Saturday, September 01, 2012
This is How it's Done
In sharp contrast to Keller and his ilk, the following is how you properly make and document a "He didn't say that" charge.
In Charlottesville, VA last Wednesday, President Obama petulantly said this:
The President is making stuff up. He's lying in order to accuse his political opponents of, er, lying. My finely tuned ability to detect irony tells me it is off the freakin' charts here.
See, you document what the speaker claimed was said, then you document what actually was said (making sure that what you quote does not contain what you are claiming was not said--this is an important step which the Democrats seem to be skipping) and then you present your contention fully and properly documented. It's really not that hard.
(h/t Mark Hemingway)
UPDATE: The paper of record, the NYT, just comes out and says that Mr. Newhouse did not say "We will not let truth get in the way" here. Of course, it's buried as the last sentence of the piece. Here's my logical set piece: The President complains that his opponents are fibbing, making things up and lying about his record in office. During this whining he says a Republican said something he did not say (this is where the NYT exits the analysis). Therefore he is lying about what the Republican said.
Lies about people allegedly lying, so you have both mendacity and projection. Or actually a trifecta of whining, lying and projection. This is not the campaign of a man confident in his re-election. He and I agree on that at least.
In Charlottesville, VA last Wednesday, President Obama petulantly said this:
Sometimes they just make things up. But they’ve got a bunch of folks who can write $10 million checks, and they’ll just keep on running them,” he said. “I mean, somebody was challenging one of their ads — they made it up — about work and welfare. And every outlet said this is just not true. And they were asked about it and they said — one of their campaign people said, ‘We won’t have the fact-checkers dictate our campaign. We will not let the truth get in the way.’ (Emphasis added).Well, no, the campaign person, Neil Newhouse, didn't say that. Here is what he said:
These fact-checkers come to those ads with their own sets of thoughts and beliefs. We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.Mr. Newhouse did not say: We will not let get truth get in the way. He did not even imply it in what he said. He's quoted here and here and and here and by the "paper of record," the NYT here. Not a one says "We will not let the truth get in the way." Not one.
The President is making stuff up. He's lying in order to accuse his political opponents of, er, lying. My finely tuned ability to detect irony tells me it is off the freakin' charts here.
See, you document what the speaker claimed was said, then you document what actually was said (making sure that what you quote does not contain what you are claiming was not said--this is an important step which the Democrats seem to be skipping) and then you present your contention fully and properly documented. It's really not that hard.
(h/t Mark Hemingway)
UPDATE: The paper of record, the NYT, just comes out and says that Mr. Newhouse did not say "We will not let truth get in the way" here. Of course, it's buried as the last sentence of the piece. Here's my logical set piece: The President complains that his opponents are fibbing, making things up and lying about his record in office. During this whining he says a Republican said something he did not say (this is where the NYT exits the analysis). Therefore he is lying about what the Republican said.
Lies about people allegedly lying, so you have both mendacity and projection. Or actually a trifecta of whining, lying and projection. This is not the campaign of a man confident in his re-election. He and I agree on that at least.
Labels: 2012 Presidential Race; Obama Lies
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:55 PM 
