Tuesday, September 8, 2009

The NY Times Continues The Lies And Feeds The Wingnuts With Creative Editing.

Fer Crissake, can somebody make this stop? Please?

The President does NOT want to "pull the plug on Grandma."

In today's New York Times, statements made by President Obama during his Labor Day speech were so truncated that their meaning was completely twisted to become the opposite of what he actually said.

Here's the New York Times text:

Mr. Obama's Labor Day meeting with his advisers followed his return from an A.F.L.-C.I.O. picnic in Cincinnati, where he gave a rousing campaign-style pitch for his health care initiative that previewed some themes for Wednesday night. The president told thousands of cheering unionized workers that Congress should stop debating, because "it's time to act and get this done."

"I've got a question for all those folks who say we're going to pull the plug on Grandma," the president thundered. "What's your answer? What's your solution? And you know what? They don't have one. Their answer is to do nothing."

It makes it sound as though the President believes that killing your grandma is a viable alternative.

Here's the ACTUAL text, as spoken by the President (highlighted by me to show you what the NYT decided to ONLY use):

We have never been this close. We've never had such broad agreement on what needs to be done. And because we're so close to real reform, suddenly the special interests are doing what they always do, which is just try to scare the heck out of people. But I've got -- I've got a question for all these folks who say, you know, we're going to pull the plug on Grandma and this is all about illegal immigrants -- you've heard all the lies. I've got a question for all those folks: What are you going to do? (Applause.) What's your answer? (Applause.) What's your solution? (Applause.) And you know what? They don't have one. (Applause.) Their answer is to do nothing. Their answer is to do nothing. And we know what that future looks like: insurance companies raking in the profits while discriminating against people because of pre-existing conditions; denying or dropping coverage when you get sick. It means you're never negotiating about higher wages, because all you're spending your time doing is just trying to protect the benefits that you already fought for.
Of course, the NYT doesn't even mention that the President referred to all the wingnut accusations as lies.

So.

This is what passes for journalism in America today?

It makes me sick.

When news sources continually lie, it's no wonder America is populated by so many people who can pass for Teh Stupid™.

h/t to Media Matters.

2 comments:

Matt Osborne said...

False balance. It's everywhere in the village media; they can't even help themselves. If Sarah Palin declared the moon to be made of green cheese and Obama said, "no, it's made of rock," the village headline would be CANDIDATES DISAGREE ON COMPOSITION OF MOON.

Wolfe Tone said...

More like this, Matt:

FINAL TRUNCATED GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, NYT VERSION:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers… conceived a great civil war,…so … that this nation, … that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall… perish from the earth.

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