Emphasizing the Ass in Associated Press

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I'm not sure who originally came up with the line, "No matter how much you hate the media, it's not nearly enough." I've used it a bunch of times myself in columns on Hot Air and on my Duane's World podcast, and I'm not the only one. Dozens and dozens of my colleagues in media on the right have adopted the phrase as a rallying cry. It has become this generation's 'Don't tread on me', and for very good reason.

As we gird ourselves for the presidential debate next week, moderated by ABC's David Muir and Linsey Davis, the expectations going in are measured not in terms of will they be biased against Donald Trump or not, but how many fathoms deep they will be in the tank for Kamala Harris. 

But in the run up to Tuesday's soiree at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, another infuriating episode of regime media not just aiding and abetting the Harris-Walz campaign, but leading it by the nose, occurred. Let's set the stage by going to the fabled Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix. 

J.D. Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, spent the last couple days in the desert. He was interviewed on stage at the Turning Point Conversation at Generation Church in Mesa on Wednesday before rallying Trump-Vance supporters Thursday night. 

In part of his remarks, Vance reflected on the recent school shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, GA. Here is the Associated Press headline that ran moments later, pointing to a story filed by Jonathan J. Cooper. 

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What a cold-hearted, callous thought to have, right? How could someone running for high office be this thoughtless? 

Of course, the blowback to the headline was immediate, sustained, and overwhelming. Conservative voices all over media, whether it be television, radio, and/or online, pummeled AP with what Senator Vance actually said, which is the exact opposite sentiment of how the headline read. From the fourth graph in the revised version of the story running now:

“I don’t like that this is a fact of life,” Vance said.

It's not a matter of saving space that caused the Associated Press to misrepresent what Vance told the crowd. It's literally three words that completely change the meaning. The firestorm from all sorts of notable Republican voices made the original headline and X/Tweet untenable, and AP pulled it down and deleted it. This is what replaced it.

JD Vance says he laments that school shootings are a ‘fact of life’ and calls for better security

Better headline, capturing a little more accurately what was said at the rally, but not before the desired effect for low information voters was achieved. The intended damage was already done.

Kamala Harris, staying in the Joe Biden basement suite at an undisclosed location in Pittsburgh while preparing for her debate with Donald Trump, broke out of the isolation bubble long enough to drop this nugget on X via her campaign account.

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When a Republican reacts to something Democrats say or do, regime media trips over each other with their respective versions of the 'Republicans seize and/or pounce' story. There was no such criticism of Team Harris by anyone in regime media for pouncing on a debunked and deleted headline. 

Further, the campaign's note compares what they want to believe Vance said with Harris actually said up in North Hampton, New Hampshire on Tuesday. Here's the result of the Kamala Harris vision on what to do about crime, especially crime committed by minors.

As California's Attorney General, she authored a favorable opinion on Proposition 47, which reduced to misdemeanor status retail theft so long as it was valued under $950 dollars. Her non-endorsement endorsement helped the measure pass. A few years later, Proposition 57 came along, which not only emptied out California's prisons, it took the ability for district attorneys to try youth that commit violent crimes as an adult out of their hands, and leaving it to judges to make that determination on a case by case basis. In San Francisco, Harris' hometown of which she once served as district attorney, 49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall was shot in the chest in broad daylight in a botched robbery by a 17-year-old gang banger. Under the now-passed Prop. 57 that Harris also gave a favorable opinion of as Attorney General, at most, if convicted, the most prison time the shooter could receive is 10 years before being released. 

As a kicker to the Pearsall story, former L.A. County Commissioner candidate Kevin Dalton reports that this attack isn't the shooter's first brush with law enforcement...this week. 

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After the Associated Press deleted and reissued their story covering the Vance comments in Phoenix, do you think the Harris campaign retracted their derisive commentary towards their Republican opponent? Of course not. Instead, Tim Walz, Harris' number two in every possible definition, piled on, obviously not even reviewing the video he quote tweeted. 

The attached video actually shows what Vance said, not what was reported in AP's original headline. No retraction from Walz, either. 

Speaking of pathetic, here's Walz on Wednesday in Erie, Pennsylvania, painting the American dream as something to be mocked, if the person engaging in the pursuit of the American dream happens to be his Republican opponent. 

Let's face it. Walz is weird. Weird enough that not too many people bothered to go see him in Erie. Salena Zito has warned that the Harris-Walz campaign was worried about not having enough people show up to see Walz, and attempted to import union members and DNC staff from Pittsburgh. Here is Salena's tweet. Notice the size of the Highmark Amphitheater.

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The website says the amphitheater space holds 2,800 people. 

That's not 2,800 people. That's not even worth the CO2 emissions produced by Walz' campaign plane to get there. 

To close out, I was curious to see where Jonathan J. Cooper, the writer who filed the piece on Vance, worked before his stint covering national politics for AP. The bio is on the thin side with specifics, but does say he previously worked in Oregon and California. Of course, he did. 

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John Stossel 8:30 AM | October 12, 2024
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