Ahmadi-nejad by the State Department’s spokesman has enraged Sarah Palin.
Crowley posted a message on Twitter last Thursday, which was Ahmadi-nejad’s 54th birthday.
“Happy birthday President #Ahmadi-nejad,” he tweeted. “Celebrate by sending Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer home. What a gift that would be,” a reference to the American hikers who are still held captive in Iran after 15 months.
Crowley also tweeted: “Your 54th year was full of lost opportunities. Hope in your 55th year you will open #Iran to a different relationship with the world.”
Palin, the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate in 2008, took the tweet as some sort of new policy initiative by the Obama Administration.
She barked back in her own tweet: “Happy B’day Ahmadi-nejad wish sent by US Govt. Mind boggling foreign policy: kowtow, coddle enemies; snub allies. Obama Doctrine is nonsense.”
Crowley was asked Friday about Palin’s retort. He said, “My tweet was simply to suggest that a reasonable celebration of President Ahmadi-nejad’s birthday would be to release Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal.” Then he stuck the needle into Palin, taking her comments out of context just as she had done with his remarks: “I can’t imagine why Sarah Palin would object to the release of the two hikers who remain in custody.”
Many Iranian news outlets picked up Crowley’s tweet, mentioning the happy birthday wish, and treating it—like Palin—as if it were a serious official communication rather than a needling gesture.