State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland
State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said on Friday that if a request were to “come forward” that the papal election be monitored by an international organization called the Organization for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the U.S. government “would take it very seriously.”
Nuland made the remark only after she did some “digging” on the issue because Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee had questioned her at Thursday’s briefing about whether the administration believed the papal election had met international standards.
At both Thursday’s and Friday’s briefings there was more than a little jocularity in the way Nuland handled Lee’s questions, and there was some laughter among the reporters who witnessed the exchanges. But Nuland’s ultimate answer that the U.S. would take “very seriously” a request to monitor the papal elections was one she did in fact research and did not need to give.
What the….? The arrogance.