Talking Points Memo’s intrepid editor and publisher Josh Marshall is really doing the Lord’s work. Nowhere is that more evident than in this summary of Ken Cuccinelli’s response to being confronted by America’s immigration policy as dictated by the poem on the Statue of Liberty:
Cuccinelli: That statue of liberty poem was about "people coming from Europe." pic.twitter.com/nrDcUGJsU3
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 13, 2019
Did Josh nail it or what?
A whooooole lot of blue checkmarks falling for this one, including quite a few presidential candidates https://t.co/l0A0GZuuWo
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) August 14, 2019
Here’s just a taste:
The poem reads, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” It doesn’t say “but only if they’re white.”
Cuccinelli is a brazen racist and shouldn’t be leading our nation’s immigration system. https://t.co/qBC9qbrJ9y
— Jay Inslee (@JayInslee) August 14, 2019
This man is acting Director of Citizenship & Immigration Services.
For the love of everyone, double check your voter registration status + register if you haven’t: https://t.co/rEWGVIw1Lo https://t.co/yreZGA6txF
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 14, 2019
Somehow I think this quote will wind up in a complaint and/or brief making the case this is racist in design
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) August 14, 2019
Ken Cuccinelli just gave the game away. Racism is the point of their policy. https://t.co/glTn6BO01J
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) August 14, 2019
Thank you, Ken Cuccinelli, for actually saying out loud what we all knew was behind Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s racist immigration agenda. https://t.co/8L0jtceEA4
— Jennifer Wexton (@JenniferWexton) August 14, 2019
Which one of you was asking about white supremacy? https://t.co/cQqRfbkzws
— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) August 14, 2019
They are telling you they want the country to only be white. How much clearer could this be? https://t.co/IDK2uQnGGJ
— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) August 13, 2019
How much clearer could it be that Josh Marshall and the rest of these frauds are blatantly misrepresenting Cuccinelli’s remarks?
This needs to be getting *WAY* more attention https://t.co/aOJGU8XmyP
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) August 14, 2019
It’s getting plenty of attention, Chris Cillizza. But what deserves the real attention is the rampant intellectual dishonesty emanating from liberal and media circles.
But hey, at least Josh clarified in his follow-up tweets:
2/ Understandably getting lost in the shuffle here is that Cucc is arguing that "wretched" didn't mean "wretched". He appears to be saying it referred to people who weren't part of the nobility or simply one of the lower classes/commoners
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 14, 2019
3/ in other words, the doors were open for Tom in addition to Lord Grantham.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 14, 2019
In other words, Josh left important context out of his summary. Oddly enough, his clarifying tweets didn’t get nearly as much love as his initial take. But then, that’s what he intended, isn’t it? Gotta get those clicks. If it means hyping a false narrative, well, so be it. Shoot first, and count on no one to ask questions later.
This is an insanely bad faith take on a quote that could have just as easily been attacked on it's merits. Did 4K people even listen to the video? https://t.co/3JSlcisIQ6
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) August 14, 2019
It's very, very obvious that he's just spinning about what the term "wretched' meant in the 1890's, and that it should be viewed in light of European classism. Not "well, those were white people."
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) August 14, 2019
Yup. Unclear to me why people must go to such great lengths to mischaractize Cuccinelli’s words when they can be criticized on their own terms. Self-defeating effort. https://t.co/n4i7NTBXdo
— Andy Grewal (@AndyGrewal) August 14, 2019
Cuccinnelli also didn’t say “but only if they’re white.”
Everyone, on all sides, making bad-faith quotes and reimaginations of this poem. https://t.co/72eGtUX72t
— Colin Duffy (@TheRightDuff) August 14, 2019
So I'm just yelling into the aether here, aren't I? Doesn't matter what I say, we're going to all run with some chickenshit phrasing that some lazy asshole at a left-wing outlet got started, and no one in the media felt like challenging. pic.twitter.com/ZIEGV47f2n
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) August 14, 2019
That isnt what is said in the full clip, and they all know it https://t.co/K1D0sV1wJp
— Bob Malak (@bob_malak) August 14, 2019
Of course they know it. They just don’t give a damn.