Will the real Laura Bush please stand up?
This is just a quick note showing one more example of why we cannot trust the mainstream media to quote people correctly. Headlines that quote people are too often sensationalized to the point that they are completely wrong; short quotes inside of articles are too often controversial only because some context has been removed.
I don’t have time to write much on this one, but fortunately this time around others are coming to the plate.
The issues are two-fold. First, Laura Bush did not call anyone sexist as some of the headlines are screaming. Matt Lauer did, and Laura Bush said merely that it was “possible”. She did not “suggest critics of Miers may be sexist”. Matt Lauer did that. She did not “suggest sexism may underlie the opposition.” As far as I can tell, nobody suggested that. She did not “see sexism in Miers’s critics”. Again, that was Matt Lauer.
But a more controversial issue is that the quote which places like Reuters are using to back this up probably has the interviewer’s statement removed, making Laura Bush’s “It’s possible” become “I think it’s possible”. She very likely did not say that or mean that.
In response to Red vs. Blue working out well in Houston: Our antagonistic attitude in politics has become so ingrained that we naturally assume the worst even when people are doing their best to help.
- No, She Didn’t
- “The MSM deliberately misreported this in a way designed to split us further apart... and by golly, it worked! So let’s sit down, take a stress pill, and talk this out....”
- It depends on what the meaning of “possible” is
- “If Laura Bush had answered the question Lauer posed with, ‘No, absolutely not’ she would have been criticized for being stark raving mad. Of course it’s ‘possible’ that ‘some’ critics are a little sexist in their criticism.”
- Laura Bush says sexism possible in Miers criticism
- “First lady Laura Bush joined her husband in defending his nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday and said it was possible some critics were being sexist in their opposition to Harriet Miers.”
- Laura Bush sees sexism in Miers’s critics
- “Laura Bush stepped into the front line of defence of Harriet Miers, her husband's nominee for a Supreme Court vacancy, when she suggested yesterday that the attacks on her could be motivated by sexism.”
- Laura Bush suggests critics of Miers may be sexist
- “The White House fired back at conservative critics of Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers on Tuesday, with first lady Laura Bush suggesting sexism may underlie the opposition.”
More deception
- There will be deception
- As their world falls apart, media liars will get better at lying.
- The coming crisis
- We know it. We just don’t know what it is yet.
- Media misdirection
- What does it matter when major news organizations try to rewrite history through omission and misdirection?
- Obama campaign skirts campaign finance law
- I expected the New York Times to be silent on the illegal donations that the Obama 2008 campaign encourages. I should have known better: they’re trying to cover for the campaign. But the bigger issue is that laws that don’t get enforced are counterproductive; they encourage dishonesty and lawlessness.
- The Helter Skelter Media
- Joe the Plumber and the vengeance of the media.
- 19 more pages with the topic deception, and other related pages