The Narrative Trumps The Facts - Again

One of the big news stories of the last week revolved around people shouting "Kill Him" when Sarah Palin referenced Barack Obama. But, as it turns out, the story is a total fabrication. No one, aside from the pathetic little reporter who invented it claims to have heard anything of the sort.

News organizations including ABC, The Associated Press, The Washington Monthly and MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann reported the claim, with most attributing the allegations to the Times-Tribune story.

But of course, that didn't prevent the mainstream media from running with the story.

The story gained legs because the media has been creating a narrative about Sarah Palin stirring hatred at her rallies. This isn't the first time that the media preferred narrative to facts.

As happened in the Duke lacrosse team rape case, the media was seduced by a narrative that conformed to their ideology. As Newsweek's Evan Thomas apologetically phrased it:

"It was about race. Nifong's motivations clearly were rooted in his need to win black votes. There were tensions between town and gown, that part was true. The narrative was properly about race, sex and class... We went a beat too fast in assuming that a rape took place... We just got the facts wrong. The narrative was right, but the facts were wrong."

Or, I suppose, the media could once again argue that the story was "fake but accurate."

Obama Play Three Card Monte With The Truth

When is taking money from oil companies not taking money from oil companies? When it's Barack Obama.

Obama: I don’t take money from oil companies or Washington lobbyists, and I won’t let them block change anymore.

It's true that Obama doesn't take money directly from oil companies, but then, no presidential, House or Senate candidate does. They can't: Corporations have been prohibited from contributing directly to federal candidates since the Tillman Act became law in 1907.

Obama has, however, accepted more than $213,000 in contributions from individuals who work for, or whose spouses work for, companies in the oil and gas industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Obama Matches Hillary Whopper For Whopper

Addressing civil rights activists in Selma, Ala., a year ago, Sen. Barack Obama traced his "very existence" to the generosity of the Kennedy family, which he said paid for his Kenyan father to travel to America on a student scholarship and thus meet his Kansan mother.

The Camelot connection has become part of the mythology surrounding Obama's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. After Caroline Kennedy endorsed his candidacy in January, Newsweek commentator Jonathan Alter reported that she had been struck by the extraordinary way in which "history replays itself" and by how "two generations of two families -- separated by distance, culture and wealth -- can intersect in strange and wonderful ways."

There's one small problem with this heart touching tale - it's bullshit.

It is a touching story -- but the key details are either untrue or grossly oversimplified.

Swept Up In His Own Messianism, Barack Obama Finding The Truth Elusive

Obama's stumbling quite a bit recently. I guess that's what happens to a hack politician when he has to step down from pep rallies to specifics.