So, the folks at Fox & Friends are claiming that Obama said that small business owners did not create their businesses, and that someone else was responsible. In general, whenever one sees that blurring or dissolving between two clips, one should be very suspicious. Now let's take a look at what Obama actually said:
When we see the full context of Obama's remarks, it is clear that he is not claiming that small business were not the result of hard work by entrepreneurs, he is merely saying that government, through the building of roads and infrastructure, creates an environment in which entrepreneurs can then invest their energy in creating new businesses. He is not saying that small business owners don't build their business, he is saying that they don't build the roads and bridges that small business (and all businesses) depend on. So, by selectively quoting him out of context, Fox & Friends created the impression that Obama said exactly the opposite of what he was saying.
What is particularly disturbing about this is that other networks have picked up this distortion and repeated it. As MediaMatters has noted, Erick Erickson repeated this same falsehood on Wolf Blitzer's show on CNN, going so far as to argue:
For [Obama] to say somehow that if you've built something, you didn't really build it, other people do -- no one denies that other people contributed to your success in life, but, I mean -- this is just grade school Marxism that he's uttering.In fact, all Obama was arguing was just the point that Erickson said no one denies! I certainly expect these kinds of distortions from Fox News, but it is really disturbing to see CNN repeat the same nonsense without even bothering to check and see if the criticism is accurate. The take away from all this is the obvious point that Mainstream Media in the US is worthless.
h/t to Atrios
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.