Washington Times Hack Piece Still Being Pushed

The Washington Times wrote an article last week where they claimed that Maryland Democrats believed that "racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican."  This article was subsequently shown to be a hack piece.  Joe Trippi was completely misquoted in the article.  Trippi said that attacks against Steele based on race “were dispicable and have no place in American politics — that such attacks were repugnant”.  This was omitted, and instead a quote about differences between "stating the obvious and calling someone names" was taken completely out of context.  Trippi responded to this smear and the Times subsequently posted a retraction.

Both Kweisi Mfume and Salimi Siler Marriott also went on WBAL to counter clear distortions of their viewpoint in the Washington Times article.  I wrote Del. Marriott to clarify her supposed position in the Times article, and her response is below:

The racially insensitive characterizations of Michael Steele were not my words, but the words of the reporter from the Washington Times describing other people's response to Michael Steele.    Thus, your analysis is absolutely correct.  However, it is my  perspective that the conservative political ideology of Michael Steele is not in the best interest of the masses of African Americans that I serve .  It is that conservative ideology of minimizing the role of the federal government at the state level that contributed to the devastation caused by Katrina.

So the Washington Times article is clearly a hack piece.  I don't necessarily expect retractions from bloggers that originally pushed the Washington Times article.  But I would expect that these folk wouldn't still be pushing these bogus claims.  From Captain's Quarters today:

Instead and especially with the black community for the past four decades, the Democrats have relied on racial politics and smear campaigns to keep a lockgrip on that constituency. The Democrats in Maryland argued just last week that such attacks on Steele would continue in this campaign.

Another solution would be to nominate Kweisi Mfume as the Democratic contender, but his campaign has severely lagged due to disinterest and prior ethical baggage. That might be good news for Steele but not for Maryland Democrats. Mfume could remove race from the campaign altogether -- he was one of the few who came out strongly against the "Simple Sambo" tactics of the Maryland Left against Steele last week -- and return the election to an honest debate on issues, if he chose to do so.

No one interviewed in that article supports racial smear tactics against Steele.  Hopefully, someone will pass a memo around the right side of the blogosphere to let them know that this article is a pile of bull.

 

Comments

[Bob Dob]

Is it just me, or is Captain's Quarters developing a habit of pushing incendiary and discredited (mis)information?

[llamaschool]

Maybe...I don't think it's on purpose though. It's probably just what happens when people don't critically examine "evidence" presented to them when it supports their worldview. It's this kind of accepting evidence w/o thinking that is all too common w/the heavyweights of the right-wing blogosphere.

[Bob Dob]

At some point though, a reasonable person with good intentions will admit when they've made a misrtake. Has CQ ever admitted he was wrong about the school-bus myth? Will he post a retraction concerning this Washington Times story? I'd hate to see him become the Sidney Blumenthal of the right... there are enough hacks in the world already.