Tea party guy misrepresents Obama statement in LTTE in my local paper (SE Pennsylvania)

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/05/16/opinion/srv0000011722037.txt

Somebody has been taking lessons from Breitbart. He selectively edited this quote from the Facebook Town Hall, in which the President was speaking about the Paul Ryan budget plan:

"I think it’s fair to say that their vision is radical. No, I don't think it’s particularly courageous. Because the last point I’ll make is this. Nothing is easier than solving a problem on the backs of people who are poor or people who are powerless or don't have lobbyists or don't have clout. I don't think that's particularly courageous."

The letter writer's version?

<QUOTE>

"President Obama's comment that "nothing is easier than solving a problem on the backs of people who are poor, or people who are powerless or don't have clout" was the most reprehensible statement I've ever heard.

No one in this country is powerless, thanks to the foresight of the framers of our Constitution. Every one of us is part of "We the People." We must grab that power; it still exists. Reach out to people who feel like you do."

<END OF QUOTE>

He later goes on to say that liberals are "hell-bent" on taking our constitutional rights away. The commenters have already started calling him out on his statements.

:applause:

They do it by making false statements on various Fox shows, then moving on without correction when their deceit is exposed to the rest of us.

One such example occurred in my local newspaper recently. A person from my hometown wrote a letter to the editor citing in part John Kyl's statement about Planned Parenthood and how "over 90% of what they do is perform abortions". In the online commentary many posters, including myself, debunked that figure but were met by many others who backed up the misinformation as historical fact. I happen to know the letter writer, and although he's an otherwise very intelligent (older) college graduate, he's rabidly right wing, and no doubt a Fox News adherent.

Here's the problem. Fox "News" isn't. It is not news, it's propaganda that takes lies like Kyl's and passes them purposely to viewers who want to believe what they hear. Their willful avoidance of self correction leaves ignorant viewers with heads full of facts that the rest of the world knows are untrue. Though under normal circumstances it should be embarrassing to get caught passing these lies on in public, viewers choose to simply dismiss everyone else as uninformed. They blame the main stream media.

I only cited the example of Kyl's statement, but a long list of untruths are spouted there on a daily basis to millions of people nationwide. There should be a federal standard before an agency can use the word "news" in their name. I don't want to censor or take them off the air, just let viewers know they're watching entertainment.

"I think it’s fair to say that...solving a problem on the backs of people who are poor...'s particularly courageous."

Obama says its "courageous"? Outrageous! And he uses a CONTRACTION?!? The nerve.

"President Obama...formed...the USA."

"The...Tea Party...are counting on you to be ignorant and apathetic."

"The...Tea Party...are hell-bent on...just complaining."

....hand him a a live high voltage wire.

I'm reminded of back in 2003 when George Bush was proclaiming, "There was a time when many said that the cultures of Japan and Germany were incapable of sustaining democratic values. Well, they were wrong. Some say the same of Iraq today. They are mistaken. ... It is presumptuous and insulting to suggest that a whole region of the world - or the one-fifth of humanity that is Muslim - is somehow untouched by the most basic aspirations of life." (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EB28Ak02.html)

Stomping people into the mud while taking offense at any suggestion that those people may not have the gumption and moxie to get themselves out from under being stomped is an old right-wing game. It can be tricky to call them on it -- but maybe the best way is to take their words seriously and turn them back on them.

In the case of the letter-writer, for example, you might suggest that if he really believes that poor people need to "grab that power <and> reach out to people who feel like you do," he must obviously be in favor of organizations like ACORN or the New Black Panthers, through which poor people attempt to do exactly those things.

Try that on for size and see if his head explodes.