Good point from Steve Benen:
I'll never understand why reporters don't hang up when Issa calls, offering a scoop based on a partial transcript
http://t.co/...
— @stevebenen
ABC News
fell for it again, publishing a "scoop" from Issa about the security threats in Obamacare that they then had to update to reflect the fact that Issa hadn't given them the whole story. Here's
Benen:
To be sure, that sounds alarming, but we’ve seen plenty of reports based on leaked partial transcripts, “obtained” by news organizations from Darrell Issa’s office, most of which turn out to be misleading – or completely false.
So I checked in with Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, who said “key details” from Teresa Fryer’s transcript “were omitted” before it was leaked to ABC. It’s true that security testing uncovered a recent vulnerability, but Issa’s leak left out relevant facts: there have been no security breaches, the vulnerability was identified and fixed, and Fryer sees the security measures in place as “best practices above and beyond what is usually recommended.”
In a statement, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member of the Oversight Committee, said, “Chairman Issa’s reckless pattern of leaking partial and misleading information is now legendary for omitting key information that directly contradicts his political narrative….This effort to leak cherry-picked information is part of a deliberate campaign to scare the American people and deny them the quality affordable health insurance to which they are entitled under the law.”
Issa simply cannot be trusted, which is why the White House general counsel and seven top Democrats have had to
go over Issa's head and ask House Speaker John Boehner to "intervene to ensure the chairman wouldn’t leak the documents to the press." Obviously that hasn't happened.
So why does the media—and particularly ABC News—keep falling for his fake scandals?