Sarah Palin with a “journalist”
From ABC’s Charlie Gibson’s interview with Sarah Palin last night:
GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, “Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.” Are we fighting a holy war?
PALIN: You know, I don’t know if that was my exact quote.
GIBSON: Exact words.
“Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God,” she exhorted the congregants. “That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan.”
For this, Charlie Gibson ought to be run out of town on the Dan Rather Express, and no one should mistake him any longer for a credible and even-handed journalist. But the incident put me in mind of the fact that whenever I or other anti-jihadists quote from Islamic texts, we’re accused of being “hatemongers,” “Islamophobic,” “bigots,” etc. This happens even when our quotes are accurate. See, for example, here, here and here.
So when someone accurately quotes Muslims calling their war a Holy War, that is Islamophobia. When someone misquotes Sarah Palin calling a war against jihad terrorists a Holy War, that’s journalism.
Charlie Gibson! Yes, you, Charlie! I’m talkin’ to you! If you want to find out which side — Palin-style conservatives or Osama-style jihadists — really thinks this is a Holy War, call me. I’ll be in the office all day.
More journalism here.