My most recent post discussed the newspapers I read to gather my information. I also mentioned that conservative newspapers are faux-news publications and I will not read them. But it is certainly fun stumbling upon examples of outright distortions and plagiarism in those conservative publications. To the Times we go, the Washington Times, that is.

In the November 9, 2004, edition of the Washington Times (online), Joseph Curl's piece, "Blue states buzz over secession," discussed the topic I covered in this post in November. Bush had just won (er, stolen?) re-election and secession talk was in the air. Lawrence O'Donnell discussed the topic on the November 5, 2004, edition of the McLaughlin Group.

Here is a delightful tidibit from Joseph Curl's piece:

The idea isn't just a joke; one top Democrat says, "The segment of the country that pays for the federal government is now being governed by the people who don't pay for the federal government."

Could this top democrat be Lawrence O'Donnell? From the McLaughlin Group:

MR. O'DONNELL: No, this mandate talk is ridiculous. And Tony just loosely used the word "everybody" -- (chuckles) -- which is very funny in a country where 49 percent said we've had this guy for four years and we don't want him for another minute. That's 49 percent. He has strength through the Republican Senate. That pickup in the Senate is very, very important. That's where all the strength's going to come from.

But he's -- the government's bankrupt. It can't do anything he's been talking about. He had a Social Security commission recommend options back when there was a gigantic surplus. None of their work is relevant to this deficit situation. But the big problem the country now has, which is going to produce a serious discussion of secession over the next 20 years, is that the segment of the country that pays for the federal government is now being governed by the people who don't pay for the federal government.

But why didn't Curl just mention that O'Donnell is the one who said this? It is obvious that the entire piece is about O'Donnell's appearance on the McLaughlin Group, as evidenced by this statement by Curl:

Mr. O'Donnell raised the subject of secession on "The McLaughlin Group" during the weekend. "Ninety percent of the red states are welfare-client states of the federal government," said Mr. O'Donnell, who was an aide to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, New York Democrat.

In a telephone interview, Mr. O'Donnell said the red states that went to Mr. Bush "collect more from the federal government than they send in. New York and California, Connecticut — the states that are blue are all the states that are paying for the bulk of everything this government does, from ... Social Security to everything else, and the people in those states don't like what this government is doing."

Oh really, you had this exclusive interview with Mr. O'Donnell, did you. From the same edition of the McLaughlin Group, in fact, just a few moments later:

MR. O'DONNELL: Ninety percent of the red states are welfare client states of the federal government. They collect more from the federal government than they send in. New York and California, Connecticut, the states that are blue are all the states that are paying for the bulk of everything this government does, from the ward of Social Security to everything else, and the people in those states don't like what this government is doing.

I guess Joseph Curl didn't realize that the McLaughlin Group publishes all of its transcripts on-line. You can view the Washington Times piece here and the McLaughlin Group transcript here.

I wouldn't call my piece "gotcha-journalism." I would just call the Washington Times piece poor journalism.

Sources: The Washington Times, The McLaughlin Group

Labels: bush