In the communications business, we lose clients from a typo. We live and die by the words we write.

It doesn’t reflect well on us as a nation to have this level of carelessness in crafting a statement.

New York Magazine reports…

“The White House Press Office did manage to get people’s attention on Monday night when it responded to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s presentation arguing against the Iran nuclear deal with a statement declaring that Iran currently has a secret nuclear-weapons program.

These facts are consistent with what the United States has long known: Iran HAS a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program that it has tried and failed to hide from the world and from its own people,” said the statement from Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.”

Unfortunately and more accurately, HAS should have been HAD.

“Without offering any apology to those who thought the U.S. was going to war with Iran, the White House corrected the line to the past tense when the statement was posted online: “Iran HAD a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program that it has tried and failed to hide from the world and from its own people.”

Words matter.  Even the letters. Pay attention and respect those who strive to make writing better and error-free.