More Palin Bashing: How CNN Misleads With Headlines

-By Warner Todd Huston
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CNN indulged a classic left media tactic by misleading with a headline in a recent piece on former Governor Sarah Palin. The headline, if read by itself, seems to be saying that Sarah Palin delivered a "gaffe-filled message," when the truth is that her message talked about gaffes, but wasn't "filled" with them per se. The effect was that the headline made Palin look worse than the story itself did. If all one read was the headline, one would get a far different opinion of what was going on than if one read the story that went with it.

On Nov. 26, CNN delivered this headline on its Political Ticker blog: "Palin delivers a gaffe-filled message".

Think about that headline. Doesn't it say to you that Palin delivered a bunch of gaffes in her message? If all you did was read that headline, you'd think she made a fool of herself with all sorts of incorrect statements in it. One suspects that CNN fully realized this fact.

The whole story arose after an appearance that Palin did on the Glenn Beck show last week. On that show, while speaking of the shelling that the North Koreans perpetrated on South Korea, Palin accidentally said that our allies were the North Koreans. Clearly she simply had a slip of the tongue and meant the South Koreans were our allies, not the North.

How am I so sure she knew the difference? Because not only did she quickly correct herself, but she had correctly identified which Korea was which multiple times in the minutes prior to her slip of the tongue. It wasn't as if she mentioned the Koreas once and incorrectly at that. It is clear that she understands which is which.

Naturally in its report CNN forgot to mention that Palin was correctly identifying the Koreas multiple times before the gaffe.

In any case, after Palin got illicitly lambasted by the left for a simple slip of the tongue, she issued one of her famous Facebook posts in reply to her critics. In it Palin delineated many of the verbal gaffes that Barack Obama issued since he began running for president and pointed out that the Old Media never made a big deal about all these many gaffes made by Obama.

So, let's get back to that headline, "Palin delivers a gaffe-filled message."

While it is strictly true that Palin's Facebook message is filled with gaffes, it is not a "gaffe filled message" in the way that the phrase is generally used. After all if someone says that one issued a "gaffe filled message" people assume that the person issuing the message is making multiple gaffes in that message. They don't immediately assume that said message contains a list of someone else's gaffes. They assume that the message issuer is making mistakes.

This notion is, of course, what CNN hoped to promulgate. They hoped to fool people that only read headlines into thinking that Palin made multiple gaffes in a message. This headline was meant to bash Sarah Palin.

Sadly, misleading with a headline is a very common Old Media tactic. They can bash with a headline -- all the while assuming a large percentage of their readers will read just the headline and skip the story -- and still claim to be giving "the whole story" by adding a story that seems to contradict the headline.

-WTH

Warner Todd Huston is editor of Publius' Forum and a contributor to Texas for Sarah Palin as well as Big Government, Right Wing News, and a number of other websites.

In Alaska, 44 anti-missile missiles beat 30

IBD Editorials commented on Defense Secretary Robert Gates' stop off in Alaska Monday to tour the missile defense facility at Fort Greely:

Gates believes the 30 interceptors developed, tested and deployed by his former boss, President George W. Bush, at Fort Greely and at Vandenberg AFB in California are adequate for the threat. While Gates' words are tough and the visual aids stunning, Gov. Palin, who hosted Gates' visit and whose state is on the wrong end of a Taepodong trajectory, thinks more is needed — such as the other 14 ground-based interceptors that were planned for but cut.

A statement from her office last Friday, after North Korea launched its sixth missile in less than a week, said: "Missile Defense Agency funding must be fully restored in the federal budget to guarantee our protective measures remain the best in the world." We think so too.

Governor Palin understands what President Reagan understood before her, but our naive president doesn't get it. When it comes to defense of the homeland, you have to plan and prepare for the worst-case scenario. You don't try to do it on the cheap.

History teaches that every time the United States has dropped its guard, some thugs take that as a sign of such weakness that they could not resist the temptation to attack us. Gov. Palin understands this. We pray that the president and his political party at the nation's helm don't have to learn the history's timeless lesson the hard way.

- JP

Palin to Obama: Restore Missile Defense Funding

Governor Sarah Palin urged President Obama today to stand firm against North Korea and to defend US territory and America's allies on the Korean peninsula.

The North Koreans launched their sixth short-range missile since Monday’s nuclear test, and the communist dictatorship said that it will no longer be bound by the terms of the armistice which ended the Korean War in 1953.

The governor called on President Obama to restore the $1.4 billion that he cut from the budget of the Missile Defense Agency:

"The United Nations sanctions have failed to stop North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons, and the Obama Administration cannot afford to be playing catch-up to an irrational dictator like Kim Jong-Il," said Governor Palin. "Missile Defense Agency funding must be fully restored in the federal budget to guarantee our protective measures remain the best in the world. Fort Greely plays a crucial role in the nation’s security."

The news release from the governor's office continued:

Alaska is home to the largest ground-based mid-course defense missile shield in North America. Because of its geographical position and proximity to potential targets, Alaska plays a critical role in national security and in the defense of American allies.

Ground missile defense is the cornerstone of the Missile Defense Agency’s multi-layered architecture. It is designed to detect, track, discriminate, intercept and destroy long- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles during the mid-course phase of flight. The weapons system consists of land-, sea- and space-based sensors, command and control operations, and silo-based interceptors that are located at Vandenberg AFB, California and Fort Greely.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates will visit Alaska Monday, and Sen. Mark Begich will take him on a tour of the same missile defense site in Fort Greely that he has cut funding for. If Gov. Palin, Sen. Murkowski and Rep. Young join the tour, Gates should really get an earful about his and the president's short-sightedness.

Update: ADN's report is here.

- JP

Palin: Now is NOT time to cut our defense

In response to North Korea's recent actions,  Gov. Palin tweeted today:

"More N Korea nuke tests: why consider US missile program cuts now? AK military program helps secure US. Now is NOT time to cut our defense."

Anyone with at least a grain of common sense would agree with the governor. That group, unfortunately, doesn't include the president and many of his fellow Democrats.

- JP

You can see Kim's missiles from Fort Greely

The AP is reporting:

North Korea has restarted its nuclear facilities to harvest weapons-grade plutonium, an official said Saturday, in an escalation of the communist state's standoff with the international community over its nuclear and missile programs.

The move "will contribute to bolstering the nuclear deterrence for self-defense in every way to cope with the increasing military threats from the hostile forces," the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

Diplomacy has been a miserable failure as a strategy for the West to deal with North Korea. Negotiations with the NoKors have been dead in the water since December. And, like Generalissimo Francisco Franco, they are still dead. The United Nations, in a characteristically ineffective move, announced sanctions against three North Korean companies. I'm sure that Kim is quaking in his jack boots. The UN is the Barney Fife of world cops. But Barney, at least, had a bullet and he wasn't afraid to use it.

This comes on the heels of a recent article from The Times of London:

The world’s intelligence agencies and defense experts are quietly acknowledging that North Korea has become a fully fledged nuclear power with the capacity to wipe out entire cities in Japan and South Korea, the Times of London reported.

The new reality has emerged in off-hand remarks and in single sentences buried in lengthy reports. Increasing numbers of authoritative experts — from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the U.S. Defense Secretary — are admitting that North Korea has miniaturized nuclear warheads to the extent that they can be launched on medium-range missiles, according to intelligence briefings.

At least the Korean communists, unlike their Iranian allies, are beyond the stage of trying to convince the rest of the world that their nuclear development is for the peaceful purposes of generating electricity. No, Kim makes no bones about the fact that he has the bomb and he's willing to use it. 

The Obama administration doesn't seem to be sufficiently "up on the wheel" about the stunning and dangerous elevation of North Korea to full-fledged nuclear power status. It is cutting back on missle defense and taking the posture that our most critical threat comes from sources other than rogue nations. At a time when the world is getting more dangerous, Obama is cutting back on critical defense programs and weapons systems. The political Left always dismisses any cautionary talk of what the NoKors have been up to. Their standing talking point is, "North Korea's latest missile test was a failure. Nothing to see here, folks. Don't worry, be happy. Move along."

One who does not dismiss the significance of North Korea's 50 years of missile and warhead development is Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin:

"I am deeply concerned with North Korea’s development and testing program which has clear potential of impacting Alaska, a sovereign state of the United States, with a potentially nuclear armed warhead," Governor Palin said. "I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that we continue to develop and perfect the global missile defense network. Alaska’s strategic location and the system in place here have proven invaluable in defending the nation."

Governor Palin never misses an opportunity to stress the importance of Fort Greely and the need for continued funding for the Missile Defense Agency. The governor opposes SECDEF Robert Gates’ proposed $1.4 billion reduction of the Missile Defense Agency. Greely is the nation’s only ground-based missile defense complex:



Critics of missile defense take the "can't do" approach, as if these arguments are some kind of rationale for not taking every precaution we can to defend our country. The same sort of arguments were being made in 1914, "Aeroplanes are not reliable weapons platforms. The bombs they carry are not accurate. There is no future for military aviation." Yet we now have precision-guided bombs and missiles which can penetrate a building and be detonated inside it. It's a good thing the naysayers did not prevail in those early days of military aircraft development nearly a century ago.

Sarah Palin is not just a voice in the Alaskan wilderness. She is joined by Alaska's bipartisan congressional delegation of Senators Murkowski and Begich, along with Rep. Young:

"Our early opposition to reduced funding for the Missile Defense Agency is proving to be well-founded during this turbulent time," Governor Palin said. "I continue to support the development and implementation of a defensive missile shield based in Alaska. We are strategically placed to defend the critical assets of the United States and our allies in the Pacific Theater."

Her political opponents, of course, attempt to deflect her compelling argument with such nonsense as, "What does this snowbilly know? She said that she could see Russia from her house." Not only does this not address the issue, but Sarah Palin never said that. Her detractors have her confused with comedic actress Tina Fey. But this isn't the first time that small minds have been unable to distinguish between whimsy and reality. They've got nothing more than snark, and they're not afraid to use it.

- JP

Cross-posted at RedState.com

Palin Says Missle Defense System Invaluable

Governor Sarah Palin today criticized the Obama Administration for its planned cuts in the nation's missile defense system, saying that Alaska is committed to protecting the U.S. from missile attacks by rogue nations such as North Korea:

"I am deeply concerned with North Korea’s development and testing program which has clear potential of impacting Alaska, a sovereign state of the United States, with a potentially nuclear armed warhead," Governor Palin said. "I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that we continue to develop and perfect the global missile defense network. Alaska’s strategic location and the system in place here have proven invaluable in defending the nation."

Governor Palin stressed the importance of Fort Greely and the need for continued funding for the Missile Defense Agency. The governor is firmly against U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ proposed $1.4 billion reduction of the Missile Defense Agency. Greely’s isolated location in Alaska as well as its strategic location in the Pacific allows for maximum security and development of the country’s only ground-based missile defense complex.

"Our early opposition to reduced funding for the Missile Defense Agency is proving to be well-founded during this turbulent time," Governor Palin said. "I continue to support the development and implementation of a defensive missile shield based in Alaska. We are strategically placed to defend the critical assets of the United States and our allies in the Pacific Theater."

Hot Air says, "Nicely played."

- JP