Jack & Jill Politics

hat tip to Americablog which caught this horrible, horrible ABC News “reporter” convert the fact of Obama’s Christianity into a mere assertion.

I have neither watched ABC News nor linked to its website since the shameful excuse for a debate it conducted in Philadelphia. The following clip and transcript are from the network’s Good Morning America today.

GMA’s KATE SNOW: Janis said she can’t support Obama.
JANIS: He’s Muslim and you know, and that that has a lot to do with it. I just, you know, I just rather have Hillary.
GMA’s KATE SNOW: Just for the record he constantly says he’s a Christian –
JANIS: I know he does. He says he is.
GMA’s KATE SNOW: You don’t believe him?
JANIS: No.

Rangel just needs to shut up. I left him in the clip for fun. Yes, the Clintons have a clear track record with Black America, but it’s not the record they claim. I want to focus on Kate Snow.

Is it so difficult to correct someone who’s clearly wrong? Is she duty bound to repeat all forms of false foolishness or just the ignorant and discriminatory kind against Obama? The Obama as Muslim angle is wrong on two levels. A) There’s nothing wrong with being Muslim; B) He’s not Muslim and attempts to paint him as such prey on the fears ignorant, hard-working white folk like Janis here.

Let’s imagine Ms. Snow was interviewing a different voter about a different candidate.

GMA’s KATE SNOW: Jason said he can’t support Clinton.
JANIS: She’s a Lesbian and you know, and that that has a lot to do with it. I just, you know, I just rather have Obama.
GMA’s KATE SNOW: Just for the record she constantly says she’s a Heterosexual –
JANIS: I know she does. She says he is.
GMA’s KATE SNOW: You don’t believe her?
JANIS: No.

Let’s try another one:

GMA’s KATE SNOW: Beth said she can’t support McCain.
JANIS: He’s a baby-eating son of Satan and you know, and that that has a lot to do with it. I just, you know, I just rather have Hillary.
GMA’s KATE SNOW: Just for the record he constantly says he’s not a baby-eating son of Satan –
JANIS: I know he does. He says he isn’t.
GMA’s KATE SNOW: You don’t believe him?
JANIS: No.

I don’t really care about Janis. Janis is wrong. Unlike Hillary, Janis doesn’t “take [Obama] at his word,” and she thinks being a Muslim should disqualify you from being president. I think her demonstrably weak powers of reasoning should disqualify her from voting, but sadly, this is a free country, and she can use whatever criteria she wants.

I do care about Kate Snow. She wasn’t just interviewing an ignorant voter. She was giving hate, ignorance and falsehood a platform without challenging it. This should disqualify her from being in any position to “inform” millions of American households. Ms. Snow should see how a real reporter handles this situation.

Schoenholtz is an Ohio resident talking to CBS News reporter Steve Kroft on March 2nd.

Schoenholtz told Kroft he is leaning towards Obama, but that there were a couple of issues he was “not too clear” on.

Asked what they were, Schoenholtz said, “Well, I’m hearin’ he doesn’t even know the National Anthem, you know. He wouldn’t use the Holy Bible. He’s got his own beliefs, got the Muslim beliefs. Couple issues that bothers me at heart.”

“You know that’s not true,” Kroft remarked.

“No. I’m just…this is what I’ve been told,” he replied.

It’s people like Kate Snow that helped get us into an illegal, unnecessary and dumb war. The administration said Iraq was a response to 9/11; they made up a connection to al-Qaeda; they hyped WMDs. All of these things were false, but too many “reporters” merely transcribed these ideas and filled the minds of millions of Americans with unjustified fear, which in turn allowed members of Congress to authorize the war.

Nothing has changed in the media. No lessons have been learned, and while I’m looking forward to the election of Barack Obama as president, I dread the coverage of that presidency by those who’ve proven time and again to be woefully inadequate to the basic task of separating truth from fiction.

Write ABC. Demand an on-air apology and correction.