Media Lies About Sarah Palin Korea Comments (Global Hit on Palin)

Thursday, November 25, 2010 | Kristinn

[kristinn]

A hit piece by a liberal blogger about a slip of the tongue by Sarah Palin regarding the crisis on the Korean peninsula has become an international news story that is being spun to impugn Palin's credibility as a potential presidential candidate.

Palin has been dishonestly quoted out of context in dozens of articles and broadcast reports as saying on the Glenn Beck radio show on Wednesday, "We gotta stand with our North Korean allies."

Here, in context, is what Palin actually said (transcription by Kristinn):

Glen Beck: "Sarah you said, you said in the last few days that you are considering a run for president. And uh, polls show that you would probably win the Republican nomination. How would you handle a situation like just developed in, in North Korea?"

Palin: "Well, North Korea, this is stemming from I think a greater problem when we're all sittin' around asking, "Oh no, what are we gonna do?" and we're not having a lot of faith that the White House is gonna come out with a strong enough policy to, um, sanction what it is that North Korea is gonna do. So this speaks to a bigger picture here that certainly scares me in terms our national security policies. But obviously, gotta stand with our North Korean allies. We're bound to by, by treaty."

Beck: "South Korea."

Palin: "We're also bound by, yeah, we're also bound by prudence to stand with our, our South Korean allies. Yes. And, uh, you know to remind North Korea, well, we're not gonna reward bad behavior and we're not gonna walk away. And we do need to press China to do more to increase the pressure on North Korea."

The smear started with liberal blogger Oliver Willis who posted an entry with the title, AUDIO: Sarah Palin: "We Gotta Stand With Our North Korean Allies. The blog post did not transcribe Palin's interview with Beck, it just had a snarky comment, "Genius. Absolute genius. When Glenn Beck is correcting you on foreign policy, well… genius."

Willis included the audio clip in his post which this transcription is based on. As can be seen, it was a simple slip of the tongue. But, because of how Willis disingenuously framed it, the slip has become "truth" to once again be used to smear Palin as ignorant of foreign affairs.

The hit piece was picked up by Mediaite, a site founded by former MSNBCer Dan Abrams, which titled their hit piece, Sarah Palin - North Korean Allies.

Mediaite also posted the audio clip. But even with the evidence that the comment was clearly a slip of the tongue, Mediaite smeared Palin as ignorant by quoting her out of context rather than publishing the entire exchange with Beck.

For good measure, Mediaite brought back a previous smear of Palin that claimed in 2008 when she was selected to be John McCain's running mate she did not know Korea was divided between North and South.

The Weekly Standard came to Palin's defense last night with a piece that chided her critics for the smear.

That did not stop the smear from going global, however. A Google News search shows nearly one hundred articles accusing Palin of not knowing that South Korea is our ally.

Wire services, broadcast networks and newspapers across America and the globe have gleefully picked up the smear.

The BBC piled on today with an article that said, "Her slip of the tongue over North Korea will provide more ammunition for critics who say she doesn't have sufficient knowledge or experience for high office."

The Times of India headlined their article, Sarah Palin's Latest Verbal Gaffe - North Korea an Ally.

It is a testament to Palin's global reach and influence that such a simple slip would garner worldwide headlines and be used by her enemies here and abroad to smear her.

However, the truth must be told and the media once more shamed for their duplicitious reporting.

[ought-six]

“The media is the enemy. Period. End of story.”

That pretty much sums it up.

[Pikachu_Dad]

From the team of 5.

China is our nominal ‘friend’ and one of the party of five.

They are the masters of North Korea and are the appropriate party to reign their little friends in.

They have the power to because of the aid they provide them.

[eak3]

This crap from the same media that turned the other way when the President had no idea what a corpseman was?

[Pikachu_Dad]

It was clearly a math mistake. Give it a rest.

He started to say he had been to all 50 states.

Then backed it off to ‘57’ because he had not been to x and y yet; and his handlers were not going to let him go to Hawaii.

So clearly he just did the math wrong in his head. He forgot to drop the 1 from the tens column when he subtracted 3 from 50.

It happens.

There was nothing ‘muslim’ in the context.

[Balding_Eagle]

Odd mistake isn’t it, a guy whom the majority of Americans thinks is muslim before he is an American accidently gives out the number of muslim states instead of the number of American states.

What was it Rush said this week about Freudian slips? Accidently telling the truth?

[apoliticalone]

China needs to be using their influence and their trillions in our US dollars to take care of this situation. They have the money, we don’t. We’re almost broke by any measure, and what are we still doing with 30,000 troops on their soil 60 years after the war? That’s what SP should have said.

[plain talk]

I don’t agree that she was quoted out of context. she said what she said and it was an obvious slip of the tongue noticeable by anyone with half a brain.

[CharlesWayneCT]

We joke about that. But he had been to 47 states at the time, because they weren’t letting him go to Alaska or Hawaii, and he had one more other state to go.

And even if you think he said 57 because of the 57 muslim states, it was still a gaffe — he certainly doesn’t really think there are 57 UNITED states. We can PRETEND he was too stupid to know how many states there are, but we know he knows.

[trappedincanuckistan]

The funniest thing is that blogger actually does stand by north korea in all likelihood!

[erlayman]

It’s always better to be on offense-you have the upper hand. Taking your answers to the next level of depth is the only way to shut them up (critics AND interviewers).

[Berlin_Freeper]

With Obama as president North Korea is our ally.

[Wolfstar]

That said, we must defend Sarah Palin...

Why "must" we defend her? She's a big girl who claims she can beat the incumbent president. If she wants to take on the biggest job in the world, she need to prove to us that she's capable and up for it. It's up to her to defend herself by acquiring the knowledge and -- dare I say it -- gravitas for the job.

I won't defend her just because she's a conservative. In fact, just the opposite. I expect more of her; not only her, but any candidate on my side of the political aisle. I want to be proud of them, not run around defending indefensible drivel about a critical foreign policy matter.

It doesn't matter what Obama, Biden, the MSM or anyone else did or said or flubbed up. What matters is that our candidates be far better than the opposition.

[library user]

ON the other hand, don’t we continually bring up his “57 states” quote, and his “muslim faith” quote, even though we know they were both gaffes?

57 states might have been a gaffe, but trust me, the "muslim faith" quote was no gaffe.

[rbmillerjr]

“not run around defending indefensible drivel about a critical foreign policy matter.”

Of course it wasn’t indefensible drivel, Gov. Palin had mentioned SK as our ally 8 seconds prior to misspeaking. She misspoke, big difference.

The truth cant be repeated enough.

[TomasUSMC]

How would you handle a situation like just developed in, in North Korea?

“Well, North Korea, this is stemming from I think a greater problem when we’re all sittin’ around asking, “Oh no, what are we gonna do?” and we’re not having a lot of faith that the White House is gonna come out with a strong enough policy to, um, sanction what it is that North Korea is gonna do. So this speaks to a bigger picture here that certainly scares me in terms our national security policies.
///////
What the hell kind of answer is that? Putting aside her South/North misspeak, she says she doesn’t have faith that odumbi will be tough enough and that she Palin, is worried. She does not answer this well at all. She needs to understand that its ok to pause a moment and come up with a good answer......

later she does. Putting more pressure on China! Exactly.

The question was what would she do.

A question she knew without a doubt would be coming up!

She needs to practice taking her time. Go ahead baby griz. Crush ‘em, just remember you ain’t gotta crush ‘em all instantly.

PUT PRESSURE ON CHINA. BINGO.

[Candor7]

A verbal gaffe does not a crisis make.

Governor Palin has what it takes.

You can be sure of that.

Its up to her to decide whether she should alter her colloquial methods and go over to statesman speak.

You gotta remember , she is sittin' there in Beck's studio bein' just who she is, a self made American, born without a silver spoon in her mouth, just like we need.This is no time to have insecure penchants about elitists who sound good and say only what everyone wants to hear. We are far too used to that.

Could she stare down the North Koreans?

" You Betcha!"

Not only that, she would lay a hurtin' on 'em if they pushed like they just have. She would not call the UN. Thats good enough for me. " Stand with our Allies!"( But Obama , you see wants to redefine and revise history, milions will die as a result, Sarah will not allow it in her goodness.)

I thought what she said was great, and I loved the way she said it.I certainly won't become an apologist for her quality of speech.LOL. But then, I came up through an environment just like hers, with deer and moose hangin' in the wood shed every fall, pickin' fiddle heads , strawberries, blue berries, raspberries and cranberries, fishing for salmon.That's another world from what most Americans know. And it is a good world. That's what her speech quality reminds me about.Sophisticated America has lost touch with the strength of our land, that good earth beneath our feet.That's part of sophisticated America's burgeoning malaise. It is that strength that makes Sarah Palin almost invulnerable.

She is exactly what priggish, overly sophisticated America needs.And that is why the liberal fascists are scared to death of her. Sarah Palin is just not sophisticated enough for them to destroy her. Sophistication equals attack-ability. They can't get a handle on her and so resort to desperate measures of lying, misquoting, scurrilous attacks on her children. She just breezes right through them.Do you get that part? I think its a riot of mal-attempted defamation.No conservative should fall for it.

This attempted defamatory process is also highly entertaining and most Americans actually have evolved to really love her after being entertained.The more she is attacked, the more her support grows.

The enemies of America have a tremendously skilled and effective adversary in Sarah Palin. If she aces liberal fascists like she has shown us , can you imagine how she would handle bad boys like Kim Jung Un? I would pay to see that. As a matter of fact, I WILL PAY to see that, as much as I can afford to, right into Governor Palin's campaign fund.(I may work for her campaign directly, the resume is in.)

BTW, other rustic figures of America where denigrated in the same way as Sarah is today.. There were several, but Congressman David Crockett comes to mind. How many of us think he would NOT have made a good president? Its really laughable. He would have made a fine president.So will Governor Palin.

[Candor7]

BTW, I do agree,it is indeed time for Sarah Palin to “come out here.”

Yes, she should ba at the DMZ there in Korea, and she will gather a press following as well in doing so.

[convertedtoreason]

Gosh! She won this one!

The woman fights!

She knows how to turn a negative/attack into her favor!

She’s becoming a shrewd “spin” tactician!

This is an example why this Palin is really ahead of her contemparies:

SHE FIGHTS!

[Wolfstar]

By “indedfensible drivel,” I was not speaking of her gaffe, but her entire really shallow, amateurish response. She really needs to do a LOT better than that if she’s going to become a serious presidential contender. Why conservatives, of all people, would excuse such shallowness is beyond me. So much is always on the line in every presidential election, but 2012 looks to be extraordinarily critical. I’m waiting for Palin to demonstrate unequivocally that she’s no lightweight. Having conservative views is a good start, but by no means enough. We should be demanding more of all the candidates, not excusing their weaknesses.

[ScottinVA]

I love Sarah, but even without the "North Korean allies" slip, it was a weak, fumbling answer. She has to become -- in very short order -- much sharper on worldwide matters. She`s already in a deficit with voters beyond the conservative base.. slipups like these will dig her deeper.

Of course her heart`s in the right place -- muscular foreign policy and an America that takes second to none -- but she has to do a far better job convincing moderates and indie voters she`s a serious candidate who has the knowledge and understanding of the challenges that will face whomever is our President after 2012.

She needs media training on concise messaging and a crash course on world events in short order. Yes, it`s a horrifically slanted, agenda-driven media... but Sarah has to rise above it and be ready to face it head-on. Fumbles like these -- in a relatively friendly venue, no less -- are only handing her future political opponents free campaign attack ads.

She simply needs to improve her game.