We'll Leave The Mic On For Ya

The back and forth did continue, to some degree, at a news conference after the meeting. But a State Department official assured reporters that "there was absolutely no friction whatsoever" between the pair. It was then that they informed the official they had heard the ostensibly private conversation. "Once the flabbergasted official learned of the tape, he continued the briefing. He paused repeatedly, asking before describing a discussion whether reporters had heard it," writes Kessler.

As Cori Dauber points out, "say what you want about the Bush administration and how it deals with the press, every administration since time began has said the exact same boilerplate about the way diplo-lunches have gone." But it is interesting to see the somewhat petty squabbling that goes on when the microphones are (supposed to be) turned off.

Notes Kessler: "The State Department's subsequent denial of tensions illustrates how officials manage the information that flows to the public from such closed-door meetings to create an image meant to advance foreign policy objectives. Reporters often have no independent account of such discussions." And you can bet they relished the chance to inform the anonymous official that, for once, they had the information they needed to cut through the rhetoric they too often have no choice but to swallow.