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Palin’s false victimological claim against Maddow
Sarah Palin’s recent statement that Rachel Maddow was playing “gotcha” on Rand Paul when she questioned him about the 1964 Civil Rights Act is simply untrue. As can be seen by watching the segment of Maddow’s program last Wednesday on which Paul appeared, Maddow started off by enthusiastically playing a clip from her show a year ago in which Paul announced that he was forming an exploratory committee to run for the U.S. Senate; then she played an interview on NPR from earlier that day (the day following Paul’s primary victory) in which Paul discussed the 1964 Civil Rights Act; then she played a video of his recent appearance before a Kentucky newspaper’s editorial board where he also discussed the ‘64 Act; then she said that she wanted to question Paul about his views on the Act, and she proceeded to do so. There was nothing untoward, unfair, or biased in her conduct. Normally Maddow is a hate-mongering leftist in the Ken Olbermann mold and I have nothing positive to say about her. But in this instance she did nothing wrong. She was being a good journalist.
UPDATE: I see that neo-con Peter Wehner at Commentary and NRO-con Ramesh Ronnuru at the Corner also believe that Palin is off-base on this one. Email entry |