State Dept. Spox Marie Harf Is Asked to Name Her 'Biggest Professional Gaffe' — Here's Her Answer

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf was asked earlier this month to name her "biggest professional gaffe or mistake."

"Oh God," she said, before responding. "Um — that's a good question."

"I did a cable interview on 'Hardball with Chris Matthews' a few weeks ago where I said something that to me, was totally uncontroversial," Harf continued. "I'd heard the president say it, military commanders — and it exploded on Twitter."

Harf was referencing a comment she made in mid-February where she said the U.S. would be unable to defeat the Islamic State terror group by simply "killing them."

"It exploded on cable news, and in the span of a week people were going back and digging up my college thesis and posting it online," the State Department spokeswoman continued. "They were crazy, right. All because of one sentence that I said that I thought, still think, was not in any way controversial."

"So I wouldn't say that I made a mistake there but it is instructive," she concluded. "In today's media climate, anything you can say can set off a — I had people tweeting at me the meanest things you can ever imagine. And it is not based on what I said, most of it, but how I look or how old I am or that I am a woman. People were calling my parents at home, this is crazy, right. But it was very instructive to me. That in this job that is a danger."

(H/T: Real Clear Politics)

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