by Deb Cupples | I just found this at the Daily Howler (via Make Them Accountable):
"Under the ludicrous headline, 'Stop Lying About My Record,' Klein somehow conjured up this:
"JOE KLEIN (5/19/08): 'It seems the only way the neoconservatives are able to attack Barack Obama's foreign policy proposals is to exaggerate and misrepresent them.
"'The evidence? On Friday, I promised to check into whether Obama had ever said that he would negotiateâspecifically, by nameâwith Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Indeed, according to the crack Time Magazine research department and the Obama campaign, he never has.
"'He did say that he would negotiate with the Iranian leadershipâbut, on matters of foreign policy and Iran's nuclear program, the guy in charge is the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
"'As of today, John McCain was still accusing Obama of wanting to negotiate with Ahmadinejad. Why doesn't the McCain campaign and other assorted Republicans ever accuse Obama of wanting to negotiate with Khamenei? Well, because Khamenei isn't quite the flagrant anti-Semite Ahmadinejad is...and, as we keep hearing, Obama has a Jewish problem.'"
The Daily Howler's comments: "Except Obama has saidâspecifically, by nameâthat he would negotiate with Ahmadinejad. Thereâs nothing automatically wrong with that, of courseâespecially after adding all the qualifiers, buzzers, gadgets and doodads which have now been employed to âclarifyâ Obamaâs position (without âwalking anything back,â of courseâunless you want to âdistortâ things).
"But Klein was sure that Obama hadnât said such a thing. (He doesnât seem to know that âthe crack Time Magazine research departmentâ isnât real good at crack research.) Using Nexis, it took us roughly a very few minutes to find the event last September where Obama was asked about this matterâand answered. In real time, Beth Fouhy reported it for the AP. And uh-oh! On Thursday, Robert Novak ran transcript:
"NOVAK (5/22/08): 'Time columnist Joe Klein turned up in Savannah, Ga., on Monday for McCain's news conference, declaring that McCain had misrepresented Obama as proposing unconditional talks with the Iranian president. After asserting that "I've done some research" and "also checked with the Obama campaign," Klein said that Obama "never mentioned Ahmadinejad directly by name. He did say he would negotiate with the leaders."
"'In fact, Obama has repeatedly been questioned specifically about Ahmadinejad. At a news conference in New York last September, Obama was asked whether he would still meet with Ahmadinejad. He replied: "Yeah...I find many of President Ahmadinejad's statements odious....But we should never fear to negotiate.â On NBCâs Meet the Press in November, he defended "a conversation with somebody like Ahmadinejad."'
The Daily Howler's comments (cont.): "Obama to Russert, last November: 'Look, part of the reason it's
important for us to talk to countries we don't like and leaders we
don't likeâit's not that I think that in a conversation with somebody
like Ahmadinejad that I am going to somehow change his mind on
everything. But what we do is we send a signal to other leadership in
Iran, to the Iranian people, and to the world community that we are
listening, and that we are willing to try to resolve conflicts
peacefully.'
"But Joe Klein simply knew in his soul that Obama couldnât have said such things. (Apparently, Timeâs crack research staff hasnât heard about Meet the Press yet.)
My Comments: good work, Daily Howler! Given that DH's staff is likely much smaller than Time Magazine's, I can't explain how DH managed to find the quotes while Time failed.
Related Buck Naked Politics Posts:
* Studies Suggest Pro-Obama (or Anti-Hillary) Media Bias
* Media Bias Bigger than Presidential Race: Smack Down Overdue
* ABC Slants Soldiers' Support for Presidential Candidates
* Who checks the Fact Checkers? Media's Clinton Story Revealed
* Media Fashions Bill Clinton's Words into Corkscrew
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