Guest post by Kristinn Taylor
Obama appointee Brandon Friedman was named by a Huffington Post columnist on Friday as the “Most Disppaointing Democrat of the Week” for his insinuation that the platoon mates of recently freed U.S. Army deserter Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl were “psychopaths” who drove him to walk off post and seek out the Taliban in 2009.
As was first reported here at The Gateway Pundit and Free Republic, Friedman, the U.S. Deputy Assistant for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, posted a series of tweets Wednesday night that floated the idea that Bergdahl deserved sympathy for abandoning his platoon in a combat zone to hook up with the enemy. Among Friedman’s tweets: “What if his platoon was long on psychopaths and short on leadership?”
Friedman also accused without evidence the platoon mates speaking out of colluding to smear Bergdahl to protect themselves.
After being exposed, on Thursday morning Friedman scrubbed his Twitter bio of his ties to the Obama administration but he kept the scurrilous tweets posted.
Thursday afternoon Friedman issued a statement from to BuzzFeed that said he was not speaking for the Obama administration on national security matters and contained an apology of sorts.
““I’d like to clarify tweets I wrote last night on my personal Twitter account concerning the return of Bowe Bergdahl. First, I do not speak for the administration on national security issues in any capacity — public or personal,” he said. “As a former infantry officer and combat veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, I have only the highest regard for our servicemen and women. They are my friends, my colleagues, my mentors, my brothers, and sisters.””
““While I just wanted to make the point that the public should wait before passing judgment, I unfortunately used my own poor judgment in choosing inappropriate language that many view as disparaging to U.S. service members,” said Brandon Friedman, deputy assistant secretary of public affairs at HUD. “That was certainly not my intent and I regret making the comments on my personal account in such a way. I apologize to those with whom I work in the administration, at HUD, and, most importantly, to any service members who took offense.””
Chris Weigant wrote at the Huffington Post on Friday that Friedman is the “Most Disappointing Democrat of the Week” for his smear of Bergdahl’s platoon:
“Brandon Friedman, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, sent out a series of five tweets this week on his personal Twitter account. The first of these tweets is simply beyond the pale — especially as he is doing precisely what he is condemning others for doing. His tweet read (note: we have no idea what “mats” he is talking about):
“Here’s the thing about Bergdahl and the Jump-to-Conclusions mats: What if his platoon was long on psychopaths and short on leadership?
“Without a shred of evidence, a governmental official (no matter how lowly) calling an entire group of soldiers “psychopaths” is beyond disappointing behavior — it is nothing short of disgraceful. He was trying to make a larger point, but his choice of words to begin this point was unacceptable. He has since apologized, but he never should have made this unfounded accusation in the first place. There has been enough “not supporting the troops” this week already, and this certainly doesn’t help the situation one bit.
“Which is why, lowly deputy assistant though he may be, Brandon Friedman is our Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week this week.”
Weigant closes by asking readers to contact Friedman at HUD to “let him know what you think of his actions.”
Friedman has not made any statements beyond the apology. As of this writing Friedman has maintained Twitter silence since cleaning up his bio Thursday morning.
