(Finally) What Mike Griffin Actually Said
Editor’s note: In the webcast last Thursday Mike Griffin made it very clear that he wanted to release this transcript and Dean Acosta said it would be done. Well, it has been more than 4 days and this short excerpt has not been posted on NASA’s website – you can only find it here (below) on NASA Watch. As such, you really have to wonder if anyone at PAO is actually committed to better communications when such a simple task – one which would serve to better communicate what was said on a controversial topic – can’t even be accomplished.
In addition, contrary to what a questioner from JPL suggested, NASA Watch did not quote Mike Griffin. Rather, I repeated a portion of what a newspaper had printed – clearly labeled as such. I was not at the event – and NASA had told me there was no recording of the event – so how could I quote Mike Griffin?
Finally, as to Mike Griffin’s claim that no one sought to get a clarification from him about his remarks: totally false. On 29 March I sent an email request to Dean Acosta and Dave Mould making a very specific request for a transcript. Dean Acosta called me back a few hours later (4:37 pm EST to be exact) to say that there was no recording or transcript but that he had specifically spoken about this topic with Mike Griffin. I posted all of this on NASA Watch the day before this webcast (see this posting).
Editor’s 30 March note: Dean Acosta just sent me this excerpt at 5:28 pm EST. Contrary to the impression Mike Griffin gave at the NASA employee update, there is not an transcript of the entire event in NASA’s possession, just this small portion. Why NASA sat on this for more than 24 hours utterly escapes me – unless they were afraid of what people might think once they read it. Well, based on the words below, this strikes me as someone saying that they hope that Rep. Delay stays in Congress. Seems like a tacit endorsement to me.
“Delay: And it’s the reason a shiver shoots down our spines every time we close our eyes and imagine an American flag flying on the surface of Mars. Ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed my pleasure to welcome once again to Houston my good friend and the leader of America’s space program, Dr. Mike Griffin.
APPLAUSE
Griffin: Good evening. Thank you for having me here. Mr. Delay and I were chatting over dinner and I said, you know the way it ought to work is that I should be introducing you and you should do the keynote speech. And I really feel like that would be more appropriate. The space program has had no better friend in its entire existence than Tom Delay. He’s still with us and we need to keep him there. There just are no better people.
APPLAUSE
Mr. Delay was quite correct, the budget battle this year was…”
