If the news don't fit, fake it

The best easiest way to make your point: just make shit up!

Media Matters - W. Va. newspaper's signed editorial falsely stated PFAW president Neas attacked "evil churchgoers"

In each edition, the Sunday Gazette-Mail, a joint weekend publication of the Charleston Gazette and the Charleston Daily Mail, features two opinion pieces side by side, penned by the editorial page editors of the Gazette and the Daily Mail, respectively. On January 22, Maurice's piece appeared alongside Gazette editorial page editor Susanna Rodell's offering, which expressed concern over "[Supreme Court Nominee Samuel A.] Alito's record of consistently siding, in case after case, with big corporations and established power against the little guy." For her part, Maurice criticized what she described as Democratic attempts to "brand Alito as an out-of-the mainstream ideologue." She claimed this "battle" over Alito's image began "with a Dec. 6 story in The New York Times." The Times article, by staff writer Sheryl Gay Stolberg, actually appeared on December 7 and covered a December 6 PFAW event. The Times article reported Neas's comments at the event as follows:

"The religious right already controls the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives," Ralph G. Neas, president of People For, as the group is known in Washington and Hollywood circles, said in a speech as the awards ceremony began.

Now, Mr. Neas warned, the right is planning to "pack the Supreme Court with right-wing ideologues."

In her article, Maurice lifted Stolberg's quotation word for word, but, where the Times used the term "the right," Maurice opted for "these evil churchgoers":

The battle started memorably, with a Dec. 6 story in The New York Times: "Group Opposed to Nominee Rallies Its Hollywood People."

"The religious right already controls the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives," said Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way. Now these evil churchgoers are planning to "pack the Supreme Court with right-wing ideologues."

But it's not a lie; it's a "semantic variant!"

Technorati Tags: Alito, religiousright, lies, confirmation