Progressive Press Peeved Palin Prays?
File this under incredible.
Opinion Journal's James Taranto brings more clarity to Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin (see transcript). Recall that Mr. Gibson construed Sarah Palin's words in such a way as to imply she believed America's troops were just bellicose Blues Brothers on a "mission from God." Here's an excerpt of Taranto's post from Friday, Sept. 12, 2008:
Although she had spoken the words Gibson attributed to her, his rendition of the quote was a dowdification.[†] He took the words out of context to make a prayer that "the task is from God" appear to be an assertion that it is.
This misleading quotation might have been an error rather than a deliberate deception, and it did not originate with Gibson. Our Tuesday item noted that CNN had misrepresented Palin's words on Monday, and on Sept. 4 "AllahPundit" pointed to an Associated Press dispatch from the previous day that might have been the origin of the falsehood.
Yesterday the Associated Press, in reporting on the interview, relied on its own inaccurate reporting of a week earlier in claiming that Palin had "contradicted an assertion she made at her former church that 'our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.' " This claim disappeared from later versions of the AP dispatch, although we haven't found any evidence that the wire service issued a correction.
ABC seems to have realized its mistake as well. The version of the interview that aired on ABC's "World News" last night (video here) edited out the lines in which Palin disputes the accuracy of Gibson's quote and Gibson replies, "Exact words." In their place is a YouTube clip of Palin speaking at the church. Again, as far as we know, ABC has not expressly acknowledged the error.
The journalists at AP, CNN and ABC who took liberties with Palin's quote might or might not have intended to deceive. But there can be little doubt that they intended to further a stereotype of Palin as some sort of religious nut. What's interesting is that in the course of doing so, they ended up disparaging her for praying.
As we noted yesterday, some of the less well-grounded members of the political media have been harshly attacking Palin for having a baby. Egads! Can we really have a heartbeat away a Christian who prays, or a woman who has borne children?
I do like Taranto's last line: "With friends like these, who needs Karl Rove?" My thoughts exactly.
†A dowdification is a fabrication or corruption of a quote, epitomized by the putative style of Maureen Dowd, the New York Times columnist who is to literacy what phone sex is to oratory.
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3 comments:
Everyone knows by now Palin prays for all kind of things. Maybe she prays that no one will notice she unfairly hires government employees.
I wonder if she asked her friends in the interview if they loved the Republican party, first before country?
According to the New York Times, Sept 13th, 2008 - PALIN GIVES HIGH SCHOOL FRIENDS HIGH PAYING JOBS
"Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.
So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as one of her qualifications for running the roughly $2 million agency.
Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages."
Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for dropping in.
What I gather from your comment is that Ms. Palin should be faulted for acting like a politician. Is this true?
It will be interesting to see what the rest of the press dredges up in the next few days, especially that part of the press committed to exploring the accuracies and inaccuracies of the New York Times.
Incredible stuff, all of this!
Peace.
BG
Dear Anonymous,
I pray that people will make informed decisions after consulting many sources of information. Digging a smidge deeper, you might have stumbled upon this:
In her state bio, Franci Havemeister is described as:
Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin appointed Franci A. Havemeister Director of the State Divsion of Agriculture on August 1, 2007. Director Havemeister has first hand knowledge of the day to day business of agriculture in Alaska. She has worked as a real estate agent, served as the Children's Education Director for the Crossraods Community Church, volunteered as a youth basketball coach, owned her own businss and worked as a Case Processor for the State of Alaska.
Franci and her husband, Bob, have four children and are lifetime Alaskans. She has spent her life actively involved in agriculture from the 4-H program to varied agriculture sectors including dairy, potato, vegetable and greenhouse production.
Director Havemeister stated she will strive to increase communication and make a positive difference by promoting the long term success of the agriculture industry in the State of Alaska.
A lifetime in agriculture it says. Anon, but not just you, to all who seek the truth. You have to dig deeper than the Democrat or Republican talking points. The political parties are not to be relied upon to put forth actual facts or real news. And much of the news media has now demonstrated themselves to be merely a propaganda division of the Democrate Party. Its a shame really.
Peace,
Chris
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