David Drumm has already addressed the mistake made by President Barack Obama in his jobs speech to Congress when he called Abraham Lincoln “the founder” of the Republican Party. It is a common mistake, as David points out. However, I am more interested in what appears to be a bit of helpful editing by PBS. The gaffe has mysteriously disappeared like last year’s pledge drive.
Here is what Obama said according to the New York Times:
“We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. Founder of the Republican Party. But in the middle of a civil war, he was also a leader who looked to the future — a Republican President who mobilized government to build the Transcontinental Railroad — (applause) — launch the National Academy of Sciences, set up the first land grant colleges. (Applause.) And leaders of both parties have followed the example he set.”
Here is what PBS reported:
“We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. But in the middle of a Civil War, he was also a leader who looked to the future – a Republican president who mobilized government to build the transcontinental railroad; launch the National Academy of Sciences; and set up the first land grant colleges. And leaders of both parties have followed the example he set.”
PBS corrected the transcript after objections (and suspicions) were raised by its posting. Conservatives jumped on the issue and questioned whether federal funding or political sympathies played a role in the edit. Others have noted that organizations like Times magazine were quick to nail Mike Huckabee on the same error — in that case, it was a certain Time Mag employee named Jay Carney.
Putting aside the conspiracy theories, PBS (as a news organization) should explain how this one embarrassing line was edited out of the speech. There may be an innocent explanation (such as using the prepared text which did not include the gaffe), but there should be an explanation for PBS to remain credible.
This is a minor matter in my view, though (if PBS is using the prepared text rather than the actual speech), it is a poor practice for a leading and respected news organization. It is ironic in the case of Obama who relies heavily on a teleprompter and rarely departs from prepared remarks.
Another fake controversy. When are we ever going to stop playing in the hands of the Rethugs?
rafflaw,
I was referring to the beer fest in the Rose Garden at the White House in 2009 (Prof. Gates and Sgt. Crowley with Biden and Obama) … but the earlier movie was also hilarious.
George W Bush one liner:
”They misunderestimated me.” (Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000)
Yep, they certainly did.
Blouise,
the beer fest movie was hilarious. Those same guys were even better in Super Troopers.
This issue is a non-issue. Why isn’t the Right upset when Cheney says waterboarding is not a crime and that it was successful in getting actionable intelligence? The facts have shown that it is just a fabrication.
The transference of our hopes, dreams, confidences, protection, and the like from parents as children, to the government as adults presents these kinds of problems (“don’t let the kids know that”).
It is not too much unlike telling a child “your daddy has another girlfriend besides your mother”. If the child believes it the child’s world is destroyed in a sense, but if the child does not believe it then the child’s world is saved.
Connect the dots.
Anonymously Yours1, September 12, 2011 at 11:12 am
————————
hahahaha….except, hmmm, not so funny…..
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/08/09/tex-shelters%e2%80%99-speech-at-the-conservative-republicans-engaged-in-excessive-politics-c-r-e-e-p/
PBS’s explanation is credible and I believe Byron York.
What I don’t believe is the stupidity Obama once again displayed … reminds me of the Beer Fest comedy back in the summer of 2009.
New GOP Bumper Sticker:
http://www.cafepress.com/+gop_republican_message_of_2012_sticker_bumper,572262344
I think it sums up the whole game….
To say nothing of the fact that used to happen all the time when Boy Blunder uttered something stupid. The White House would edit it out of the transcripts & even the liberal NY Times and Wash Post would reprint the sanitized version. Con jobs had no problem with this.
But let the even the liberal PBS reprint the original transcript instead of the spoken word and of course it is automatic evidence of a giant conspiracy.
Conservatives truly have nothing to complain about if this is a great injustice that sends them all to the fainting couch. Some guy posted a pre-speech transcript and didn’t notice the difference in the actual speech until later. “Fixing a speech for a liberal president- is it any wonder!” “If it were a Republican president they would never have censored the error for him!” “Oooooh, liberal conspiracy!”
You know…When you can’t rely on PBS, NPR, APM etc for accuracy in reporting you have problems….If it was censured…then they should be held accountable for the correction….FWIW…
“Fox news . . . is one entity.”
Fox News is one holding of News Corporation, a multinational media conglomerate. It is the world’s second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world’s third largest in entertainment as of 2009. The Chairman and CEO is Rupert Murdoch.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, through his Kingdom Holding Company, owns 7% of News Corp.’s shares, making Kingdom Holdings the second largest shareholder.
For a list of newspapers, magazines, and broadcast outlets owned by News Corporation, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_Corporation#Holdings .
In anticipation of US midterm elections, News Corp. donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association in June 2010. The Democratic Governors Association criticized the donation and demanded that News Corp.add a formal disclaimer to coverage of governors or gubernatorial races. Around the same time, News Corp. also donated $1 million to the United States Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber aggressively supported the Republican effort to retake Congress in 2010.
that is funny about Fox news since it is one entity.
Obama has PBS, CBS, NBC, CNN, ABC and most major newspapers and magazines campaigning for him.
And you all worry about one lone voice?
2012 is going to be a good year and we have Obama to thank for that.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/12/new-cnn-poll-perry-on-top-when-it-comes-to-electability/ Thought last weeks debate might have hurt Perry. Guess not. The Tea Party Express debate is tonight. The Obama Perry race is going to be very nasty, and Obama is going to need all the PBS support he can muster.
Perhaps Congress should defund TOTUS so we can hear more of what Obama actually believes.
Better that Rupert Murdoch controls all available media. That’s what the republicans had in mind before he took his fall.
From here:
UPDATE: Byron York emails that they’re lazy, not dishonest: “On the pbs obama transcript thing…I looked at the text of the speech that the white house sent out before it was delivered…and the transcript of the speech that the white house sent out after it was delivered…and he adlibbed the ‘founder of the republican party’ line…it wasn’t in the original text…it seems pretty clear to me that pbs simply posted the text of the speech on its website and went home…and the new york times posted the transcript of the speech, which is what he actually said…pbs was wrong, but i don’t think they altered the transcript.”
puzzling:
State funding of independent jounalism or science is an oxymoron.
I assume that it was edited out in the transcripts rather than the tape. Also, it is so minor that it makes little difference, but the most embarrassing thing for the GOP now, is to remind the mostly southerner GOP that their greatest President was killing their ancestors. It also reminds them that secession was NOT something to be proud of, as most of them are now.
The argument for taxpayer funding of PBS is that it would allow “independent journalism”.
Instead, PBS is simply a propaganda arm of the US government. Sometimes more overtly so than others.