Posted on 04/02/2011 7:39:16 AM PDT by FredJake
Apparently, the "watchdogs" at Media Matters - a radical left wing group funded in part by George Soros - think that accurately quoting a Democratic Congressman somehow constitutes a "smear," even when the context of the remark is explained.
A headline at Media Matters screams, "Right-Wing Media Smear McDermott; Claim He Called The Constitution "Silly"" with a subheadline claiming, "Right-Wing Media Declare McDermott Is "Tired Of Reading That Silly Old Constitution"."
Set aside for a moment the fact that Jim McDermott (D-WA) actually did say:
"I'm tired of reading the Constitution and all the silly things we’ve done for the last 13 weeks."
Media Matters made their argument by quoting Fox News, conservative blog Hot Air, National Review, and this Examiner.
...
To prove the point that Fox took McDermott out of context, Media Matters took Fox News out of context and only presented a tiny portion of a segment lasting nearly two minutes. Apparently, when one is at war with a network like Fox News, anything is fair.
...
Evidently, reading comprehension must not be a requirement for employment at Media Matters.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
I thought for sure Attorney Corporal Eric Holder would've shut them down by now after they exposed themselves as engaging in political partisanship last week.
Fecal matters.
Yes, but we shouldn’t give them fodder for their manure plant. mcdermott said: “I’m tired of reading the Constitution and all the silly things we’ve done for the last 13 weeks.”
He didn’t call the Constitution silly (thought that is clearly implied to those of us who know who and what mcdermott is), he said they have done silly thing for the last 13 weeks.
I’m sure there’s much better mcdermott sayings to attack him on than this.
Mr. McDermott is an intellectual, Progressive genius and
the people at Fox News or any of those other conservative
news organizations are not bright enough to understand what he was saying.
/Sarcasm/
You mean to say that someone actually READS this "examiner" twaddle?
Liberals have made it clear - over and over - that they do indeed regard the Constitution as having no legal authority beyond the symbolic. They will refer to it as a rhetorical device, but they do not think it is something with a specific meaning that needs to be adhered to. They treat it more as a mission statement than as the “supreme law of the land,” and they will distort it or ignore it whenever possible. So they indeed regard it as “silly” to take the specific words of the Constitution seriously. It’s just a “piece of paper” written by “dead white men” who were racists and slaveholders and never saw a jet plane or an automobile or a sex toy. You’ve all heard that argument repeatedly.
Chimera - “He didn’t call the Constitution silly (thought that is clearly implied to those of us who know who and what mcdermott is), he said they have done silly thing for the last 13 weeks.
I’m sure there’s much better mcdermott sayings to attack him on than this.”
“t is true that his statement does not juxtapose the words “silly” and “Constitution”, but he does use the inclusive “all”, indicating that he intended to group “reading the Constitution” into the general category of “the silly things we’ve done...”. So it is a fair statement to conclude that he meant to imply that reading the Constitution was one of a number of “silly things”. So either McDermott did not mean what he said, or didn’t understand what he was saying. Since he’s a liberal ‘Rat, either one is a valid explanation”.
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You are correct by using the word “all” he IS including the Constitution. If they can “parse” words....then hey, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. IMO McDermott knew EXACTLY what he was saying and I’m all broken up about “enemedia matters” and their hurt feelings. /s
Look how George Bush was crucified for eight years for making comments or statements the media jumped all over, some were obviously simple slips, or misunderstandings by the listeners, or just plain lies and embellishments by the media. They never cut him any slack. I for one am going to follow the same paradigm the liberals established when dealing with Republicans and conservatives in general. They are going to be held to account for their statements. They called down the thunder, now they'll have to live with it.
The congressman included “reading the Constitution” as part of the ‘silly things’ so there is truth there. Honestly though I did think it was a stretch to make the attack and I felt that it was journalistic behavior more suited to those on the left.
Media Matters lives on grandiose exaggeration and when the Soros money dries up they’ll need a little more substance. If they are able to get tax exempt status as a non-partisan educational institution then there is no justice in the tax code. It is an arm of the Democratic Party!
Agreed, Chimera. We shouldn’t let them get away with this crap anymore. BUT - and it’s a big but - we only make ourselves appear to lack credibility by going after fairly easily refuted statements. Remember who we are dealing with; a bought and sold un-free press, a dumbed-down, mind-numbed, self-interested electorate, and a whole lot of entities that are interested in seeing people like you and me fail. We have to pick our battles carefully. (And, of course, act with integrity, unlike our opponents).
I tend to agree with you, the left is far more ideological and monolithic while the right encompasses far more varied strata in American society. But there are better things to attack them on, to make them stand up and defend in the face of their own words and actions. Cases of staggering political hypocrisy that it’s important not to waste the real estate.
Here’s one....
This Wisconsin mess and Obama weighing in on the side of the unions...well let’s look into his life. His kids actually attend a non-union elite private school and why is that? Because the schools that have unions suck big time - but he cannot say that since he is politically tied to that albatross - and the money they give him. There was a funding program in DC that actually paid for DC inner city children to attend the same school that Obama’s daughters attended...so what did this paragon of virtue do....he cut the spending of that program at the behest of the teachers unions and those poor black kids are now closed out. What does that make of Obama, what does it make of the teachers unions, what does it make of these self-righteous liberal Democrats that scream their support for the poverty stricken inner city, what does it make of their commitment to help education when their leader wants nothing of what they have to offer? It makes them all hypocrites who really don’t belong in political life!
That is massive hypocrisy, impossible to hide, yet has not been mentioned in this media orgy of lies coming out of Wisconsin and Washington DC. Media Matters can’t touch it because it is so true and so hypocritical.
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