Selective Quoting

What follows is my interview with Peggy Hamill, state director of Wisconsin Pro-Life in regards to her being selectively quoted by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel But first, the background…

This morning Instapundit wrote this bit about this article about a pro-life group protesting an ad for emergency contraception:

You'd think that anti-abortion folks would approve, unless they just don't like the idea of people having sex, which certainly seems to be the issue in the article.

Then he publishes Clayton Cramer’s email criticism:

Is that it isn't a contraceptive. It works by preventing implantation AFTER conception. If you believe that life begins at conception (a position that even the Catholic Church didn't take until pretty recently--the medieval Church believed that life began 40 days afterwards), then opposing the morning after pill is completely consistent.

To which the good professor replies:

That's true, but there's nothing along those lines in the article. Instead there's stuff like this: ""an insult to women. It trivializes the marriage act to begin with, and I think it's insulting to the self-esteem and dignity of women."

Now it seems clear to me that the reporter left out the substance of Ms. Fleming’s argument, that is, the abortifacient nature of the emergency “contraception” pill, in favor of using the most unreasonable sounding quotes she could use. So I emailed Instapundit and told him thusly:

I'm shocked!, shocked! that a newspaper would selectively quote someone from a pro-life group and possibly leave out the rational argument in their statement.

I'm guessing you've been interviewed by the MSM and the reporter and/or editor left out the substance of your remarks.

Why would you assume that what's in the article is all that was said?

After which he posted this update: :

Could they have left out the part where she says "it's abortion!" and kept the rest? Maybe, but even for Big Media that seems rather extreme.

Well, apparently the big media is extreme. I called Pro-Life Wisconsin and asked to speak with Ms. Hamill. She confirmed the accuracy of the quotes and also confirmed my theory that she had told the reporter that the emergency “contraception” pill is not contraception but an abortifacient. The reporter just didn’t feel inclined to use them. Why not? It is, after all, the substance of the argument. Ms. Hamill also told me that the reporter repeatedly tried to corner her into saying that Pro-Life Wisconsin would also object to an ad exhorting students to take condoms with them on Spring Break. She declined to do so, stating that one could not equate a prescription drug with a condom.

Now, make no mistake. Professor Reynolds is absolutely right that Pro-Life Wisconsin frowns on the “marriage act,” as Ms. Hamill put it, taking place outside of marriage. Perhaps they are the anti-sex zealots that he would like them to portray them as. But my point is that the reporter who interviewed Ms. Hamill, or the editor who checked the article, removed the substance of her argument. By his own admission, this is “extreme.” I would think he would know by now that the MSM is nothing if not extreme.
- posted by Oschisms @ 12:14 PM

 

Cold Bloggin’ CPAC pt. 4

Again, anything not in quotes is a paraphrase.

I got kinda tired today, so I didn’t take many notes. Just Newt Gingrich. I did jot down something Sen. George Allen said, though. He talked about the Democrats:

All they seem to do is carp, moan and grouse. It’s as if their beds are up against the wall and every morning they get up on the wrong side. He feels sorry for them because “They can’t get elected unless things get worse. But things won’t get worse unless they get elected.”

Newt Gingrich

4 lessons for conservatives:
1) Ideas Matter. (Argue ideas. Have discord in the party without disunion.)
2) Grassroots Should Lead. (Citizens, not politicians)
3) Be Willing to Fight. (Self explanatory)
4) Stick with 80% issues. (Find an issue that 80% of America agrees with, stand next to it, and smile)

We have to pick battles where the left is at a severe disadvantage. Because the left is better at lying than we are at truthtelling.

Dems picked Howard Dean because they needed a Newt, meaning someone who fights. They forgot they also need someone who thinks.

To leave the nation in better condition than we found it:
1) National Security
2) Teach that Rights come from the Creator
3) Patriotic Education, Patriotic Immigration
4) To compete with China and India, reform litigation, regulation, taxation, and education
5) Reform Medicare and Social Security

In his book he has a walking tour of DC that blows away the myth that America was founded as a secular country. Separation of church and state comes from Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Protestants. When he wrote that letter he was also attending Church regularly…in the Capitol. He loaned the Treasury building to a church on Sundays. This isn’t widely known because of the liberal dominance of education in America. It’s time to take it back. He said the plan to do so was the same plan Reagan had to win the Cold War, “We win, they lose.”

Free speech is not the same as subsidized speech. We should not subsidize Ward Churchill.
It’s better to fail on principle than have a signing ceremony for a bad bill that does the wrong things.

Immigration Plan:
1) We have the right and obligation to control borders. We should commit to doing so rather than resigning ourselves to porous borders.
2) We should change the law to permit deportation within 72 hours of being caught. It’s a misreading of the 14th Amendment to have illegal immigrants contest their cases in court for years.
3) We should give green cards to anyone willing to be fingerprinted or scanned retinas.
4) The citizenship test should be much harder, in English.

UN Plan:
1) We must set standards- no raping 12 year old girls, no embezzling oil for food money.
2) We must apply the standard- no more Darfurs, even if France and China veto a Security Council Resolution.
3) We must organize the 14 democracies that pay for most of the UN and tell the UN if it ain’t audited, we ain’t paying.

Gingrich and George Mitchell are leading a committee to recommend reforms to the UN.
- posted by Oschisms @ 7:58 PM

 

Cold Bloggin’ CPAC pt. 3

Randy Daniels, Secretary of State, New York

“We’re right, they’re wrong. I said it, that settles it.”

Anyone who designs a system that puts 1.2 million people on welfare in NY State doesn’t care about people. They cannot lecture us on our morality.

90% of Republicans voted for every Civil Rights Act that passed Congress. 80% of Democrats voted against them. Republicans are the party of emancipation, women’s sufferage, and civil rights. “We have nothing to be ashamed of or apologize for.”

Ann Coulter


Ace of Spades has a much better roundup of Coulter snippets than I could possibly accomplish
- posted by Oschisms @ 6:14 PM

 

Cold Bloggin’ CPAC pt. 2

Upon kissing Karol hello this morning, she said, “You smell like booze. Have you been drinking already?” Sigh. Sometimes a shower ain’t enough to get it outta your pores.

Met LaShawn Barber The picture doesn’t do her justice. Hey now.

It’s so weird that you can smoke in DC bars.

OK, CPAC stuff
Senator Santorum (R-PA)

He rehashed the old saying that you can’t be an economic conservative without being a social conservative, cause if the traditional family falls apart, then the taxpayer ends up paying to incarcerate all the fatherless children that become criminals. The snippets I managed to write down follow: (Everything not in quotes is paraphrased.)

Economic Conservatives don’t like poverty. The places in America where marriage doesn’t exist are the poorest communities in America.

If Mom and Dad aren’t there to raise the children, government has to raise them.

In the countries that redefine marriage, people have stopped getting married.

The less virtue in society, the more need for government.

Marriage is the essential public good.

When the homosexual lobby criticizes the Amendment by saying that straights don’t take marriage seriously, it is absolutely justified. Marriage isn’t about “Me”, it’s about “We.” And the children.

Answered criticism of his support for Senator S.P.E.C.T.R.E. with the number 55.

Asked about how fathers are screwed in family court, he dodged the question.

Panel discussion- “Sidestepping the Dinosaurs” (New Media)

Cliff Kincaid, AIM: A reporter that covers the UN is hired by the UN to coach UN people how to talk to the media. WTF!

Robert Hahn, Free Republic and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth: I came to DC to make a difference, and let me tell you young people here- You can make a difference and you might not know you’re doing it until you’re doing it.

Mitch McConnell

The vast majority of poll security was done by Iraqi troops. Considering their success, it bodes well for the future of the Iraqi army.

Karl Rove

Theme: The GOP: From Political Wilderness to Dominance

Outspent by 140 mil not counting the money that Labor spent and will never disclose.

Dubya 1st Pres. Since FDR to be reelected with increased margins in House and Senate. This is what he asked for when they mapped out a campaign strategy.

Higher % of popular vote then any Dem since 1964

25 yrs. Ago Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, “All of a sudden, the GOP has become the party of ideas.” Our ideas are idealism and reform.

Reagan didn’t want to contain Communism, he wanted to transcend it through the power of human liberty. Dubya is applying the same idea.

Edmond Burke said, “Apply timeless principles to changing circumstances.” Government must be put on the side of prosperity through the creation of an ownership society. We must also reform family and promote a culture of life, because we can’t spread liberty abroad if we don’t show that we are deserving of it at home.

Cautionary tale: Dems went from dominant party to rump party because of ossified thinking and seeking political power as an end in itself. We gotta act in office the same way we said we would on the campaign trail.

The GOP used to be a reactionary party. We’re winning now because we’re articulating a vision of a better world. (Creating history rather than reacting to it. Ed)

Wayne LaPierre

I spent a lot of last year hunting…with John Kerry. John Kerry is the only hunter I know who wears camouflage…to be seen.

Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death!” But Americans don’t need to make that choice. We don’t brave death to get to the voting booth. The Iraqis just did. They went to the voting booth with a sniper’s crosshairs trained on their heads. “Cut off this finger and I’ll vote 9 more times.” Freedom takes real guts.

I don’t think the US should get out of the UN. I think the UN should get out of the US. 36 terrorist organizations operate unhindered in 60 member nations. UN backed civilian disarmament has been a human rights disaster.

Shows video of UN disarmament official Rebecca Peters. She says that civilians should have no handguns. She says, “If you miss your sport, take up another sport.” She says, “American citizens should be like any other citizens of the world.”

Wayne says, “This country was founded to be unlike other countries.” Standing Ovation.

Wayne says, “[Because the USA is the one country where citizens have the written right to bear arms] America’s First Freedom has become the world’s final freedom.”

Wayne says, [In reference to the UN] “It’s time for freedom’s haters to pack up and get the hell out of freedom’s last sanctuary.” “Set up shop on foreign soil with tyrants [who share your corrupt version] of freedom.”

Commentary:

Have I mentioned that Wayne LaPierre makes my dick hard?

The ball and chain arrives tomorrow. Blogging may be light. Until then I’m off to get my last night of heavy drinking and flirting in. See Ya Tomorra.
- posted by Oschisms @ 7:38 PM

 

Cold Bloggin’ CPAC pt. 1

Beginning with this post, I will try to chronicle my adventures at CPAC, which was explained to the guy next to me on the bus as Woodstock for conservatives, but with better drugs and classier broads. He was a Jack Daniels drinker, so I had to forbid him from taking sips from my 375 ml bottle of Jim Beam. Well, that and the sores on his lips forced the issue.

Took the Hasidic Bus down, got unpacked, ran over to the Ronald Reagan building for registration, met up with the crew from Free Republic. Gonna catch up with them for drinks later.

Headed to the new monument on the block, the WWII vets monument. Utter crap. The place looks like a graveyard. I know, I know, people died. In a war. But considering they sacrificed their lives to bring freedom to 2 continents (OK, 2 half continents) the monument could be more inspiring, less sorrowful. Another thing that bothered me was that the first quote I read was about women working in the factories and keeping the war machine running. Excuse me, I thought this was a memorial for VETERANS. It’s not like that doesn’t include women. More than 350,000 women had served in the military during the war. Feh. Political Correctness runs amok again.

On the way back to the hotel I passed the Dept. of Commerce. The department that is supposed to advance the interests of American business. You know, the corporations that have all the money and create all the jobs? Apparently, they can create, market and sell innovative products but are somehow clueless about how to advance their interests. I bet, if they put their minds to it, they could do so cheaper and more efficiently than the Department of Commerce. Then we could abolish the Department and turn that huge building into something more productive and healthy, like a gay bathhouse.

All right, that’s enough for now. I’ve got to iron some clothes, put some food on top of all this Jim Beam sloshing around in my stomach, and get to some real serious drinking. See Ya Tommora.
- posted by Oschisms @ 7:16 PM

 

State of the Union

I love the fact that the Cowboy from the White House is followed by the soft-spoken doughboy Harry Reid and the lady of a thousand facelifts, Nancy Pelosi. If John Kerry was the most masculine presidential candidate the Democrats could field, expect the gender gap to only widen in the coming years.

It's so damn funny to see a over-botoxed yenta yammer on about national security and expect to be taken seriously. It's so damn sad that 49% of the country does take her seriously.
- posted by Oschisms @ 10:18 PM

 

What's a "Yout?"

The much ballyhooed youth vote was a fantasy created by people who never saw this election as a decision about the direction of American foriegn policy. They saw it as a chance to relive their childhoods. Thank God the youth vote never materialized.

Seeing as there are still plenty of:
1) Aging baby boomers that want to relive their childhoods and hang with the Panthers
2) Moronic Gen-Xers that want to live their childhood in the 60's, despite the fact that it's 2004 and they're frickin' 30 and adults by any stretch of the imagination
3) Lily-white Dean/Kerry volunteers in their 20's aching for some street cred
4) Music moguls that have T-shirts to sell

I think we should come up with a new name for Poof Daddy's Vote or Die voter registration campaign. Clearly he needs to come up with a more dire threat than death. Something that will really make those 18-25 year olds shake in their boots.

My ideas are:
1) Vote or I'll do another bad remake of a Police tune that wasn't so good to begin with and call it a remix.
2) Vote or I'll defile another fine Puerto Rican actress and pay for the plastic surgery that shrinks her beautiful ass and turns her into an average white girl.
3) Vote or I'll run another New York Marathon and again finish behind every other man in my age group, even the ones on crutches.

If you've got an idea, leave it in the comments section.
- posted by Oschisms @ 11:42 PM