MSNBC.com's First Read, MSNBC's Morning Joe uncritically reported Palin's misquote of Albright, ignored Albright's explanation of her remarks
Please upgrade your flash player. The video for this item requires a newer version of Flash Player. If you are unable to install flash you can download a QuickTime version of the video.
SUMMARY: MSNBC.com's First Read and MSNBC's Morning Joe uncritically reported Gov. Sarah Palin's misquote of remarks by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, while ignoring Albright's actual quote and her reported elaboration on her remarks.
An October 5 post on MSNBC.com's First Read and the October 6 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe uncritically reported remarks Gov. Sarah Palin made during an October 4 rally in which she misquoted a statement by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Palin claimed: "You'll never believe what the quote was. It was Madeleine Albright. ... She said: 'There's a place in hell reserved for women who don't support other women.' " However, as CBS News' Scott Conroy and the Huffington Post's Nico Pitney reported prior to the First Read post, Albright actually said: "There's a place in hell reserved for women who don't help other women" [emphasis added]. Neither First Read nor Morning Joe made any apparent attempt to contact Albright to confirm the veracity and context of the quote. However, in a statement sent to The Huffington Post, which Pitney included in his article, Albright said her remarks "had nothing to do with politics." Pitney's article appeared on the Huffington Post at 1:16 a.m. October 5, hours before First Read's post, and more than a day before Morning Joe aired Palin's remarks.
During the October 4 McCain campaign rally in California, Palin purported to quote Albright's statement, which originally appeared on a Starbucks Coffee cup as part of a series of notable quotes from famous figures:
PALIN: I've gotta share with you -- it's like kind of providential -- yesterday, what happened to me. I can use this today after that introduction from [president of the National Organization for Women's Los Angeles chapter] Shelly [Mandell]. I'm reading on my Starbucks mocha cup, OK, the quote of the day. You'll never believe what the quote was. It was Madeleine Albright, former secretary of state and U.N. ambassador, and Madeleine has as her quote of the day for Starbucks -- now she said it, I didn't. She said: "There's a place in hell reserved for women who don't support other women."
However, Palin misquoted Albright's remarks, as CBS News' Conroy reported at 7:38 p.m. on October 4:
"Now she said it, I didn't," Palin said of Albright. "She said, 'There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women.' "
The crowd roared its approval, but according to several sources, Albright actually said, "there's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't help other women."
In an October 5 article, The Huffington Post's Pitney also noted that Palin misquoted Albright, and quoted Albright's statement responding to Palin's remarks:
Actually, Albright didn't say that. The accurate quote is, "There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't help other women."
[...]
Albright responded to Palin's remarks in a statement to the Huffington Post on Sunday. "Though I am flattered that Governor Palin has chosen to cite me as a source of wisdom, what I said had nothing to do with politics. This is yet another example of McCain and Palin distorting the truth, and all the more reason to remember that this campaign is not about gender, it is about which candidate has an agenda that will improve the lives of all Americans, including women. The truth is, if you care about the status of women in our society and in our troubled economy, the best choice by far is Obama-Biden."
Pitney also posted an image of the Starbucks cup that Palin referenced:
From the October 6 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:
PALIN [video clip]: I'm reading on my Starbucks mocha cup, OK, the quote of the day. You'll never believe what the quote was. It was Madeleine Albright, former secretary of state and U.N. ambassador. And Madeleine has as her quote of the day for Starbucks -- now she said it, I didn't. She said: "There's a place in hell reserved for women who don't support other women."
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, with us now NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell. Let's just talk about style for a second. 'Cause, I know, everybody was saying, "How is she going to do in the debate?" I noticed when she walked in, she said, "Do you mind if I call you Joe?" I thought, this woman --
MITCHELL: Who do you think you are, Tina Fey?
SCARBOROUGH: This woman loves it. She soaks up the attention. She is a born performer, isn't she?
MITCHELL: She is, and she seemed a little bit off her game after those, you know, TV interviews -- the Katie Couric interview, in particular. But boy, she was ready for the debate, as we've discussed.
Interesting that a president of a local NOW chapter introduced Palin at her campaign rally.
I wonder how the WITH'ers will spin Palin's introduction by a representative from such a "liberal" organization.
Now we know whats she reads...coffee cups...
Posted by redrhino56
Excellent post!
Palin should be ashamed. She advocates for policies that oppress women, just the type of woman that Albright was talking against in her quote.
Exactamundo, Mary. Palin's just sort of thrashing around like an idiot now, throwing out anything that's fed to her. I don't see a big difference between "help" and "support", but that's beside the point. It's ridiculous for Palin to be even trying to push the idea that supporting her is supporting "women".
Unless she's talking about instilling a sense of personal responsibility by telling those dames to pull up their bootstraps and shell out for their own rape kits.
I actually KNOW a woman who was beaten and raped, got pregnant as a result, and made the difficult decision to carry that child to term. It was then adopted. but I would never tell another woman that she HAD to do that.
There is more to that story, but I'll stop there. Palin and people who think like her are contemptible and shallow.
She's been quite busy this weekend, hasn't she? She misquoted albright, claimed Obama pals around with terrorists, and now has asked why aren't the press questioning his Rev. Wright connections. I'd like to know why the press aren't questioning her loony toons church connections, or her husbands well known connections to a terrorist organization that advocated succeeding from the US, who's founder said he hated America?
And what's the friggin' problem with McCain's staff? Geez!
McCain campaign member race baiting in Virginia
Stay classy, Bobby May:
I wonder if the McCain campaign will ask him to step down, or give him a promotion.
perhaps you mean seceding.
why, I did spell that wrong! We need a spell checker on this site.
Eye no that wood knot halve maid it any bitter.
So far every quote this woman uses is taken completely out of context and often is twisted around to fit her ideology.
I'm more concerned with the quote about small towns from her acceptance speech that she stole from the fascist writer, Westbrook Pegler.
The man who said "some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow flies." about Robert Kennedy during his 1968 run for the presidency.
Hey W-King, which quote was that?
BTW, I saw Religulous yesterday, and it includes a visit to your beloved Creationist museum. I'd never seen the life size diorama with the children playing at the edge of a pond as a T-Rex frolics nearby. The "curator" describes this display as having a "wow factor" and I can't argue with him.
In her acceptance speech, Palin said:
"A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman."
The writer she referenced was Westbrook Pegler.
The quote of his I used came from something Robert Kennedy Jr. had written for the Huffington Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/governor-palins-reading-l_b_126478.html
Thanks, WK. I guess I could have used the Googles, but I'm in a Monday lazy ass hobo sort of mood, so I took the Barney route to knowledge. Ask others to do the work!
Thanks Colonel. I had a link to that picture and can't seem to find it now. It's one of my favorite pictures of the last few years.
I've been taking my kids, and now my grandkids to the Natural History Museum at Yale since they were toddlers. I know they'd have a ball at the Creation Museum, but only because they, like their grandfather have a very twisted sense of humor.
We'd probably be thrown out for laughing so much.
WK, here's a good site with a photo-essay, and maybe where the photo came from originally. .Check the comments as you roll over each photo.
AMAZZZZZING! They looked right past her misrepresentation of Albright, who sent out a scathing retort to Palin and noted her misquote yesterday. Instead, the MSM just focuses on style, superfulousness and tactic. Glossed right on by the mistake and the insinuation that you either vote for Palin if you are a woman or you will go to hell. Real nice.
Well sounds like we'll be in good company.
For the record, Ms. Albright made the comment "there is a place in hell for women who do not help/support other women" while speaking to a group of women parliamentarians during a visit to Hungary. And, interestingly, earlier this year, when Hillary Clinton supporters embraced the comment during Hillary's battle with Barack Obama, Ms. Albright had no opposition to its use in a political setting.
Was Albright talking about women getting elected, or was she talking about women's issues? It makes a profound difference.
Merrian-Webster online first definition of "help": to give assistance or support ...
"Albright said her remarks 'had nothing to do with politics.'"
Really? Madeline Albright originally made the statement during a visit to Hungary. She was speaking to a group of Hungarian women parliamentarians. And, in March of this year, when Hillary Clinton was vying with Barrack Obama for the Democratic nomination, an online Hillary Clinton forum, which drew nearly a half-million hits, loved Ms. Albright's comment. "There is a special place in hell for women who do not support/help other women" ranked 38th among the hundreds of slogans suggested by Hillary supporters.
I think, in a post a moment ago, I misspelled Barak. I apologize.
Exactly. They have NO evidence that he's getting foreign donations, but he must be, because Newsmax said so? Man, that's pretty freakin' funny using them as a source of anything aside from say, a fish wrapper.
Exactly, the Obama camp should run an ad about her position on rape kits and abortion and end it with her saying that quote. That would be brutal.
The role of the Palindrone Twit is clear now. They'll use her as a talking points parrot, and try to draw the Obama campaign into the gutter, since the real issues are 100% against the Grampy/Twit ticket. They'll bounce her around the country, speaking in safe, Troglodyte districts where the crowds will drool in approval. She will avoid the press as much as possible, and if the Obama campaign responds in kind, they'll be accused of "sexism".
Pretty good plan, I guess, when it's all you've got.
Nerz, I saw some footage this morning of Palin speaking in Fla. (Clearwater?), and it must have been to the hardcore base, because it made the talking points she was spouting last week ( when she was supposed to be participating in a debate) sound relatively brilliant.
There are crowds of wingnuts going to see her, and cheering enthusiastically, but they really have to be the fringe. Even mildly wingnutty Repubs have to be embarrassed by this imbecile.
I read about her appearance in clearwater and found this information. Here's the link.
Reporters weren't permitted to wander around inside Coachman Park in Clearwater to talk to Palin's audience, the St. Petersburg Times reported.
"When reporters tried to leave the designated press area and head to where the crowd was seated, an escort would dart out, confront him or her and say, "Can I help you?" and turn the person around, Times staff writer Eileen Schulte wrote on the paper's Web site. When one reporter asked an escort, who would not give her name, why the press wasn't allowed to mingle, she said that in the past, negative things had been written, Schulte reported."
So much for freedom of the press.
And another reason as to how McCain's campaign now starts to look more and more Bush-like. I'm sure that signed pledges are next before they'll let anyone into a Palin campaign event, or I'm sure that they're screening out people who might disagree with her already.
Big surprise. No takers in the WITH Patrol so far. Figures.
I regret my description of Sarah Palin as an idiot, an air-head, a moron, a homophobe, a trash-talkin', uniformed fool. She is the PERFECT VP pick for John McCain. PERFECT. Although I am certain that it was not McCain, personally, that made the choice. He is incapable of making choices. It is not that Palin IS all the things I mentioned above, but that she will appeal to all of the idiotic, air-headed, homophobic,trash-talkin', uninformed fools who form the GOP base. In MY humble opinion, Sarah MAY be all those things. Somehow I can't really believe that anyone COULD be all those things. My suspicions tell me that she is "doing" a Tina Fey. Most politicians are good actors and present themselves as something they are not. That's a given. Any smart ad person knows, in order to "sell" a product, you need a spokesperson, someone who will give your product a "face" who will target a demographic. Get it?
Will somebody invite Foser to the mmfa staff meetings...or if he is invited...please listen to him once in a while.
-- With little more than a month to go before Election Day, voters need the news media to cut through the clutter of the candidates' competing sound bites and spin. They need clear and concise explanations of what, exactly, the candidates would do if elected. And they need the media to provide this every day, not just once in a while.
Unfortunately, they aren't getting it. Instead, they are faced with countless news reports that simply repeat charges and counter-charges or obsess over minor details while failing to provide the big picture - news reports that obscure rather than clarify the candidates' proposals and positions. -- Foser
mmfa has just set a new standard for WITH reporting...I guess they're trying to act like the big media folks. They pick nits over the words help or support.
mmfa cited no source or context for Albright's comments. mmfa cites Conroy, who provides no sourcing or context for Albright's comments. Pitney? He just reports that Conroy said it. If I've missed it...please don't hesitate to correct me.
In the meantime...will someone...hell, anybody...at mmfa listen to Foser. He gets it.
Umm. You do realize that MMFA is reporting ON the reporting. They don't actually report on the news. I'm just saying. It's called being a media watchdog. They don't write the news, they just report ON the news.
Umm...what I realize is that mmfa is complicit in the same shoddy reporting identified by Foser. You and mmfa may want to hide behind the excuse of reporting ON the news...but it doesn't wash. This type of article by mma adds nothing to the story...means nothing to anyone seeking information...it's simply partisan red meat to the legions.
It's exactly as Foser stated so well...just obsessing over minor details. Remember that the next time mmfa piously talks about a certain media reporting a story one way while ignoring a contradictory report from the same media...as well as mmfa ignoring Foser's sound advice.
In Albright's context, "help women" means exactly that, to help women. In a political context, "support women" means to vote for them. Albright's quote did not suggest that one bit.
In your next breath, you want to know the context for Albright's comments. Why? If context means anything, then it's not "picking nits" to point out the difference between "help" and "support" in differing contexts. If Albright was talking about women running for office when she made the comment, then you have a point.
Albright made her own comment. Believe it or don't, but it doesn't look like Palin has any basis for her interpretation, and the media should point that out.
I should say "As it stands on its own, 'help women' means exactly that". That's absent of a specific context.