Posted on 01/29/2006 5:52:37 PM PST by raccoonradio
LOWELL, Mass. -- Members of U.S. Rep. Martin Meehan's staff have acknowledged they deleted unflattering information about a broken campaign promise from an online encyclopedia, according to a published report.
Content on Wikipedia, an encyclopedia that relies on volunteers to post information, was replaced to remove references to Meehan's broken term limit pledge, the Sun of Lowell reported.
Meehan's chief of staff Matt Vogel told the newspaper that he oversaw the removal last July of information, which was replaced with a staff-written biography.
Meehan, a Lowell Democrat, pledged to serve just four terms _ eight years _ but he later broke that campaign promise. He's currently serving his seventh term.
"Meehan first ran for Congress in 1992 on a platform of reform," the pre-edited entry said, according to the Sun. "As part of that platform Meehan made a pledge to not serve more than four terms, a central part of his campaign. This breaking of the pledge has been a controversial issue in the 5th Congressional district of Massachusetts."
The new entry read in part: "Meehan was elected to Congress in 1992 on a plan to eliminate the deficit. His fiscally responsible voting record since then has earned him praise from citizen watchdog groups."
Vogel said some errors and "sloppy" writing was replaced. One error included a reference to Meehan attending Harvard.
"Let the outside world edit it," Vogel said. "It seemed right to start with greater depth than a paragraph with incorrect data from the 80s."
On Saturday, a note was displayed on Meehan's page that said "as a result of recent vandalism, editing of this page by new or anonymous users is temporarily disabled." It also noted on the page that there's "admitted Wikipedia vandalism by Meehan's staff."
Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, said removal of facts is wrong.
"You don't delete it," Wales said. "If they wanted to put in their side of things, that would seem ethically relevant, rather than just omitting it."
A new reference to Meehan's term limit pledge was reinserted in the Wikipedia entry in November, the Sun reported.
Some people don't understand; Democrats are allowed to 'adjust' the truth to coincide with the more beautiful world they envision. (It's for the children, and adults with the minds of children)
So what's the problem. If "anyone" can wiki than "anyone" will.
"Meehan first ran for Congress in 1992 on a platform of reform. As part of that platform Meehan made a pledge to not serve more than four terms a central part of his campaign. He won the 1992 election and was re-elected to Congress every two years since, including the latest election (2004). In the year 2000 when the Congressman ran for Congress, breaking his 1992 pledge, he called it a disservice to his constituents who continued to want him to be their Congressman. This breaking of the pledge has been a controversial issue in the 5th Congressional district of Massachusetts."
Hillary will pledge to serve out her full term if re-elected to the Senate this year. Shortly thereafter she will break that promise and announce for the Presidential race in '08. Another broken promise, coming soon.
Meehan was deeply disappointed, I'm sure, when Kerry lost in
'04. Had Kerry won there would have been a special election
for Senate and Meehan would've run. (_Early on election
night '04, one Mass. politician--might have been Cong. Lynch;
can't remember--announced that the following Saturday he would have a press conference to announce his run for that special
Senate election. Ha ha!)
That was Winston Smith's job, wasn't it? Those wacky Orwellian Democrats!
You've been Wiki'd !
Meehan is a political operative who lied and weaseled his way into office riding the promise of self imposed term limits, and who aspires to a higher place.
Finneran put him in his place a few years ago,almost knocking him out of the box. Tip O'Neil said it "All politics is local" and Finneran proved it. Therefore that guy (Meehan) will never again seek higher office.
I'm not sure who I despise more, so suffice it to say that I despise all politicians.
Yeah thats the ticket.
...Do You Remember?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/523293/posts
Martin T-for-Taliban Meehan:
9/14/01:
In the midst of the national crisis brought on by Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Massachusetts House Democrats Marty Meehan and Richard Neal slammed President Bush as bumbling and ineffective -- with Meehan even suggesting that the White House was lying about Bush being on the terrorists' target list.
"I don't buy the notion Air Force One was a target," the Bay State liberal said. "That's just PR. That's just spin."
On Wednesday White House spokesman Ari Fleicher told reporters that the Secret Service had received a specific and credible threat that Bush was a potential target, with a caller warning after the World Trade Center attacks, "Air Force One is next."
(snip)
Apart from charging that the Bush team had fabricated the threat to deflect criticism over Bush's delayed return to Washington after the disaster, Rep. Meehan suggested that former President Clinton would have handled the situation better.
"(Bush) is a new president and he doesn't have the experience that Bill Clinton had." Then Meehan added snidely, "Under the circumstances he's done pretty well."
Meehan, Sheehan, (shrugs) what's the differnce?
Meehan's Rat district couldn't care less, any more than Barney Frank's did.
Didn't he get caught changing his own Wikipedia entry?
Ah! Now I remember; and, of course, I think Howie also dubbed him Martin T-for-Taliban Meehan.
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