http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh103006.shtml"HOW TO DRIVE A FORD INTO A DITCH: Yesterday, George Stephanopoulos played part of that famous Tennessee ad during This Week’s roundtable segment. The excerpt included the part of the ad where an actor says this about Harold Ford:
So he took money from porn movie producers. I mean, who hasn't?
But did Ford “take money from porn producers?” Stephanopoulos and his high-minded panel made no attempt to answer that question; their ensuing discussion only involved their high-minded thoughts about race. We especially noticed this omission because, just a few hours earlier, we were watching C-SPAN’s Washington Journal when an especially dim-witted Tennessee voter said this about that same ad:
CALLER (10/29/06): That ad had nothing to do with race...That ad told the truth about Harold Ford, when he’s up in there preachin’ in churches on his political ad and he’s accepting money from porn producers. Sorry—facts are facts.
Clearly, facts are facts. But what are the facts about that “porn movie” claim? As we’ve noted, the Chattanooga Times has called it a “lie,” saying this about the charge: “The fact is, Mr. Ford did receive, but immediately returned, a $3,600 contribution from a disreputable donor, much as many congressmen—and many Republicans recently—have returned contributions from unsavory lobbyists.” (See THE DAILY HOWLER, 10/26/06.)
What are the facts about that “porn movie” claim? In truth, it’s almost impossible to say. Even in Tennessee, newspapers have made almost no attempt to fact-check this exceptionally high-profile charge. Meanwhile, “broadcast journalists” keep playing the part of the now-famous ad in which the actor makes this charge—while failing to make any attempt to assess the truth of the claim. Voters keep hearing the claim being made—and inevitably, many come to believe it.
On balance, it’s hard to say who is dimmer—callers like the one from Tennessee, or “journalists” like those on that high-minded panel. But one thing is certain; the people who made that ad about Ford are laughing all the way to the Diebold machine. Ford gets driven into a ditch, while high-minded scribes share their high-minded views about the ascendancy of race. Viewers get to see how high-minded the journalists are. In the process, they also come to believe that Ford is taking money from porn kings.
If people weren’t willing to be this dumb on TV, it would be hard to dream it up. And yes—we’re talking about that high-minded panel, not about that Tennessee caller.
(To hear the caller’s full discussion, just click here, then fast-forward twelve minutes into the tape of “Washington Journal Entire Program” for Sunday, October 29.)"