"More pragmatic than partisan, 'non-college-educated white women are the ultimate swing voters and the ultimate late deciders'...In the Democratic primaries, they came out in force for Hillary Clinton...[but]McCain holds an 18-point lead among older, less-educated likely women voters. 'Frankly, it's because they are conflicted on Obama. They'd like to vote for a Democrat, but they are not sure Obama is the one.'
'Honestly, I don't know what to do. I really don't want to vote for McCain. You can tell he only cares about rich people. Sarah Palin wears glasses that cost $300. McCain's wife wears Gucci clothes. Which means they don't know anything about people like me." Into that stew of assumptions, she adds: "I hear that Obama's a Muslim.' "
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1842107,00.html
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Does anyone else see a problem with this? My issue is not with the 'maxed-out moms' that are quoted in the Time article, but with the way the author Karen Tumulty chose to report the quote included in the post. In an otherwise accurate and even-handed story, Ms. Tumulty makes a serious error.
The first 2 statements made by the M-O-M re: Palin's $300 glasses and Cindy's Gucci wardrobe were true in spirit if not in fact (not sure if McCain actually wears Gucci, but she definitely wears designer clothing as evidenced by the $4,000 Oscar de la Renta dress she wore on the opening night of the Republican convention and the glasses cost not $300 but $400 per an AP article quoting the designer, see
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PALINS_GLASSES?SITE=DCUSN&SECTION=POLITICS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT).
The problem is with Tumulty’s next line: “Into that stew of assumptions, she adds: ‘I hear that Obama's a Muslim.' "
While this last statement might be an assumption of the particular M-O-M being quoted, it is an inaccurate one based on lies spread by McCain supporters. This is noted by Tumulty at the end of the paragraph not shown on the post. The error occurs when Tumulty uses the phrase "Into that stew of assumptions”. As noted above, the first two statements were not ‘assumptions’ they were truths. By characterizing all three statements as assumptions, Tumulty gives credence to the lie about Obama. While the point may be subtle, we’ve already seen that the average American appears to be unable to distinguish truth from lie. It’s easy to understand how this is possible when journalists like Tumulty choose phrases that make good reading over accurate statements.
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