Drudge Report deceptively advanced accusation that Biden wrongly "credit[ed] stimulus for fire station"
SUMMARY: The Drudge Report linked to an article with the headline "Biden credits stimulus for fire station -- funded under Bush." But after facts emerged that undermined that claim, the Drudge Report removed any reference to the article and did not subsequently link to an updated version of the article or in any other way note the evidence undermining the accusation against Biden that it had forwarded.
On April 2, the Drudge Report linked to a McClatchy Newspapers article about Vice President Joe Biden's April 1 event in Pikeville, North Carolina, with the headline: "Biden credits stimulus for fire station -- funded under Bush..." The McClatchy article was a shortened version of an article by the Raleigh News & Observer, a subsidiary of McClatchy, that quoted Republican state Sen. David Rouzer's assertion that Biden was being "disingenuous" for crediting federal stimulus money for investment in the fire house and also quoted Rouzer saying, "They're coming in and cherry picking the best projects and switching out the money, saying it's stimulus money. ... But it was already approved and in the pipeline." However, at 6:04 p.m. ET on April 2, The News & Observer updated the article to note that officials at the Department of Agriculture "disputed" Rouzer's account, providing as evidence a copy of the fire department's application for government funds, and also reported that the president of the local fire department said the department "did not officially apply for the money until March 5" -- after the stimulus bill became law on February 17. McClatchy similarly updated its version of the article. The Drudge Report, however, which had between 7:19 a.m. ET and 5:50 p.m. ET featured the headline asserting that Biden had wrongly "credit[ed] stimulus for fire station," promptly removed any reference to the McClatchy article at 6:04 p.m. ET. The Drudge Report did not subsequently link to the updated News & Observer or McClatchy articles or in any other way note the evidence undermining the claim that Biden had wrongly credited the stimulus bill with funding the fire station.
Additionally, at approximately 6:30 p.m. ET on the April 2
edition of Fox News' Special Report
-- about 25 minutes after The News & Observer had updated its
article -- host Bret Baier repeated Rouzer's claim that Biden was being
"disingenuous" for crediting the stimulus bill for funding the fire
house, without noting the
Department of Agriculture's response or the local fire chief's
statement.
From the "update" to The News & Observer article, which, according to The News & Observer website, was "Modified Thu, Apr. 02, 2009 06:04PM":
Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday disputed statements by officials from a volunteer fire department in North Carolina and a state senator about when the fire department's recently announced loan and grants for a new fire station were approved.
Leaders of the Pikeville Pleasant Grove Volunteer Fire Department and N.C. Sen. David Rouzer, a Republican, said Wednesday that the department had requested the $1 million loan and at least some of the $150,000 in grants last year and was working through the application process with the Bush administration.
The fire department's president, Russell Robertson, said he was told the loan was approved in December. Contract bids for the new station were put out in January, he said. Rouzer, who worked for the Agriculture Department in the Bush administration, accused the Obama administration of being disingenuous because Vice President Joe Biden, who visited the fire department Wednesday, announced that the fire department was receiving stimulus money through the Obama administration.
Robertson reiterated his December time frame Thursday morning. But after speaking with USDA officials, Robertson said later in the day that he had misunderstood the process. He said the fire department did not officially apply for the money until March 5. USDA provided a copy of the application with that date.
McClatchy's version of the article was similarly updated to include the Department of Agriculture's response to Rouzer's claim:
State Sen. David Rouzer, a Republican who represents Pikeville and worked in the Agriculture Department under President Bush, said he helped secure the fire department money last year out of the federal agency's regular programs.
"They're coming in and cherry picking the best projects and switching out the money, saying it's stimulus money," Rouzer said. "But it was already approved and in the pipeline. It's totally disingenuous to come down here and say this is stimulus money, when regardless of whether a stimulus bill passed, they were getting the money."
Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday disputed that version of events. They provided a copy of the application with a March 5 date showing that that's when the department applied for the money. The president of the local volunteer fire department, after speaking with officials, later said USDA may be correct.
The Drudge Report featured the headline and link to the McClatchy article until at least 5:50 p.m. ET on April 2:
The Drudge Report no longer featured the headline and link to the McClatchy article at 6:04 p.m. ET on April 2:
The accompanying photo of Biden was left on the website until at least 6:22 p.m. ET.
From the April 2 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier:
BAIER: Well, Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Pikeville, North Carolina, Wednesday with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to announce a new wave of federal stimulus funds for essential services in rural communities. Biden used the town's outdated fire station as a backdrop, saying, quote, "We're investing in places like this all across the country to demonstrate the vital role towns like this play in the recovery."
Pikeville is getting money for a new station, but Republican state Senator David Rouzer says it's not from the stimulus. It's actually from money approved by the Bush administration. Rouzer told McClatchy Newspapers, quote, "They're coming in and cherry-picking the best projects and switching out the money, saying it's stimulus money. But it was already approved and in the pipeline. It's totally disingenuous to come here and say this is stimulus money, when regardless of whether a stimulus bill passed, they were getting the money."
Does Fox feed Drudge, or does Drudge feed Fox? Either way it's a plateful of indigestion.
I think they feed each other; either can claim nonsense, the other will run with it, and they're off on a cycle of lies while "citing" each other to justify themselves.
That would be called a "symbiotic" relationship. This is in contrast to the "parasitic" relation that both entites have with America.
I won't condemn Drudge for running the original item; it was, after all, what the news report said.
But I will condemn Drudge for simply dropping the item and refusing (and note choosing the word "refusing" rather than "failing" was deliberate) to run or link to the corrected version when it no longer served as a convenient "gotcha" was reprehensible.
How nice of you, Larry. So because Drudge only LINKS means he has NO responsibility, is it?
So McClatchy, Drudge & the newspaper all get away without doing ANY homework. No need to check with the govt to verify the GOP state senator's claim, right?
Instead, once again, our press is just running a headline and a story predicated on garbage that flies out of the face of another loudmouth GOP politician.
Don't forget, oulets like Fox News & CNN think this is still 1999 and the Drudge actually SCOOPS stories instead of what he really is today: just linking to gatuitous stories meant only to embarrass Obama & Dems.
I should have checked back sooner; I assume after this time this reply will go unread. Still, I want to say it.
So because Drudge only LINKS means he has NO responsibility, is it?
Sneering is not argument. And the accusation that I claimed Drudge had "NO responsibility" is absurdly wrong. Try to follow this:
1. First, no, he has no responsibility to independently verify a story before he links to it, any more than a local paper must independently verify a wire service story before it runs it. His responsibility in that case is to accurately reflect and cite his source, which he did. (I wonder how many of our "citizen journalists" would have to shut down if that requirement for verification before linking was imposed on them.)
2. However, when the story was updated twelve hours later, he at that point had the responsibility - the ethical obligation - to note and link to the update. Which he failed to do. I called that "reprehensible," which would be a truly odd description if I thought he had "NO responsibility" because he "only LINKS."
Is that clear enough? Nuance doesn't seem to be one of your strong points.
Like Anne Coulter said: Drudge NEVER needs to correct any of his stories.
Because he just links to baloney and then removes them when they are called out.
Real nice. Hopefully the MSM realizes this is not 1999 and Drudge is usually wrong because he never has a scoop and just links to any old crap that makes Obama / Dems look bad.
This entire story is tawdry...from the shabby reporting...to Biden's photo op.
When I first read the story I didn't see where Biden was claiming stimulus funding for the project. He was clearly quoted as saying, "We're investing in places "like" this all across the country"...not that it was actually funded by stimulus money...he was clearly cherry picking this fire dept. for a nice photo op.
But it's also a shabby defense to claim that the fire dept. "did not officially apply for the money until March 5". To submit the request on Mar.5 meant that they had been working on the request for a long time prior...making the "officially apply" disclaimer silly.
Much ado about nothing...except keeping the blathering press and pundits with something to do.
Tawdry? Guess you can't ever get your little hands dirty with those awe-ful photo ops. whoops. But unlike shrub, when Biden and Obama have photo ops, the people get the money they're promised.
When shrub posed with someone, it was the kiss of death: their usefulness was over, and their funding was cut the next day or week.
one question. Why is agriculture funding fire stations?
Because they barley corn get the hoses out to the wheat fields.
"We're investing in places like this all across the country," Biden said, "to demonstrate the vital role towns like this play in the recovery."
Not in Pikeville - money like that takes months or years to materialize. Biden, like the cheap politicial hack he is, claimed credit for the Obama administration for something they had nothing to do with. The contracts were let in January - they knew they had the money then, or they wouldn't have let the contracts. The 'facts' MMFA cite do not undermine the report at all.
Biden is a liar, and a stupid liar at that. Reminds me of Blagojevich, only with less integrity.
Nice projection. Note the correction again, and stop making stuff up. You remind me of Blagojevich, only with less integrity.
Joe who?