When the other side can't tell the truth. About anything
April 22, 2010 10:58 am ET by Eric Boehlert
This particular case of right-wing misinformation is actually rather routine, and in the larger scheme of endless falsehoods lodged against Obama, it's a slight one. But it's telling, nonetheless, for just how casual right-wing bloggers lie about Obama. How nonchalantly they make stuff up. And worse, how they don't even care who knows it. It's really quite remarkable to watch.
This hiccup came last week and went mostly undetected. It's worth a look though, just to see how the online version of GOP telephone tag works, and how all the Obama Derangement Syndrome participants end up looking so irrational.
The supposed jewel was uncovered by the site JammieWearingFool as its chief blogger crowed about an overseas news nugget he'd found in which (surprise!) Obama acted the fool:
Here was the relevant passage, via Australia's ABC1 [emphasis added]
The US president made the comments to the 7.30 Report's Kerry O'Brien during an interview which will be aired on ABC1 tonight. O'Brien says during his 20-minute interview with Mr Obama, the US president shed some light on his relationship with Australia's Prime Minister.
"It was interesting. Diplomats and politicians say nice things about each other when they're having international chats," O'Brien said. But O'Brien says Mr Obama spoke candidly about their relationship - which has in the past been described as a "meeting of minds".
"He was quite expansive and quite genuine on what he saw as the commonality and connections between [he and Mr Rudd]. One of which was humility," O'Brien said.
The snarky blogger added this kicker:
Apparently he forgot to mention megalomania.
Ha! Ha! Get it? Obama goes around talking about his humility. He brags about being humble. (What's up with this guy?)
But did Obama ever "claim" that one of his personality traits was "humility"? That's what the blogger alleged. But based on the Australian report he linked to, Obama did no such thing. In fact, Obama himself never used the word "humility" in the article. That word came from the mouth of his Australian interviewer.
But Obama Derangement Syndrome bloggers didn't care. And in the hands of deep thinkers like JammieWearingFool, it all magically turned into an attack on Obama. And then everyone in the ODS galaxy of bright lights joined in the fun.
Fact-free blogger Patterico, last seen chasing his tail over the ACORN hoax, pushed the fictitious "humility" nonsense:
Hot Air's Ed Morrissey also pushed it. In fact, Morrissey even went to the the trouble of misquoting Obama to make the pointless "humility" story stick. Morrissey wrote:
Barack Obama told Australia’s ABC1 that he sees “commonalities” between himself and Australia’s PM Kevin Rudd, including apparently their totally awesome humility
As noted above, in the Austraila ABC1 article, it wasn't Obama who mentioned "commonalities" between himself and Rudd, it was ABC1's interviewer. But Morrissey pretended Obama said that in the news article. (Morrissey put quotation marks around commonalities.) And of course, Obama never bragged about his "totally awesome humility," although Morrissey pretended he did that, too.
And then The Weekly Standard's Mary Katherine Ham also pushed the phony story, complete with erroneous headline:
Obama: You Know What I Have in Common With Australian PM? Humility.
And in case TWS reader didn't get the point, the tags to the blog post read:
And then Jim Treacher at Tucker Carlson's Daily called pushed the phony item, claiming Obama "bragged" about his "humility." (Nice touch Jim.)
But guess what? None of this was true. Because when the video of Obama's interview with the Australian interviewer hit the airwaves everyone could see that Obama never mentioned the word "humility." (Read that part again and ponder the rampant dishonesty.) What Obama did do was note how "humble" the Australian Prime Minster was.
That was it.
So of course, the entire "humility" gotcha was a fake and Obama never said what bloggers dreamt he'd said. Obama didn't give an interview and "brag" about his "humility."
So how did the bloggers deal with their usual egg-on-the-face ending? You won't believe what JammieWearingFool wrote:
OK, so as it turns out it wasn't necessarily a direct quote in the interview, rather Obama saying heshares the same traits as Rudd, one of which is humility. Rudd is smart and humble, just like me!
To review, JammieWearingFool originally lied about what Obama said. Then when conceding he lied about what Obama said (i.e. it wasn't necessarily a direct quote!!!), JammieWearingFool lied again by claiming that Obama suggested he was "smart and humble" just like PM Rudd. Slight problem, Obama never said that, either.
Meanwhile at Hot Air, Morrissey amended his shoddy work by noting "humility" was the interviewer's characterization, not a direct quote from Obama. But then after admitting the whole gotcha was concocted, Morrissey set aside nearly 200 more words attacking Obama for being an ego-maniac. This, after Morrissey was caught peddling a fake story about Obama acting like an egomaniac.
Bottom line: ODS sure makes people do funny things. And yes RW bloggers, we're laughing at you.
This same thing happened on the Daily Caller last week - and on a regular basis there, actually, but I'll highlight one example!
Their resident fool, Jim Treacher, the guy who acted like he was hit on purpose by an SUV working for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton because they targeted him as a rightwing blogger, went off the deep end over the racist comments that several Congressmen heard when they were walking around Capitol Hill.
He recited several bogus talking points, cropped evidence out of his recitations that disproved his portrayals, etc.
I called him on his specific sins of omissions and factual oversights and outright lies in a series of posts that included links to several news sources that documented that 3 different Congressman had clearly said that they personally had heard the N word shouted in their direction that day. His reply?
He posted a link to an opinion piece from a rightwing hack who echoed Treacher's misleading comments, distortions, lies, and omission of relavent info and suggested that it proved that 3 Congressmen had NOT heard the N word!
I provided news stories with quotes from 3 guys, and he provided an OpEd from a righty which had IGNORED those factual resources that I easily found with Google searches.
The other side CAN'T tell the truth. About anything. It's like the guys on Maury who get caught by the Lie Detector telling lies to their girlfriends and they blame the lie detector instead of owning up to their multiple cheating ways. They can't tell the truth because if they do, they'll lose!
Bottom line: ODS sure makes people do funny things. And yes RW bloggers, we're laughing at you.
No. That can't be so. If you point something out, you MUST be whining about it. You can't possibly be pointing it out to MOCK those who behaved badly and in a dishonest way. You MUST be too sensitive, and taking their efforts too seriously.
You're pointing it out so you can invite others who read your stuff to LAUGH at them - to heckle them for their meager, pathetic attempts to attack others?
I got a blog to with two blogs on it so far. Help a brother get some traffic and comments on his blog:
One blog is called "Opposition to Obama Spoiling 1st Black Presidency" and the other is called "Objective View of Recent Bertha Lewis (ACORN) Video" the video that Beck ranted on where she is supposed to have promoted socialism! Go and check it out. Its called Political O.G. http://politicalgangster-wlbrook.blogspot.com/
Dear God, this has your panties all in a wad Boehlert? You must have WAY too much time on your hands. BTW, I mentioned before that you need a proofreader and that still stands. "Quick remarkable?"
The dissemination of inaccurate information should be a concern to everyone in a democracy because a democracy thrives on accurate information. Accurate information allows citizens in a democracy to make better decisions on government issues and policies. Madison and Jefferson emphasized this point in their writings quite frequently.
Boehlert was simply pointing out how even a minor lie is still blown out of proportion and compounded by the RW blogosphere. Your response just shows your unwillingness to see ANY truth (no matter how small) if it in any way reflects positively on this president.
Boehlert didn't twist any words or invent quotes, he simply showed how the right will lie about anything as long as it smears Obama. Then YOU come along and try to point a finger at Eric for pointing out lies. That's all he did. He shone a light on an EXAMPLE of RW deception... And being on the wrong side of this issue made you lash out.
The mere presence of Barack Obama on the scene has forced Republicans/conservatives to show the world who they really are and what they really stand for and it is NOT in the best interest of the American people, quite the contrary.
Before Obama came alone most Republicans' dirty deeds and hypocrisy were crafted in the dark before enacted into law. Just about all of their legislations favored big corporations, the rich and themselves, conversely, most Republicans' policies are clearly counter-productive to the interests of the vast majority of the American people. Since the New Deal, Republicans have been on the wrong side of every issue of concern to ordinary Americans; Social Security, the war in Vietnam, equal rights, civil liberties, church- state separation, consumer issues, public education, reproductive freedom, national health care, labor issues, gun policy, campaign-finance reform, the environment and tax fairness.
No political party could remain so consistently wrong by accident.
The only rational conclusion is that, despite their cynical "family values" propaganda, the Republican Party is a criminal conspiracy to betray the interests of the American people in favor of plutocratic and corporate interests, and absolutist religious groups.
Now that Obama, a black man, is president, Republicans can not contain themselves, nor do they see any need to contain themselves.
They are doing their dirt in the open and they believe none of this will hurt them politically... as long as the opposition is a black man, in effect, they are out to prove that America is still a racist country.
Once you put all of this together, you can only come up with one conclusion: Republicans are EVIL BASTARDS.
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Their resident fool, Jim Treacher, the guy who acted like he was hit on purpose by an SUV working for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton because they targeted him as a rightwing blogger, went off the deep end over the racist comments that several Congressmen heard when they were walking around Capitol Hill.
He recited several bogus talking points, cropped evidence out of his recitations that disproved his portrayals, etc.
I called him on his specific sins of omissions and factual oversights and outright lies in a series of posts that included links to several news sources that documented that 3 different Congressman had clearly said that they personally had heard the N word shouted in their direction that day. His reply?
He posted a link to an opinion piece from a rightwing hack who echoed Treacher's misleading comments, distortions, lies, and omission of relavent info and suggested that it proved that 3 Congressmen had NOT heard the N word!
I provided news stories with quotes from 3 guys, and he provided an OpEd from a righty which had IGNORED those factual resources that I easily found with Google searches.
The other side CAN'T tell the truth. About anything. It's like the guys on Maury who get caught by the Lie Detector telling lies to their girlfriends and they blame the lie detector instead of owning up to their multiple cheating ways. They can't tell the truth because if they do, they'll lose!
No. That can't be so. If you point something out, you MUST be whining about it. You can't possibly be pointing it out to MOCK those who behaved badly and in a dishonest way. You MUST be too sensitive, and taking their efforts too seriously.
You're pointing it out so you can invite others who read your stuff to LAUGH at them - to heckle them for their meager, pathetic attempts to attack others?
You CAN'T be serious.
How lovely and refreshing to have a POTUS that can string two intelligent sentences together . .
One blog is called "Opposition to Obama Spoiling 1st Black Presidency" and the other is called "Objective View of Recent Bertha Lewis (ACORN) Video" the video that Beck ranted on where she is supposed to have promoted socialism! Go and check it out. Its called Political O.G. http://politicalgangster-wlbrook.blogspot.com/
Boehlert didn't twist any words or invent quotes, he simply showed how the right will lie about anything as long as it smears Obama. Then YOU come along and try to point a finger at Eric for pointing out lies. That's all he did. He shone a light on an EXAMPLE of RW deception... And being on the wrong side of this issue made you lash out.
Sad for you.
Before Obama came alone most Republicans' dirty deeds and hypocrisy were crafted in the dark before enacted into law. Just about all of their legislations favored big corporations, the rich and themselves, conversely, most Republicans' policies are clearly counter-productive to the interests of the vast majority of the American people. Since the New Deal, Republicans have been on the wrong side of every issue of concern to ordinary Americans; Social Security, the war in Vietnam, equal rights, civil liberties, church- state separation, consumer issues, public education, reproductive freedom, national health care, labor issues, gun policy, campaign-finance reform, the environment and tax fairness.
No political party could remain so consistently wrong by accident.
The only rational conclusion is that, despite their cynical "family values" propaganda, the Republican Party is a criminal conspiracy to betray the interests of the American people in favor of plutocratic and corporate interests, and absolutist religious groups.
Now that Obama, a black man, is president, Republicans can not contain themselves, nor do they see any need to contain themselves.
They are doing their dirt in the open and they believe none of this will hurt them politically... as long as the opposition is a black man, in effect, they are out to prove that America is still a racist country.
Once you put all of this together, you can only come up with one conclusion: Republicans are EVIL BASTARDS.