskind wrote that Geithner had ‘never been an undersecretary’ at Treasury. 5.) Suskind wrote that the acronym for the Bank for International Settlements is ‘BASEL.’ 6.) Suskind wrote that Gene Sperling played tennis at the University of Michigan.” …
The official said all of these statements were false. For instance: “Sperling played tennis at Minnesota. Though, to be fair, both universities start with an ‘M’ and are only about 800 miles apart.” Zing!
I’ll be interested to see what the final list of factual errors looks like. Until I see a final list, I give the entire book a “Pffft!”
[via Politico]
[cross-posted at Angry Black Lady Chronicles]White House Corrects Factual Errors In Suskind BookPost + Comments (58)