CSotD: Knowing What Just Ain’t So

Dave Whamond sets the table for today’s discussion. On first look, you might well think he is contrasting the left (blue) with the right (red), but if he had that in mind, it’s secondary to the main point, which is an accusation of the Mainstream Media looking for false balance by airing both truth and fiction.

He’s right, but it’s only part of the problem in a world in which the Mainstream Media is only one of the voices.

As Mark Twain is reported to have said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

Which is a perfect quote for today’s topic, because Mark Twain never said it.

Better you should quote Confucius, who did say “I have not yet met someone who can see his own faults and correct them within himself.” (Analects, 5:26)

Granted, spin and exaggeration are a normal part of political debate. For example, there is a great deal of rightwing joy over the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberley Cheatle following her grilling before Congress over the attempted assassination:

Gary Varvel (Creators) says she shot herself in the foot.

But it’s not all rightwing joy: Progressive cartoonist Jack Ohman (Tribune) also frames it as something of an own-goal.

Certainly, preparations for an appearance by a presidential candidate should have crossed her desk, though it seems unlikely she’d have gone over the details of precisely who was going to do what. Still, the failures make her resignation the appropriate move and we ought to see more executive-level acceptance of personal responsibility.

Perhaps if it were less rare, we wouldn’t celebrate so much when it happens.

Part of what drew so much attention to the failures of the Secret Service was the flood of unhinged speculation and unsupported claims over the shooting that erupted on social media, and I haven’t seen anyone confessing to have been wrong and pledging to delete their accounts over it.

And imagine how empty the halls of Congress would be if everyone who claimed that those reprehensible “they” were behind the shooting packed up and went home in disgrace.

The issue of truth, lies and spin brings us to the Presidential Campaign, which is getting under way, shy only of a VP candidate for the Democrats, since the Republicans have one. Or do they?

Political commentators — who would be called “gossip columnists” if they were writing about Taylor Swift — have touched off speculation that Trump regrets his choice of a running mate, which in turn has touched off this

Juxtaposition of the Day

Jeff Danziger — Counterpoint

Kevin Necessary

Dave Whamond

Danziger’s multi-panel approach makes it fairly clear that he’s speculating, which seems to be what the aforementioned political writers were doing: Biden’s announcement following the RNC Convention changed the game and Trump may, indeed, wish he’d chosen a more seasoned, savvy partner for what now appears to be a more competitive campaign. But where’s the proof?

The other two seem more assured of Trump’s attitude, with Necessary playing upon the GOP’s resistance to choice and Whamond playing upon the rapidity with which, according to rumor, Trump has experienced regret.

It’s still rumor, however, and it’s one-sided rumor. There are, no doubt, Republicans who didn’t want Vance as VP, but that’s normal give-and-take, with less substance than the open calls from some Democrats for an open primary rather than acceptance of Harris.

It seems like spin, but it skates close to the edge of honesty, and one bubble in Whamond’s cartoon crosses the line.

John Buss puts social media rumor into graphic form, the claim that, in his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance confesses to have masturbated between the cushions of a couch.

It’s a widely circulated story on social media, but, according to the AP, there is no such passage in the book.

UPDATE: The AP has taken down the fact-check, not saying it is wrong but saying it didn’t go through proper editing procedure. However, Snopes attributes the claim to a joke that people uncritically accepted.

This isn’t open to debate: The AP notes the times and contexts in which the word “couch” appears in the book, as well as “sofa,” and they tell what is on the actual pages rumormongers cite as containing the story.

There’s nothing to spin. It’s not just “wrong.” It’s an outright invention, or, to use the word, a lie.

But, as they say, it’s halfway ’round the world and Truth is still lacing up its shoes.

Pia Guerra demonstrates that it’s not that hard to make Vance look like a poseur. No matter how unpleasant his homelife was, it’s within reasonable spin to question the sincerity — and to note the opportunistic exploitation — of his claiming hillbilly roots.

While as Jen Sorensen proves, it’s possible to do some research and find plenty of things he really did say that can be used against him. The balance of reportage vs spin in her piece creates a devastating attack.

This is not a matter of defending JD Vance. It’s a matter of defending truth. It’s an issue of making sure your own hands are clean so you can make credible charges against liars and bigots on the other side of the aisle.

For instance, Brian Kilmeade said “college,” and, if you can’t hear the “g,” you may have been listening for what rumors accused him of saying and what you therefore expected to hear.

Truth isn’t a matter of opinion and there’s plenty of genuine, outright bigotry that can be pointed out, if you have clean hands.

For example, Clay Jones points out that rightwingers are calling Kamala Harris a “DEI hire,” which, as he says, and documents, in his Substack, is an insult to every person of color, and to every woman, with a decent job.

Jimmy Margulies (KFS) is less specific than Jones in laying out the attacks that have already begun, but his exaggerated spin is within the bounds of fair commentary because we’re hearing the dog whistles, if not the N-word itself.

Aside from those who say being half-Asian means she’s not Black — try that argument in a Southern diner in the 1950s — the Daily Mirror, in a lengthy and confused story, reports that that her g-g-g-grandfather was a slaveowner in Jamaica.

It’s likely true and the story admits that many African-Americans have a raped enslaved woman in their ancestry, which makes it mostly pointless. However, it’s the headline, which speaks to their intent.

Brace yourself for the mud yet to be flung.

But take heart, because Ann Telnaes nails the moral to this sordid tale: When truth works, you ought to have faith in it and use it.

The right tool for the right job. Common decency makes common sense.