Re: NYT Scrub Story - 'Top Romney Adviser: `Apology’ Statement Fit Our Narrative, So We Ran With It'

[WillyT]

First: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021334310

Now...

Posted at 12:08 PM ET, 09/13/2012
Top Romney adviser: `Apology’ statement fit our narrative, so we ran with it
By Greg Sargent - WaPo

<snip>

In a post that’s generating some attention today, Josh Marshall pointed out that last night’s New York Times story detailing the Romney camp’s step-by-step thinking on the Embassy attacks was replaced with another version that was missing key reporting. The new version removed a quote from a top Romney adviser in which he was perhaps overly candid about what motivated the Romney camp to put out its statement claiming Obama “sympathized” with the attackers.

I’ve determined what happened here. I’m not particularly interested in criticizing the Times over this; stories get rewritten all the time. What is more interesting to me is that it is now very clear who that adviser was.

In short, it’s now clear that top Romney policy director Lanhee Chen basically confirmed to the Times — even though he was not quoted on record doing so — that the Romney camp attacked Obama in the way it did because it fit the campaign’s predetermined narrative.

Here’s the key quote in the original version of the story (with the subsequently removed part in bold):

“We’ve had this consistent critique and narrative on Obama’s foreign policy, and we felt this was a situation that met our critique, that Obama really has been pretty weak in a number of ways on foreign policy, especially if you look at his dealings with the Arab Spring and its aftermath,” one of Mr. Romney’s senior advisers said on Wednesday. “I think the reality is that while there may be a difference of opinion regarding issues of timing, I think everyone stands behind the critique of the administration, which we believe has conducted its foreign policy in a feckless manner.”

As Josh noted, this is akin to the Romney camp admitting: “we saw this thing happen. It fit with our campaign narrative. So we pounced.”

That quote is missing from the current version of the story. But the second half of it is on the record from Chen:

Mr. Romney’s camp was surprised by the blowback. “While there may be differences of opinion regarding issues of timing,” Mr. Chen said, “I think everyone stands behind the critique of the administration, which we believe has conducted its foreign policy in a feckless manner.”

So, what plainly happened here is that Chen agreed to put the second half of the quote on the record, but not the first half. Yet it’s obvious that Chen is the one who said that the campaign pounced on the Libya situation because it fit the campaign’s “narrative.”

[ProSense]

1. Thanks for posting, I was

waiting for more information.

Alright, What’s Up?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021332360

Exposing the lies.

[WillyT]

4. You Are Quite Welcome !!!

[DonRedwood]

13. +1

[polichick]

2. "we believe has conducted its foreign policy in a feckless manner" LOL...

pot. kettle. black.

[Angry Dragon]

6. 'feckless manner' .......... the same words McCain used

are they reading the same play book??

[freshwest]

8. Here is *The Official Narrative* since 2009 for my friends at DU:

The President's Apology Tour April 23, 2009
Great leaders aren't defined by consensus.
By KARL ROVE

President Barack Obama has finished the second leg of his international confession tour. In less than 100 days, he has apologized on three continents for what he views as the sins of America and his predecessors.

Mr. Obama told the French (the French!) that America "has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive" toward Europe. In Prague, he said America has "a moral responsibility to act" on arms control because only the U.S. had "used a nuclear weapon." In London, he said that decisions about the world financial system were no longer made by "just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy" -- as if that were a bad thing. And in Latin America, he said the U.S. had not "pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors" because we "failed to see that our own progress is tied directly to progress throughout the Americas."

By confessing our nation's sins, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that Mr. Obama has "changed the image of America around the world" and made the U.S. "safer and stronger." As evidence, Mr. Gibbs pointed to the absence of protesters during the Summit of the Americas this past weekend...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124044156269345357.html

There's a lot more at the link there. I've heard this stuff repeated ad nauseam since that date forward. Karl Rove is on Romney's team. And all of America knows it, so why shouldn't they keep using it?

Obama can't win with the sick logic they pull. If he treated other nations with respect and says the truths most sane people know, he's caught up in the mantras:

No backbone, no balls, soft on terror, anti-American, etc. If he does act on anything, or doesn't end the wars fast enough or keeps on sending money to that military, he's a warmongering, baby-killing, nazifascistcommie, and gonna send all the patriots to FEMA camps.

Just at the same time he'll import a boatload of jihadists from Gitmo, And since he dared to ask Islamic nations to work with him, it proves he's working for that world wide caliphate the Muslims are all supposed to want! And if he speaks against the Christian Taliban at home, he doesn't love God and Jesus like Mitt does.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124044156269345357.html

[RagAss]

3. This dude's campaign is a cloudy, wet shit.....boy did they fuck up picking this shitard !

[Skittles]

7. I SWEAR this guy may even be dumber than Dubya

I mean, OMG

[Liberalynn]

11. if they keep following this trend

in 2016 they will have to run a rock.

Who knew that someone dumber than Dubya existed? Leave it to the Pukes to find that person.

[Skittles]

12. well, I already knew someone dumber than Dubya existed

Rick Perry is my governor

[JBoy]

10. +1 for "cloudy, wet shit".

[hifiguy]

15. My cat buries smarter things than Willard in his litter box. nt

[CJCRANE]

5. That's all they have: a narrative, a fictional narrative

with an unreliable narrator.

[Warren DeMontague]

9. Yes, if there is one thing that the Romney Campaign has a lot of

It's Feck.

[ProSense]

14. NYT Public Editor: Both Versions Of Story On Romney’s Libya Response Should Have Stayed Online

NYT Public Editor: Both Versions Of Story On Romney’s Libya Response Should Have Stayed Online

The New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan weighed in on the issue of a substantially revised story on Mitt Romney's response to the violence against U.S. diplomats in Egypt and Libya, concluding that both versions of the Times' story should have remained online. The paper's approach to editing and revising online stories is always evolving, Sullivan wrote, adding:

But in this case, the stories were very different in wording, if not in intent, and the quotes from Romney advisers were striking ones to remove altogether.

It’s clear to me that these two versions should have been treated as different stories and that both should have remained accessible on the Web site.

The Times explained to TPM on Thursday that the paper preferred to use on-the-record quotes over the quotes from unnamed sources.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/nyt-public-editor-both-versions-of-story-on

[WillyT]

16. Yep... And I Agree !!!

[Gabi Hayes]

17. Restore honor and integrity to the Times. Bring back

Judy Miller!