This is what happens when you have multiple agencies within the administration all working from politically flawed McDonough/Jarrett/Rhodes and communication room “talking points”.

The White House constructs a specific and complex narrative.   The message is then transmitted to State Dept.   The State Dept is then selling that narrative “detained while in combat“, even when the White House (Carney) backs away from it.

WATCH:

We saw the exact same thing happen with the Benghazi story.  As mentioned yesterday this is the exact consequence from using the political outlook of any event to shape your outward messaging.

When you are using politics, or more specifically political risk, as the common consideration to create your message – when the politics of the message turn against you it becomes necessary to shift positions.

The trouble stems with the communication lag between the political shifts toward each accompanying agency. When you shift position the others don’t yet know, that separation creates the double-speak and contradiction.

It only happens when you politicize your position. The more you use politics as the filter to determine your message, the worse, and more frequent, the visible contradiction(s) become.