Re: Media myths (Was Townsend)

[Dave Faneuf <tklaundry@juno.com>]

On Wed, 15 Jan 2003 13:02:11 -0500 "Dan Billings"
<billings@suscom-maine.net> writes:
> Using your sources, I came up with the following:
> 
> Gore said: "During my service in the United States Congress I took 
> the
> initiative in creating the Internet."
> 
> The truth is the Internet developed from a milatary reserach network 
> that
> was first created before Gore was elected to Congress.  Gore 
> supported
> expansion of the Internet into civilian uses, but the statement 
> above
> overstates his role.

Dave writes:
Even Newt Gingrich backs Gore on this one, Gore in fact did spearhead
legislative efforts in Congress that lead to the creation of the internet
as we know it.  Never did he say he Invented the internet.....that was a
creation, invention of The Media.

Dan writes:
>  "I called for a congressional investigation and a hearing. I looked 
> around
> the country for other sites like that. I found a little place in 
> upstate New
> York called Love Canal. Had the first hearing on that issue," Gore 
> said.
> 
> "That was the one that started it all. ... We made a huge difference 
> and it
> was all because one high school student got involved."

Dave writes:
This quote was in response to a question from a high school student in
Concord NH, the quote that was reported in the Washington Post was not 
"That was the one that started it all"....it was "I was the one that
started it all"  Big Big difference.  
 
Dan writes:
> In August 1978, Gore did chair hearings on the matter by the House 
> Commerce
> Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations - two months after the 
> Love
> Canal homes were evacuated and President Carter declared the 
> neighborhood a
> disaster area.  He hardly started it all.

Dave writes:
Again, he didn't say "I" started it all,  he said he held the first
hearings on Love Canal, true....and the "started it all" comment was
still misquoted in the Washington Post and refered to a student asking a
question about toxic sites near her home.  The Student not Al Gore, got
the ball rolling and that's what he said.

Dan writes:
> It appears he may have got a bad wrap on Love Story, but he did 
> repeat
> misinformation that was in a newspaper article.  If he an Tipper 
> were really
> the model for the people in the story, you would think that he would 
> have a
> better source.

Dave writes:
The misinformation in theTennesseean (sp) was published not based on an
article with Al Gore, but with the author of Love Story.  The author did
say the hero was based on a compilation of his college roommates, Al Gore
and Tommy Lee Jones.  

Dan writes: 
> It appears clear to me that Gore tried to get away with oevrplaying 
> his role
> in these events, like many politicians do, and got called on it by 
> his
> political opponents and the media.  The short hand versions of these 
> stories
> may be unfair to Gore, but the full stories don't get him off the 
> hock
> either.

Dave writes:
All politicians like to exagerate their roles in events.  The "short"
version of these stories are what the media picked up.    Al Gore
"invented" the internet.   "I" started it all re: Love Canal.    Tipper
and I were the basis of Love Story.  
It's not until you see the comments in context that you understand that
Gore never said the things he's accused of saying and his reputation for
being a liar is not justified,  he doesn't appear to lie or exagerate any
more often than anyone else.
When Media pick up on stories that are not accurate, portray them as
truth, the stories become "true" whether they are true or not.
 
Dan writes:
> The Gore stories are not unusual in this matter.  Again and again, 
> whenever
> negative campaign ads or racial politics are discussed, the media 
> digs up
> the infamous Willie Horton ad from the 1988 Presidential election 
> and shows
> a clip of the ad with the picture of Willie Horton.  This ad is 
> almost
> always attributed to the Bush Presidential campaign when it was done 
> by an
> independent group not affiliated with the Bush campaign.  The Bush 
> ad on the
> subject featured the revolving door at a prison and most of the 
> prisoners
> shown were white.  The Bush ad did not mention Horton by name, did 
> not show
> his photo, or mention his race.  Despite those facts, during the 
> controversy
> over Trent Lott's remarks, I saw the other ad on two different 
> occassions as
> an ad by the Bush campaign.
> 
> -- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine

Dave writes:
I personally never found the Willie Horton ad offensive, I thought it was
a very good ad on an issue that perhaps Dukakis wasn't actually
responsible for, but it did occur under his watch.

Accuracy....what a pain in the &*^((&*

df