From
Robert Parry:
"When historians sort out what happened to the United States at the start of the 21st Century, one of the mysteries may be why the national press corps ganged up like school-yard bullies against a well-qualified Democratic presidential candidate while giving his dimwitted Republican opponent virtually a free pass."
Parry recalls how the media, with help from the RNC, misquoted Gore, stripped his remarks out of context, improved on their misquoting of him, changed it a bit more to improve on the grammar, and then fed it into the
Mighty Wurlitzer, and smeared Gore in just about every paper and every cable news show in the nation.
"The New York Times ran a slightly less contentious story with the same false quote: "I was the one that started it all."
The Republican National Committee spotted Gore's alleged boast and was quick to fax around its own take. "Al Gore is simply unbelievable – in the most literal sense of that term," declared Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson. "It's a pattern of phoniness – and it would be funny if it weren't also a little scary."
The GOP release then doctored Gore's quote a bit more. After all, it would be grammatically incorrect to have said, "I was the one that started it all." So, the Republican handout fixed Gore's grammar to say, "I was the one who started it all."
In just one day, the key quote had transformed from "that was the one that started it all" to "I was the one that started it all" to "I was the one who started it all."
These guys have no shame. And when you wonder how it was that an incurious oaf like Bush was able to get himself into the WH, thank our shameless news media.
These guys have no shame. And when you wonder how it was that an incurious oaf like Bush was able to get himself into the WH, thank our shameless news media.