Anatomy of a misquote…
HotAir.com writes about how the AP got a Rudy Giuliani quote wrong and how that wrong quote spread like wildfire to various locations including Countdown with Keith Olbermann. The AP subsequently corrected its quote. But not before Arianna Huffington appeared on Countdown to repeat the misquote, which Keith Olbermann also did several times in the run up to the actual segment.
At first I thought this was a case of Olbermann and Huffington just repeating what the AP wrote without knowing the true quote. But when I saw the video of the segment they showed the actual video of Giuliani’s speech including the correct quote that mentions Assad and not Bin Laden. And apparently nobody on Countdown’s production staff caught that discrepency and flagged Olbermann in advance of the show’s air. See for yourself…
Someone really dropped the ball here. Under the circumstances, a correction is in order.
Update: Changed some of the wording around to make my point more clear.
What do you expect. Huffington nor KO are news people just hacks. God help those who get news from them.
Comment by Kirk G — November 1, 2007 @ 7:54 pm
This would be up to 50 Comments if this had been FOX.
Comment by mike — November 1, 2007 @ 8:30 pm
Keith Olbermann has proven time and time again that FACTS are of no importance when it comes to smearing conservatives.
Comment by TBDave — November 1, 2007 @ 8:40 pm
But wait… Media Matters tells me only conservatives lie… Guess they were wrong…
KO is such a hater.
Comment by jmkaib — November 1, 2007 @ 9:00 pm
You can give all of the proof that you want. Olby lovers (both of them) will still follow him.
Comment by Tom P — November 1, 2007 @ 9:19 pm
If O’reilly have done that KO would name him WPITW and would have had a whole segment about it with that gal from Err America.
This is just sloppy reporting…..THEY WATCHED THE WHOLE VIDEO!!!!..they could hear for themselves that Rudy didn’t say it….now how can KO and MSNBC get away with this?
KO should be nailed for this.
Comment by mlong — November 1, 2007 @ 10:29 pm
Brock of Media Matters and Huffington are twins. They are renegade Republicans now shilling for the loony leftists like Blabberman, who is getting more and more a liability for his employer.
Comment by RGL — November 1, 2007 @ 10:31 pm
I would venture that Rudy believes the leaders of Syria and Iran are terrorists. Saying that the Democrats running for president would invite them to their swearing-in balls is pretty crazy, wrong quote or not.
Comment by chase — November 1, 2007 @ 10:33 pm
Doesn’t have to actually be correct… just as long as you can assume it’s kind of close to correct… and it supports your own views… eh, chase?
So much for integrity, I suppose.
Comment by ImNotBlue — November 2, 2007 @ 12:28 am
The good thing is that based on his ratings, nobody heard it anyway. They are both losers.
Comment by Bob — November 2, 2007 @ 8:27 am
I hope Olbermann does the right thing and issue a correction, but it’s been two days and if he hasn’t done it by now, I doubt he never will. What a shame. At first I thought Olbermann had promise, but I’m slowly discovering he’s no different than the “spin” merchants on the right.
Comment by Obama in 08! — November 2, 2007 @ 10:19 am
Obama, I’m glad you’re able to see the truth.
In that clip, Olbermann said 3 times that Giuliani said “Bin Laden”, Huffington called him a “thug” twice, and a “tyrant”.
Even after they played the clip, where he clearly says “Assad”, the slander continued.
How typical.
Comment by bigred — November 2, 2007 @ 10:36 am
Olbermann has corrected himself over lesser things than this, but he has his limits. He NEVER issues corrections when he gets it wrong about Bush, Guiliani, O’Reilly, Limbaugh, etc. It doesn’t matter how blatant the mistake (or outright lie) is. He just doesn’t seem to care. Nor does he understand how something like this hurts his credibility.
Comment by William — November 2, 2007 @ 10:56 am
Don’t let the facts get in the way of the truth.
Comment by SHANE — November 2, 2007 @ 12:04 pm
You think that what Rudy said about the Democratic candidates was accurate and reasonable, imnotblue? Rudy’s quote insinuating that democrats would invite “terrorists” to the Inaugural Ball was the point of the segment.
Comment by chase — November 2, 2007 @ 12:21 pm
chase… do you think knowingly lying about something, repeating the lie, then not correcting the lie, and still claiming to be ‘beacon of truth’ or whatever is reasonable?
We can talk all you want about Rudy, his policies, and what he’s said later. Right now, this is talk about how Keith Olbermann, and MSNBC by proxy, disseminated a story that was clearly false… and instead of correcting it like a responsible news organization should, have decided to ignore it.
If you think that’s acceptable… well, then I feel sorry for you.
Comment by ImNotBlue — November 2, 2007 @ 2:32 pm
Chase, not only would the democratic candidates invite terrorists to the Inagural Ball they would probably nominate them for a Noble Peace Prize. Can you say Yasir Arafat! I’m sure Jimmy Carter could represent him.
Comment by Brad Strecker — November 2, 2007 @ 2:38 pm
Give it a rest, it was in an AP story, uncorrected, so they quoted it. And it’s not like conservatives have never misquoted someone. “Al Gore invented the Internet” was corrected the next day and then an audiotape came out proving absolutely that he didn’t say it, but conservatives still whip that one out to this day.
Comment by James — November 2, 2007 @ 3:20 pm
For me the issue isn’t about whether the misquote got corrected before or after Countdown aired its segment. The issue for me is that the correct quote was right there for everyone on Countdown’s staff to see it and nobody caught on and Olbermann was left twisting in the wind as a result when the correct quote played in the very segment where they used the incorrect quote.
Comment by Spud — November 2, 2007 @ 3:25 pm
What is “the lie?” I’m talking about Rudy’s actual quote. Keith said “terrorists” when referring to Rudy’s remarks. And from what I see the story was based on his comments saying the Democrats were talking to them or inviting them to the Inaugural Ball. Rudy either truly doesn’t believe that making this irresponsible rhetoric for a presidential candidate or he does believe this making him delusional. Either way, its newsworthy.
Comment by chase — November 2, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
Whoa! Everyone: Switch to decaf. Before jumping off on a conspiracy rant, consider the fact that “Assad” can sound like “Osama” when someone is speaking quickly or softly, especially when speaking off the cuff. Sure, now that you KNOW what he said, you can tell the difference. But these folks, whether you like them or not, started off with the opposite information at hand: an AP story that erroneously reported Osama instead of Assad. Or do none of you ever make honest mistakes?
Comment by CoolDown — November 2, 2007 @ 5:08 pm
Well if it’s an honest mistake, all he has to do is broadcast a correction. He could have done so on Wednesday. Nope. Or Thursday. Nope again. IF he cares about the accuracy and credibility of his broadcast, I would think he would have made that correction by now.
Comment by johnny dollar — November 2, 2007 @ 5:26 pm
Chase, Giuliani specifically mentioned Ahmadinijad and Assad. Countdown’s entire segment focused on him saying BIN LADEN, which he didn’t say. Why is that difficult for you to understand?
Is your head really that far up KO’s sphincter?
Comment by bigred — November 2, 2007 @ 5:44 pm
I think that many of you can’t see the forest from the trees. A detail or two may be worng, but the overall statement is correct; Reps and their supporters regularly accuse Dems and their supporters of being traitors and supporting, coddling, or negotiating with terrorists.
If you want me to pull up some examples, I will.
Comment by Timetheos — November 2, 2007 @ 6:15 pm
the promos had osama. The segemnt didn’t execpt for Arianna stating his name once. All I was saying is what he said is crazy, unbecoming of a candidate.
Comment by chase — November 2, 2007 @ 6:19 pm
This chase dude sounds like the DA in Durham or zany Evan Thomas at Newsweek…..
KO is crazy on a nightly basis, never gets called out except on GROSS errors, and then it’s a wrist slap. What a cocked-up cable environment MSNBC has created! Thankfully, almost no one watches [who has functioning forelobes].
Comment by daveinboca — November 2, 2007 @ 7:32 pm
OLBERMANN: A year before the election and Rudy Giuliani is already publicly contending the Democrats are willing to invite Osama bin Laden to the White House to negotiate.
Comment by johnny dollar — November 2, 2007 @ 7:38 pm
These neo-hippies are truly blinded and made deaf by their rabid hatred for anything outside their little socialist driven bubble.
Comment by Tobias2012 — November 2, 2007 @ 9:08 pm
Completely understandable. Osama sounds exactly like Assad when you stick your fingers in your ears and scream, “NA NA NA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!”, Queef’s usual response to those who disagree with him.
Comment by Jim — November 2, 2007 @ 9:45 pm
Ok Freepers, he issued the correction, now quitcher bitchin’!
Comment by Rocky — November 4, 2007 @ 5:24 am
Now will Rudy issue a correction?
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/03/countdowns-worst-person-in-the-world-rudy-rudy-rudy/
Comment by Timetheos — November 5, 2007 @ 11:46 am
Wait, I cannot fathom it being so straigthforawrd.
Comment by Ducky — September 21, 2011 @ 12:34 pm