Donald Trump is such a disaster of a human being and a candidate that the idea of him serving as President has jolted our complacent “both sides” media enough that it appears that they are actually doing their job:
Donald Trump’s campaign has released a video that falsifies Hillary Clinton’s stance on taxes, the fact-checkers over at Politifact found.
The video, which shows the Clinton rally in Nebraska Monday, was posted to YouTube on an account called “Team Trump” and then was later embedded in a Trump campaign email.
In the video, Clinton says, “Trump wants to cut taxes for the super rich,” to a loud chorus of boos.
Then she says, “Well, we’re not going there, my friends. I’m telling you right now we’re going to write fairer rules for the middle class. And we aren’t going to raise taxes on the middle class.”
But the video included subtitles that said exactly the opposite. It read, “We are going to raise taxes on the middle class.”
The video’s text asks “Wait. What?” before replaying the Clinton clip, modified and slowed down. As Clinton says again “we aren’t going to raise taxes on the middle class,” the subtitles read “we are going to raise taxes on the middle class.”
The video ends with a shot of the Trump-Pence campaign logo, though it doesn’t say that the video was sponsored or approved by the campaign.
It’s getting weird out there folks.
Hey media folks, while you’re feeling frisky, there’s a guy named James O’Keefe you might want to look into.
Corner Stone
Don’t get me wrong, I am glad they are saying it. But when did we all agree to allow the media to outsource the truth of something to “fact checkers” ?
What’s wrong with CBS News just saying, “has released a video that falsifies” ?
Trentrunner
Lest we think this tactic is just Trump, remember the entire 2012 GOP convention was themed around “You didn’t build that.”
Unabogie
@Trentrunner: This is worse. At least that was an honest quote taken out of context. That’s still bad, but at least Obama really said it. This is taking a false quote and pushing it as truth.
Emma
Don’t trust them. Don’t ever trust them. They’ll turn on a dime.
japa21
Out of curiosity, can they even use the Trump/Pence logo without approval of the campaign not only of the use but also for what it is connected to?
satby
@Corner Stone:
My biggest pet peeve of all. WTF with the fact checkers, isn’t the news media’s job to inform? If they did that properly, fact checkers would be redundant.
hovercraft
On the one hand they are calling out his lies and in this case pointing out that the ad is false, but they still responded to Hillary’s Chris Wallace as though she was caught breaking into the Watergate Hotel. It’s like they have to make penance for beating up on Trump for an entire week, so they pull out their favorite e-ghazi chew toy. I won’t respect them until they tell republicans who whine about the lack of media attention to their fake scandals, by telling them to get the f**k outta here with their bullshit.
J R in WV
Don’t forget it has long been policy at Faux News to report all Republicans who are indicted or otherwise humiliated as Sam Dumbledore (D) Texas in the Chryon crawl. Always.
Sometimes they bother to correct it, but usually not. Only Democrats get indicted, and if you were a Republican, you changed party ID just before the Grand Jury handed up the indictment to the bench.
Fox News, all lies, all the time.
amk
from the linky
So, they went to great lengths to ‘fact-check’ her but not the lying pos?
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
It would prove their bias.
Remember the “fact check” organizations came to be because the republicans deemed ‘facts’ have a liberal bias and therefore a news organization pointing out what the facts was evidence of bias, so it was outsourced.
Corner Stone
@hovercraft: I would like to see what would happen if HRC pulled a Trump. Like when they asked him about his Obama birtherism claims and he said, “I don’t talk about that any more.” Or when Manafort told the press gaggle that he had already answered that (whatever topic) and he was not going to keep answering the same question.
If HRC just said, “That’s been looked at for 13 months and a dozen Congressional investigations. Next question.”
The *ENTIRE* world would go insane! I can guarantee it would lead every news segment from now until election day.
Mike in NC
Chuck Todd (yeah, that guy) is on record saying it isn’t his job to report the facts. Most of his colleagues would agree.
Frankensteinbeck
@Corner Stone:
A lot of folks here think she should do just that. Your scenario is my counterargument.
Nora Carrington
I’d like to enlist the tribe here for another misleading/mis-honest bit of reporting. Ronald Brownstein of The Atlantic published a piece 8/4 with the headline [now; I think they’ve already changed it once] “Hillary Clinton’s Millennial Challenge.” The polls discussed in the piece — there are two — are from JUNE. Before the Sanders endorsement/unity message, before the conventions, before the last week of Trump meltdown. I can’t find the poll crosstabs I’ve seen in the last week but I’m next to positive that HRC is now *cleaning up* with Millennials. If it was an issue for her in June, then this piece should have been a historical look-back/here’s where we are now. Anywhoo, @RonaldBrownstein and @TheAtlantic. If anyone can point me to the most recent polling with breakdowns by age, I’d be grateful.
Nom de Plume
@amk:
Oh for fuck’s fucking sake. Just use your heads, you dumbasses. Would a presidential candidate declare “We are going to raise taxes on the middle class”? Ever? Even Trump, who makes Tourette’s Syndrome look like a vow of silence, wouldn’t be dumb enough to say something like that.
I swear to Christ, the media…they have been so utterly cowed into “Must.seem.balanced. Always” that they have to treat everything like it has two sides, even shit that is self-evident to anyone with a functioning cortex.
patroclus
Both Fox and CNN are leading every show today with more on the e-mails as though something new has happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if NBC broke into their Olympic “Up Close and Personal” stuff with breaking news about it. This is going to be a “story” all Fall – count on it.
Frankensteinbeck
@Nom de Plume:
As a Tourette’s Syndrome sufferer… I think your joke is pretty funny. Carry on.
EDIT – @patroclus:
Goat, I hope so. It’s the most pathetic thumb on the scale they could come up with.
MattF
And as infuriating, and as dull, and as repetitious as this is, we have to keep doing it. Trump. Lies. All. The. Time. And yes, folks, it’s an issue. Stay angry about it.
sdhays
@satby: “At a rally in Yorba Linda, today, Republican Presidential nominee, Donald Trump, said that former German Chancellor Adolf Hitler rose from the grave to compliment him on the strength of his campaign. Trump claimed that while Hitler was impressed with Trump’s large hands, he preferred ‘Crooked Hillary’ because, quote, ‘she’s the real Nazi’. Our colleagues at Politifact rate this statement as ‘Mostly False’ because while there is no evidence that Hitler has risen from the grave no proof exists that he didn’t, either. It’s simply impossible to say. However, it is not possible that Hitler’s corpse complimented Mr. Trump on the size of his tiny, infant-like hands.”
“NBC News is following up with the Trump Campaign to obtain an interview with zombie Hitler to learn more about his apparent endorsement of Hillary Clinton. Stay tuned to NBC for the latest on this breaking story!”
MattF
@Frankensteinbeck: Ah, I assume you’ve read Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn. Great book, IMO.
Frankensteinbeck
@MattF:
Never heard of it.
MattF
@Frankensteinbeck: Well, then, you should read it, and I’d be interested in your reaction. The protagonist is a Touretter.
Calming Influence
I can see why they would feel the need to carefully fact check Hillary’s “tax the middle class” statement, since Democrats have been trying to fuck the poor and the middle class since the days of FDR and LBJ.
gogol's wife
@Corner Stone:
I really, really wish she would do that.
Corner Stone
@Frankensteinbeck: They are going to keep beating this dead horse. And any answer she gives will never be enough to get them to shut the fuck up. By continuing to answer, and even worse “explain”, she is only damaging herself. I think at some point the people who actually intend to vote would look at this continual hounding and just shrug it off.
The people who were not ever going to vote for her still aren’t going to. The people who say they will vote for her but don’t trust her because of the emails are morons.
Redshift
A couple of gems from Trump supporters (via McClatchy):
Yeah, it’s so unfair when the media covers something awful my candidate did today, instead of talking more about something questionable our opponent did five years ago that’s been discussed to death.
And the very definition of a low-information voter:
The Ancient Randonneur
@Redshift: I’ll bet he’s saved the chain email that proves it.
Pogonip
I just noticed this.
Cole, how is Walter the Pooping Dog feeling this afternoon? Does his pain medicine seem to be kicking in? Has he barked yet? When he starts feeling like he should announce something that’ll be another good sign.
Keith P.
CBS says the Trump campaign did release the video, which would seemingly make it in violation of McCain-Feingold since it lacks the “I’m Donald Trump and I approved this message” ending. Unless that part of it was stricken down by SCOTUS or something. It’ll get interesting if Trump gets asked about it and denies it’s from him.
one_particular_harbour, fka Botsplainer
@Nom de Plume:
Remnant of the criticism that the right leveled at them during the Vietnam War that reached a crescendo post-Watergate.
Quinerly
TPM has a post up. Trump’s latest tweets today: Hillary is “brainwashed.”
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Corner Stone:
Not been a lot of that kind of reporting since around the time that Uncle Walter stepped away. Rush Limbaugh hit the airwaves about then, and the whole game changed to more of an arguetainment and fear-mongering, misinformation approach. That’s my theory anyway.
Thornton Hall
The job of the media is to sell newspapers, attract eyeballs, and get clicks. Endless confusion results from the belief that this is not the case, especially the belief of reporters that this is not the case.
RandomMonster
@Redshift:
They’re also practicing up their “This election is rigged!” meme.
Ultraviolet Thunder
O’Keefe just tried to impersonate a journalist and vote in his place in an election. In Birmingham MI where Lady Thunder and I are having brunch at the moment.
Luckily for him he stopped short of signing an affidavit, because that’s a felony.
TPM has it covered.
Thornton Hall
@Corner Stone: The Post War objective professional news media believes that ethically sources are required. Eye-witness reporting is considered opinion.
The media’s idea of “what their job is” is utterly disconnected from the goals of an enlightened populace. Strangely, the ethics are also disconnected, on purpose, from their actual job of selling newspapers.
“Media ethics” is the result of 1960s circle jerk between 15 monopolist white guys who decided, in misguided good faith, what the meaning of “journalism in the public interest” involves.
Redshift
@The Ancient Randonneur:
No doubt. I thought it was pretty striking to see a claim that even Trump hasn’t made yet. Maybe it’s common for Trumpers to interpret “the establishment is against me” to mean that Republican donors are supporting Hillary, but it seems odd, since Trump isn’t exactly restrained in what he says openly.
Joshua Norton
Did Steve get an invitation to join Trump’s Economic Council of Steves yet? If not, why not? He seems as qualified as any of the other Steves on there.
Frankensteinbeck
@Redshift:
Think of it as a game of telephone. As rumors are passed along by people who aren’t paying any attention to the facts anyway, they will constantly mutate.
Nora
@Quinerly: Obvious response: “Hillary Has a Brain to Wash.”
Thornton Hall
@West of the Rockies (been a while): “Uncle Walter” only seemed to be reporting the facts because only white people had any voice in the discussion of what constitutes “fact.”
Believing that the media used to be better in the 1960s is a manifestation of white privilege.
Redshift
@Quinerly:
A good time to remember that any Trump attack is more apt when applied to him.
Also, this one really needs a “texts from Hillary” meme as the official campaign response.
Baud
They will photoshop Hillary into a video of the Benghazi uprising before this election is over.
Politifact will be unable to confirm whether the video is authentic.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Ultraviolet Thunder: O’Keefe is the poster-boy illustration of the dangers of “true believers”. He knows the Truth™ and Facts and Reality aren’t going to get in the way…
We should start a pool on what finally sends him to jail – maybe with the pot going to VoteRiders when it happens.
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Mnemosyne
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Didn’t some idiot right-wingers try something similar in 2012 and then complain that they shouldn’t be prosecuted for it because they were only trying to prove that it was possible to commit the crime by committing the crime?
It’s like shoplifting something from a store and then claiming that you were only trying to prove that shoplifting exists when you get caught.
Villago Delenda Est
@amk: It’s Politifact. They’re GOP-curious. They will make excuses all day in the Holy name of Broder. They can’t get that when one side repeatedly tells whoppers, that both sides DO NOT DO IT.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mnemosyne: It’s the Breitbart way.
Keith P.
@RandomMonster: His costumes tend to crack me up, at least. There was the pimp that looked like he researched from watching the Technocolor Dreamcoat episode of Seinfeld. There was the time he was looking cool in the 80s(?) Camaro(?) with the music playing. Now, he’s the “guy who lost my ID while hunting” where his costume is a flannel shirt and a camo hat.
I so look forward to him doing a sting at a gay bar. He’s likely to walk in with a giant black mustache, a leather hat, and assless chaps.
debbie
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
My bet is that they made him from the beginning. His cap is too new.
Villago Delenda Est
@Redshift: In fact, the Republicans have always been the go to guys for financing the Greens. Nader never had a problem with it, either.
Villago Delenda Est
@Thornton Hall: If the public is informed in any way in the process, well, happy byproduct. If the public is misinformed in any way in the process, well, happy byproduct.
Villago Delenda Est
@one_particular_harbour, fka Botsplainer: Because the facts started ganging up on America’s nascent fascists.
Snarki, child of Loki
Everyone doing anything good and worthwhile in the USA (from your local animal shelter to the VA hospitals) should be on the lookout for James O’Keefe showing up to push some new scam.
If you spot him, keep him talking while you quietly alert security. When security arrives, TASE him good, then kick him out.
Posting a youtube of the tasing is optional, but likely to be highly entertaining.
Hal
@Redshift: A friend, who I really thought was smarter, posted on Facebook yesterday that the things Trump has said have been blown out of proportion and made to seem far worse than they are. She then went down the “I dont care if you’re blue, purple or orange” road of ignorance while politely asking everyone to stop shoving their race and sexuality in her face all the time.
The very large swath of people in this country who do not see Trump as racist in 2016 is frightening and disheartening. Especially when it’s friends and family.
Frankensteinbeck
@Mnemosyne:
Yes. That idiot right winger was O’Keefe. He has actually tried this before, and got caught last time, too. He’s just going to keep trying until he has doctorable footage to ‘prove’ voter fraud is easy.
p.a.
espn… ESPN!! used to have an intern with a laptop fact check the columnists on PTI and report on inaccurate statements at the end of the show. More journalistic integrity than the MSM.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@debbie:
Doomed from the start. The person at the polling place knows Brian Dickerson, the journalist he was impersonating.
Fail.
Nora
Wasn’t O’Keefe on probation in New Jersey for his shenanigans in Louisiana? Has his probation finished? There’s someone I’d be glad to never hear from again.
Baud
@Nora Carrington:
This was just posted.
Baud
@Ultraviolet Thunder: They should have let him sign the affidavit.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Nora Carrington: Dunno how reliable it is (the numbers often seem funky to me) but the USC/Dornsife Daybreak Poll has daily numbers. See the “Characteristics of Candidate Support” tab. It seems to show that the 18-34 group has been stuck at around 40-45% each since mid-July.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
Frankensteinbeck
@p.a.:
There are a lot of explanations for why national news has gone to Hell (yes, it used to be better, even if not ‘good’). I lean to the 24 hour cable news format naturally rewarding people who can spin a great deal of discussion out of very little news. Bullshitters, basically. The better the bullshitter, the better you were at the job and the faster and higher you advanced. Those people then became the leadership and had major influence on who else advanced. The last thing a bullshitter ever wants is fact checking. The first wave were white men who got their chops (and money) during the Reagan era, and as bullshitters they have no interest in policy but respect other bullshitters, so… heavy, heavy Republican bias.
p.a.
@Frankensteinbeck: yes, but also, Fox got ratings, and I guess ‘back in the day’ their demographics weren’t as horrible as they are now. The rest just copy-catted. But I don’t think any are doing great in younger cohorts. And it does seem libs and cons have different info sources (talking technology, not accuracy, of said sources.)
John Revolta
It depends what your definition of “are” is.
No One You Know
@Quinerly: Anytime I want to know what Trump’s done lately, I look to see what he’s accusing Democrats of; he is a living exemplar of the tu quoque logical fallacy. And several others.
one_particular_harbour, fka Botsplainer
Check out JJ MacNab on Twitter today.
She’s taking on all the Putin/Trump/Right wing linkages.
Emma
BTW, the House Oversight Committee has decided to “investigate” our paying Iran the $400 million we owed. I hope the Administration and the Democrats push back real hard.
Quinerly
@No One You Know:
It had been a bit of a talking point awhile back w/Rove and company that HRC had some sort of brain damage/injury…from that fall she took before the Benghazi testimony. Remember when she was wearing those corrective lenses? The talking point didn’t stick. I think that’s what Trump is trying to revive but he screwed up his wording.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Emma: Well, Memeorandum has some post up with someone claiming that giving Iran some of their seized money violated “criminal law”. So there’s that.
I think they should investigate her obvious lie about being a Yankees fan. The People Deserve to Know the Truth™. How can America trust someone who obviously lies about their sports teams?!?!
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
burnspbesq
@Thornton Hall:
Looks like Kwame is back.
burnspbesq
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
As much as I hate to admit it, it was actually possible to like the Jeter/Posada/Williams Yankees. It would also have been convenient while running for and serving as a Senator from New Yoek.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Thornton Hall: having read Cronkite’s autobiography, I think he had some integrity. Reductionism does not always supply answers.
Villago Delenda Est
@Emma: Why didn’t they investigate months ago when the payment was actually made? Oh, wait. How silly of me. It hadn’t been drug up as a right wing meme yet.
Villago Delenda Est
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Well, she’s first and foremost a Cubs fan. Which makes her as fickle as all hell.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@burnspbesq: She was a Yankees fan when she was a kid in Illinois. And a Cubs fan. She was both.
But it’s obviously impossible for someone to be a fan of two teams.
VOA:
But the House should investigate anyway, because she probably cheated at hopscotch when she was a Yankees fan…
Cheers,
Scott.
hovercraft
@Redshift:
The Trump campaign needs better surrogates, this appearance by Carl Paladino was a train wreck this morning.
AM Joy
Baud
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
Wonder of wonders!
I can’t wait till they have to call her Madame President.
hovercraft
@Quinerly:
By whom?
Rational beings, as opposed to the voices in his head.
hovercraft
@Baud:
Well James O’Keefe is between sting operations right now, so he could slip over to Benghazi, I’m sure he could blend right in.
Baud
@hovercraft: I’ll contribute to his ticket.
Immanentize
@one_particular_harbour, fka Botsplainer: OPH — is that true about the media during Nixon’s moment? I was just a lad and I do not remember that…. I do remember the media being very very cautious and conservative and pro-Nixon just after the election. Very interesting, thanks.
ETA. That’s not a are.you telling the truth? “is that true” but a really? Forever? “Is that true.”
Spike
@burnspbesq: Somebody has to say it, in honour of the late great Steve Gilliard:
FTFY.
hovercraft
@Emma:
It’s Iran, of coarse they are investigating, e-ghazi and benghazi are a little wrung out now. Oh look a shiny new toy. Yay !
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@hovercraft: Iran just beat the US in Table Tennis male singles. I blame Hillary.
Cheers,
Scott.
Immanentize
@Thornton Hall: I don’t mind the increased use of varying sources — I think that stemmed from journalistic desire to democratize reporting. What I mind deeply is the use of adjectives by reporters that others did not say, Like Todd’s comment that Hillary was “defensive.”
I am.old enough to remember when the NYT clearly put “Analysis” above articles that did more than report.
If it is an adjective used by the reporter, it is propaganda.
Immanentize
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: nuclear ping pong.
hovercraft
@burnspbesq:
You’re forgetting the most important part of the core, Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer of all time, who did it with one pitch.
And on generous days we do allow Andy Pettitte to be mentioned when speaking of the home grown core of the ought Yankees.
Tom Q
@West of the Rockies (been a while): I read the biography as well, and Cronkite (and many other reporters at the time) clearly took what would be today frowned upon as an advocacy position during the civil rights era; the same of course in opposition to the latter-stage Vietnam war. The press today is immeasurably less, and it’s cynicism mixed with lack of knowledge to suggest otherwise.
hovercraft
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
Congressional committee investigation in , 5, 4, 3, 2, ….
Immanentize
@hovercraft: I saw a video of John Kerry and Hillary celebrating the Iranian win!!
catclub
@Emma:
Expecting the next 3 months to be like last week is too much to ask.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Immanentize: rofl. :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
sdhays
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: I blame Trump for not going to Rio and beating the Iranians himself. He promised us “so much winning [we’d] get bored of winning”. If he wants my vote, he should make the winning start now. It’s not too late to take the place of the US swim team. We know that shit going into Trump’s cakehole won’t hurt him because that’s all that comes out. He’s uniquely suited for these games.
grandpa john
@Baud:her first act after being sworn in should be calling for that fucker Colmy,s resignation on her desk within a week, since his statement last week was yet again shown to br another lie and distortion of the truth.
grandpa john
correction; FBI director is Comey. then there is this
Nora Carrington
Thanks to all who provided links to some polling sites/#s. I need to practice my google-fu. Haven’t needed it hard core for awhile and I’m not as good at finding stuff as I was even a couple of years ago.
Thornton Hall
@West of the Rockies (been a while): of course he had integrity! When has integrity been a cure for white privilege?
Thornton Hall
@Immanentize: you think Journalists have a desire to democratize sources? That’s why the NYT won’t release diversity numbers, right?
Desire has nothing to do with it. It’s called competition thanks to tech change.
Thornton Hall
@Tom Q: who cares about advocacy positions? The proof is in the pudding. The cops have been executing one unarmed black man a month since Cronkite’s prime. No one noticed.
Carolyn Kay
But they didn’t correct that lie on CNN this morning. And they helped to promote other lies about Hillary’s server and the emails and responsibility for Benghazi. Here are some of the tweets I sent out this morning to the shows I watch:
Hillary stands for all the things you surely espouse. So why the hate, Victor? Why the gotchas? I don’t get it.
Claims that Hillary lied to Benghazi victims’ families are disputed. – http://bit.ly/2aEaOAv
More on Benghazi victims’ families claims. – http://wapo.st/2aEaSAg
So why did you allow Giuliani to push the lie that Hillary lied to the families, Victor?
Stop equating Hillary’s and Trump’s negative ratings, media! – http://bit.ly/2aDbQJF
The video DID play a role in the Benghazi attacks. – http://mm4a.org/2aDEavs
Stop the dishonesty in talking about Hillary’s supposed dishonesty. – http://bit.ly/2aDF0bQ
It’s pretty clear that the media have no interest in serving the public. – http://bit.ly/2aESvLv