Sep
6
2008

Contextomy at the New York Times

One Rachel Kleinfeld, writing at one of the New York Times blogs:

John McCain has told us — over and over again — that he is willing to fight. In fact, he relishes a fight. So much so that, in his own words Thursday night, he said he liked to “pick a few fights for the fun of it.”
On the strength of this quote-snippet, she continues for a few hundred more words to trash McCain as a reckless warmonger.

But what about that quote? Thanks to the comrades at Commie Radio, I checked out the transcript of McCain's acceptance speech. The relevant paragraph of the speech:

On an October morning, in the Gulf of Tonkin, I prepared for my 23rd mission over North Vietnam. I hadn't any worry I wouldn't come back safe and sound. I thought I was tougher than anyone. I was pretty independent then, too. I liked to bend a few rules, and pick a few fights for the fun of it. But I did it for my own pleasure, my own pride. I didn't think there was a cause more important than me.
In short, McCain's obviously not talking about his current mindset; he's talking about pre-POW days in order to contrast with his current mindset.

So you won't find a neater example of quoting out of context. Rachel Kleinfeld is either stupid, or thinks her readers are. I'm leaning toward the latter, how about you?