Halway Blog - Politics - Democrats develop the Media-Safe Lie

The Democrats develop the "Media-Safe Lie"

Once a highly questionable public statement is made and has passed unchallenged in the press, a candidate is then free to use the statement (or the lie) with impunity.

15 Oct 2004
The Democrats have developed the "media-safe lie" (MSL). The pattern appears to be that once a highly questionable public statement is made and has passed unchallenged in the press, a candidate is then free to use the statement (or the lie) with impunity.

Keery and Edwards used three such statements repeatedly through the four debates. If these are not lies, they are certainly questionable, and yet they went unquestioned. You should expect to hear these MSL's again during the final weeks of the campaign.
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MSL 1. Kerry, 8 October: "Now with respect to the deficit, the president was handed a $5.6 trillion surplus, ladies and gentlemen." (Used 5 times in 3 debates)

Only once was the term "projected surplus" used instead of "surplus." Bush certainly did not have $5.6 trillion in undesignated funds in the U.S.Treasury when he took office. As closely as I can recall, some similar figure was presented as a "ten-year projected surplus" during Clinton's last year in office. I shouldn't have to research this further. The media, to earn their salaries, should question Kerry and Edwards about the basis for their preposterous claim.
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MSL 2. Kerry, 30 September: "And when we had Osama bin Laden cornered in the mountains of Tora Bora, ... , we didn't use the best trained troops in the world to go kill the world's number one criminal and terrorist." (Used 4 times in 3 debates)

This is even more ludicrous than to say that some criminal is "cornered" in the Adirondacks, or that the police have the New York City "surrounded." Tora Bora, not far from the Khyber Pass, is at 4,000 meters elevation and similar in terrain to some of the U.S.' harshest desert mountain ranges. The primary search area was about 200 sq. km., and is laced with escape tunnels whose total length has been estimated in excess of 100 km.. I don't remember any news stories saying that we knew that bin Laden was there either before or after the Americans and the Afghanis pacified the area. Again, the media should be questioning Kerry and Edwards on where they got their information.
(Corrected 22 Apr 2005)
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MSL 3. Kerry, 13 October: "And yet the president who talks about No Child Left Behind refused to fully fund - by $28 billion - that particular program so you can make a difference in the lives of those young people." (Used 5 times in 2 debates, plus 3 side-references)

This gripe appeared last Spring when the National Conference of State Legislatures complained that the federal government had imposed $29 billion in "unfunded mandates" on the states," only part of which was blamed on NCLB*. It's difficult to make a case that NCLB was "underfunded" when the states received the funds that they agreed to accept. It should be futher remarked that state governments are hardly disinterested parties in the portioning of the taxpayers money.
*Republican Policy Committee, "'No Child Left Behind Act': Neither Unfunded Nor a Mandate" (.pdf), April 21, 2004
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MSL 4(Possible): Kerry's many references to uninspected cargo containers may be in a separate category. If he is not a lying, then Kerry would appear to be incredibly indiscreet in announcing such a national vulnerability of TV. After 20 years in the US Senate, Kerry can't find a better way to address a national security problem than to make it a campaign issue.

Edwards 05 Oct
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"Because we will do what they've not done. You know, if you look at what's happened over the last four years, we have gone from a $5 trillion projected surplus when George Bush took office to a $3 trillion projected deficit."
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"They said they were going to put $2 trillion of the surplus when they came into office aside to protect Social Security; then they changed their minds."
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Kerry 08 Oct
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"Now with respect to the deficit, the president was handed a $5.6 trillion surplus, ladies and gentlemen. That's where he was when he came into office."
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Kerry 13 Oct
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"This president has taken a $5.6 trillion surplus and turned it into deficits as far as the eye can see."
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"In fact, we put together a $5.6 trillion surplus in the '90s that was for the purpose of saving Social Security."
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Kerry: 30 Sep
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"And they believe it because they know I would not take my eye off of the goal: Osama bin Laden.
Unfortunately, he escaped in the mountains of Tora Bora. We had him surrounded. But we didn't use American forces, the best trained in the world, to go kill him. The president relied on Afghan warlords and he outsourced that job too. That's wrong."
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"Osama bin Laden attacked us. Al Qaida attacked us. And when we had Osama bin Laden cornered in the mountains of Tora Bora, 1,000 of his cohorts with him in those mountains. With the American military forces nearby and in the field, we didn't use the best trained troops in the world to go kill the world's number one criminal and terrorist."
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Edwards 05 Oct
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"But we had Osama bin Laden cornered at Tora Bora. We had the 10th Mountain Division up in Uzbekistan available. We had the finest military in the world on the ground. And what did we do?"
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Kerry 13 Oct
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"Yes. When the president had an opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, he took his focus off of them, outsourced the job to Afghan warlords, and Osama bin Laden escaped."
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UNDERFUNDING NCLB

Edwards 05 Oct
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"They said that they were going to fund their No Child Left Behind; $27 billion short today."
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Kerry 08 Oct
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"No Child Left Behind Act, I voted for it. I support it. I support the goals.But the president has underfunded it by $28 billion."
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"He can't come here and tell you that he's left no child behind because he didn't fund no child left behind." (Interesting syntax)
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"The Clear Skies bill that he just talked about, it's one of those Orwellian names you pull out of the sky, slap it onto something, like "No Child Left Behind" but you leave millions of children behind. Here they're leaving the skies and the environment behind."
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"I want to fully fund education, No Child Left Behind, special-needs education."
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"I have a plan to provide for our schools so we keep the standards but we help our teachers teach and elevate our schools by funding No Child Left Behind."
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Kerry 13 Oct
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"And yet the president who talks about No Child Left Behind refused to fully fund - by $28 billion - that particular program so you can make a difference in the lives of those young people."
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"Now right here in Arizona, that difference would have been $131 million to the state of Arizona to help its kids be able to have better education and to lift the property tax burden from its citizens. The president reneged on his promise to fund No Child Left Behind."
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