Yesterday's reaction to the President's press conference as reported by media, on the Iran agreement reminded me of a previous add that I saw in an add early in a previous presidential campaign. That ad was posted I believe by Romney, please refresh my memory if I am attributing it to the wrong person. In the ad a video of President Obama was run showing that he was in favor of going to war or bombing some country and this message was directed as a dig at Obama.
Upon investigation, one could easily see that this "quote" was lifted from a speech he made where he was, in the speech, quoting that statement from Senator McCain who actually made the statement. BUT in this type of Fallacy, truth doesn't really have a chance as the lie is in the misquoting. Yes, in this example, McCain's quote was presented as if it was the words and belief of Obama. In short, a blatant lie.
As the reporters started to dissect the President's news conference, there were some blatant misquotes that just dropped more red flags than the NFL officials drop during a season.
1. The president said that he did't like to comment on "the specifics" of an ongoing investigation or while leagal action is pending. The president very carefully put in that modifier of "specific" to point out not that ANY comment about a case is off base, but that specific information about the case should be avoided. He then carefully pointed out that although he would not talk about it, it would make a comment and that he did. He made a clear and concise statement defining what elements constitute a legal definition of rape.
This definition of rape said nothing of what Cosby did or didn't do. It was a definition of rape. Pure and simple. He did not say Cosby was guilty or innocent. In fact, I don't think Cosby was even indicted. That is all the president said.
I have noticed that with the apparent increase of date rape on college campuses and in general around our nation, the repeated news about drugs used to render victims inable to consent or defend themselves that we have a generation of young people (primarily) that doesn't consider getting their "date" drugged and then having sex with them is perfectly OK.
Its about time someone defined that without specific consent, it is RAPE. You can spin it how you want, but it is still rape.
The thing to notice is that after the president's statement, you never heard the phrase "Specific to" anymore. Its like he did not say it. without that phrase, they jumped to the accusations that President Obama was hypocritical because he had commented on cases before and that he then, in this instance, went on to comment on the case at the conference. Well, without the full quote, that is true, BUT with what was actually said, it is simply not true. Defining the crime is not talking about the specifics of the case. It is simply defining the terms. If and when Mr. Cosby is charged and brought to trial, and if it is proved that he did that.
2. The reporter that asked the "have you stopped beating your wife" question was out of line. The problem here is just that, for one, that type of question is certainly not a way to get to the truth. It is putting words in the mouth of the President before the question is finished. I don't know if the reporter thought the president would fall for that or if he didn't realize what he was saying (not likely if one is to believe his colleagues that is is an astute reporter and quite competent) or if he meant to say something else and just mispoke? Again, not really likely.
But when discussing this question, I heard reporters take the liberty to "rephrase" the question to something that took the question OUT of that forced response type of question that gave the President the option of choosing from only two possible answers to the question that would have him admitting to one or both of them and prevented him from giving a complete and truthful answer. Really. If I were asked that question I would have answered it with my own question. TO the reporter: "Have you stopped beating your wife?"
3. I Think it was on MSNBC that I did see reporters rephrasing the question and saying that this is what the reporter meant to say. Well, he was called on that and I do have to put up Lawrence O'Donnell for standing up against misquoting.
So, what is the message? The most simple examples of spin is simple to misquote the message in a way that enhances your argument. This was one of Rush's good old standby's with his false logic. Change the premise to something else (akin to a "straw man") and then use that false premise to prove an argument that is not true with the original quote.
How to defend this? on the spur of the moment, not so easy. You are unlikely to have the proof of the real statement at your fingertips and once the lie has been said, and it makes sense to someone that is not aware of a misquote, the damage has been done. I include this in my diary because it is so common that we sometimes forget that sometimes people will simply LIE. A lie is really not false logic or spin, it is simply a lie.
Education. We must always look for the source. If someone is using a quote and the quote seems to be other than the speaker seems to believe in other speeches, look at the quote that is being used. Its easy to miss. If the spinner gets away with the misquote, his argument can be convincing, but if you think about it, and look for the video and see the real quote, you discover that you were duped. It is still effective however as once that seed is planted into a non critical thinker's head, they will blindly believe it to be true. Its bad enough when individuals do this in their everyday life but when "news" reporters start to do it, "Houston, we have a problem."
btw. I sometimes don't remember quotes exactly and may misquote. I try to make a point of being accurate and welcome and encourage to have my facts verified and when I use them, I generally are using them as examples and not as fact. Please feel free to point out my mistakes and I will correct them. If I get popular enough to matter, I hope to have fact checkers to proof read my diaries, but in the meantime, I must rely on you to point out what you see in my articles and to show me how to be MORE truthful.
Thank you,
LeZi