Comments on: “I Didn’t Close That”: When The Tweeterverse Speaks, The Media Listens – Too Closely

By: Matthew Dickinson

Matthew Dickinson — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 02:40:01 +0000

David,

I don’t doubt that Ryan was willfully misleading. I thought that is what political speeches are designed to do (see the speeches at tonight’s DNC!) But was anything he said factually incorrect? If not, do we want the media to take on the role of vetting the political slant of speeches? That worries me.

By: David C

David C — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 12:47:35 +0000

I have read closely the quotes from Ryan’s speech that have been criticized, and dug fairly deeply into the facts and circumstances behind those quotes. I can only conclude that Ryan, over and over again in the speech, was intentionally and willfully misleading.

Yes, you could probably find some far-fetched definition of “closed” to argue that Janesville “closed” while Obama was already in office. So what? First, no one can realistically expect any president to turn around a crashing economy on a dime. Second, the vast majority of Obama’s initiatives to help the economy were blocked by the Republicans in Congress.

As I understand it, Ryan almost singlehandedly prevented the Simpson-Bowles commission from issuing final recommendations. For him to criticize Obama for not following the never-issued recommendations is simply mendacious. I think if the Congress presented Obama a bill aligned with the draft Simpson-Bowles plan, he would sign it without question.

I realize your broader point is that the ever-quicker news cycle makes thoughtful reporting more difficult. I think there is also some value in “crowd-sourcing” some of the fact checking. And frankly, if politicians of all stripes were not so contemptuous of the truth, the whole profession of fact checking would be unnecessary. This is my 11th Presidential election, and I have never seen so many lies and distortions. And frankly, one party is much more guilty than the other.

By: Vijay

Vijay — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 20:03:55 +0000

So…

- The Dems are defending an Obama quote (“You didn’t build that”) by saying it’s not parsed correctly by the villainous other side.

- The GOP is defending a Ryan quote by saying it’s not parsed correctly by the villainous other side.

Even stevens?

I’m exceedingly glad both sides are making serious attempts to elevate the campaign away from gotcha and false offense. The interesting thing here is that Ryan seems to be running against Obama, and Romney is being dragged along for the ride.

By: Zach Drennen

Zach Drennen — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 10:50:38 +0000

Really good point. Thanks for writing this. I think instant reactions like that make it so hard for anyone to actually think through the implications of an event on their own. Instead, we’re reacting to the spin doctors on our respective sides. Whoever tweets the first/wittiest thing owns the news cycle. I just wish there was a non authoritarian way of fixing it

By: Matthew Dickinson

Matthew Dickinson — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 03:54:25 +0000

Brett,

I take a size large. Looking forward to you buying me a couple of these.