Just when you think "no...the Mainstream "News" Media can't get any worse, any more right wing, any more full of bloviating lies", some rightwing tool like NPR's Neal Conan (who broadcasts on that supposedly "liberal" network) manages to outdo himself with either lying or incompetence (they report; you decide).
Yesterday afternoon, on NPR's "Political Junkie" edition of Talk of the Nation with Conan and Ken Rudin, the show opened with a discussion of political rhetoric in the aftermath of Saturday's shootings in Tucson.
Of course, since they're so "Fair and Balanced", Fox Radio NPR began with a sound clip from the excruciatingly bad, self-pitying, lie-filled rant by Sarah Palin...and then, at 4:01 into the show, Conan let loose with this gem:
[04:01]...and Ken, we do need to point out there were charts on the Democratic side that also used crosshairs...uh, Daily Kos pulled down one of their charts, uh, their editor had been, uh, talking about that Giffords was "dead to me"...[04:15]
I am reminded of Mary McCarthy's 1979 quote about Lillian Hellman:
Every word she writes is a lie, including "and" and "the".
Conan, notorious for his rightwing slant, comes pretty close to McCarthy's mark: I count four lies in fourteen seconds of audio.
1. "...charts on the Democratic side that also used crosshairs..." Well we do know of one such "chart" on the "Democratic" blog Daily Kos...except, ummmm, that "chart" doesn't exist except in a completely fabricated photoshopped mockup being spread like the clap by the Teabagistani Ministry of Propaganda, AKA the American "news" media.
2 & 3 (this counts as two lies). "...Daily Kos pulled down one of their charts..." Conan is referring to BoyBlue's infamous diary that a) was not a "chart" and didn't contain any "charts", and b) was not "pulled down" by Daily Kos
4. "...their editor had been, uh, talking about..." Um, Neal? Neal? Their "editor" wasn't talking about anything in that diary (which, Neal, is not a "chart")...whoever "the editor" of Daily Kos is (Markos? Meteor Blades?). No, that diary was written by a member of Daily Kos, Neal, with no editorial input...was removed by that same member after the shootings, out of a feeling of horror on the part of that member (who worked for Rep. Giffirds' campaign, by the way)...never in any way advocated violence against Rep. Giffords (or anybody else)...and was subsequently reinstated in order to allow its context to be correctly displayed and for the author to apologize for his poor choice of expression.
Four lies. Fourteen seconds.
I really don't think I've ever heard four lies in such a short audio clip, except maybe from Limbaugh or Beck...perhaps Conan is trying for a Teabagger record?
Update: here's the link to NPR's contact form. Use the dropdown box to email Talk of the Nation or the Ombudsman...or both! Thanks to lineatus for the suggestion in the comments.