Posted on 06/06/2003 2:00:22 PM PDT by frithguild
KRUGMAN REPEATS A LIE THAT THE POST HAD ALREADY CORRECTED Paul Krugman's op-ed in today's New York Times contains an out-of-context and misleading quotation lifted from the Denver Post-- a quotation so out of context and misleading that that when a Washington Post columnist lifted the same quote two weeks ago, he issued a correction in his next column. So much for fact-checking.
Here's Krugman, talking about Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform (whom Krugman identifies instead as "the right-wing ideologue who has become one of the most powerful men in Washington"):
"Which brings us back to Senator Miller, and all those politicians and pundits who still imagine that there is room for compromise, that they can find some bipartisan middle ground. Mr. Norquist was recently quoted in The Denver Post with the answer to that: 'Bipartisanship is another name for date rape.'
So what do you come away thinking? First, that this quote is something that Norquist said. Second, that its implies his endorsement of coercive and abusive partisan legislative strategies. Hold those thoughts...
Here's the way that quote appeared in the original Denver Post on May 26:
"Bipartisanship is another name for date rape," Norquist, a onetime adviser to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, said, citing an axiom of House conservatives."
This was picked up by Al Kamen in his Washington Post column on May 28:
"Quote of the Month: 'Bipartisanship is another name for date rape,' says Grover Norquist, GOP strategist and head of Americans for Tax Reform, according to an article yesterday in the Denver Post."
Kamen, unlike Krugman, isn't ashamed to admit his mistakes. In his next column, on June 2, he wrote:
"Veteran GOP operative Grover Norquist called Friday to clarify some comments in the Denver Post and in this column last week. He said he was not inveighing against the merits of bipartisanship per se, only noting that partisan fights at the state level seem to stop tax increases but bipartisanship or nonpartisanship in some states -- such as Utah and Nebraska -- seems to lead to tax hikes.
"And that line 'bipartisanship is like date rape' is not his, he said, but was coined by former House majority leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.) when the GOP was in the minority and being bipartisan meant getting the short end."
Okay, let's add up the score. Krugman repeats a two-week old quote from another newspaper which had already been picked up by another columnist -- and corrected by that columnist. The correction revealed that the quote was both not Norquist's, and that its meaning was not to call for coercive and abusive Republican partisanship, but to complain about coercive and abusive Democratic partisanship.
Now will the Times issue a correction? Probably not. But if you think they should, send an email to retrace@nytimes.com.
Thanks to Jonathan Collegio, the director of communications for Americans for Tax Reform, for pointing this out.
Posted by Donald Luskin at 4:51 PM | link
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