Bitch Slapped: the saga of Kathleen Parker continues...

[Memekiller]

From Whoslying.org



If not for blogs, Howell Raines might still be editor of The New York Times; Trent Lott might still be majority leader of the U.S. Senate. And we might never have learned the name of "whatshername," Blue-Dress Girl, Lewinsky.

Kathleen Parker, “Blogs Breaking Logjam of Journalism”, July 14, 2003



Nor might anyone have ever noticed Kathleen Parker’s “massaging” of a quote in an Op Ed piece that ran in various newspapers at the first of this month. But Buzzflash.com came across a wily blogger’s screenshot of the “previous” column, which in turn was stumbled upon by yours truly during his daily browse. We then took it upon ourselves to send variations of the following letter to the editor to the places that ran the column:



In the wake of Jayson Blair’s fabricated stories in the New York Times, our organization, whoslying.org, has found it necessary to keep tabs on stories and opinions pieces to help ensure accuracy in media. In order to further those aims, we will occasionally send letters like this one to the editor to make people aware of questionable stories. On , your paper ran an editorial by Kathleen Parker entitled “Politics are Out of Place in Time of War” that quoted a note given to her by an anonymous “friend and former Delta Force member” as saying “These bastards like Clark and Kerry… should all be lined up and slapped.” The same editorial has appeared elsewhere, including the Whittier Daily News and Daily Camera, with the quote reading “These bastards like Clark and Kerry… should all be lined up and shot.” We do not know how this occurred, but we believe that since this is a direct quote taken from a “note” written by an anonymous source, it is a matter that your editorial board should be aware of and that you owe it to your readers to explain this discrepancy.



This may indeed be due to some minor mishap, in which case it should be corrected. But as you know, allowing indicators like this to slide is what allowed Blair to continue as he did for so long. In either case, it would do Parker, your paper and your readers a service to find out what happened so that we can be assured the reporting your paper prints is as accurate as possible.



Dylan Otto Krider

President of Whoslying.org

[cosmicdot]

1. exposure couldn't happen to a more deserving person - Kathleen Parker

I emailed her after she character'shot' Cynthia McKinney.

Gotta love this part:

Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2003 8:13 AM
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Townhall Comment: Lined up and shot?

Shouldn't you address this? Your military friend wants to kill Presidential candidates? I'm contacting my local Secret Service office (WASHINGTON, D.C. 202-406-8000) to check it out. Are you going to let them know your friend's name? It seems that if someone had threatened to kill then-Candidate Bush, Gary Bauer, John McCain, etc., that you'd have something to say about it.


From: "Kathleen Parker"
To:
Subject: RE: Townhall Comment: Lined up and shot?
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2003 08:22:37 -0500
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0)
Importance: Normal

Oh come on. In any case, we changed the word to "slapped." Don't know why townhall didn't change it. I emailed them personally. kp



Parker seems to suggest she made the change because of a reader’s complaints. Changing the quote at the request of a friend is one thing – after all, it’s what her friend meant to say. Changing his quote because of readers’ complaints is something much more serious. So now we have to ask ourselves about this “anonymous” source. I’m assuming the editor did their job and confirmed both his existence and that of the note.

As of this writing, I have not heard back from The Sentinel or MichNews about what other action is being taken. But it’s getting curiouser and curiouser. Parker did get one thing right: today, bloggers are keeping the mainstream media on their toes.

[Grins]

2. It wasn't MY fault!

It wasn't MY fault they didn't change it! (Oh! I know! It's Clinton's fault!) Don't these people take responsibility for anything?

It doesn't matter that "...we changed the word to "slapped." What a sorry excuse. And she changed it because of reader’s complaints? Huh? Huh?

YOUR point is well taken. Candidates for president are given Secret Service protection. (At some point. It became law because of the attempt on the life of Gov. Wallace back in the 70's.) And here she is, with a friend, a member of the military!!! no less, threatening 10 candidates with being shot, and all she does is change a word. Like that makes it OK. A "friend" has indicated a desire to commit mass murder, and she does nothing. What's wrong with our "Law and Order" Republicans these days?

Also, I don’t see why you should be calling the Secret Service – Parker herself should have! And she didn’t... because he was a friend????

You second point, "...if someone had threatened to kill then-Candidate Bush, Gary Bauer, John McCain, etc., that you'd have something to say about it.' was also interesting.

You could also have mentioned that if they were of middle eastern extraction Herr Ashkroft would have had them immediately arrested, they would not be told of the charges against them for weeks and sometimes months; be designated a party "of interest" in an attempted homicide even when there is no proof of the attempt, be kept from contacting attorneys, friends and family (who is turn would be told that they are not holding them at all), and left to languish for months while the FBI agents assigned to clear them were given other duties.

And since Herr Ashkroft would have arrested anyone associated with that person, Parker should have rushed to turn the murderous bastard in, if for no other purpose than to keep herself from being arrested as an accomplice!