# Rachel Maddow & US Magazine: Mighty Quick to Report Palin Jokes As News **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 10, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944 "2011-02-10T20:43:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/21 "2011-02-11T01:52:26Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Again, the problem is that the far right is full of ignorant, idiots. No, it’s not. The problem is that Maddow’s show did shitty journalism. (It might not have been Maddow herself.) This “Poe’s Law” excuse is a load of stupid horseshit. The most cursory sort of professional journalism would have revealed that the Palin story was false. They were lazy and incompetent. That was the problem, nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/22 "2011-02-11T02:09:55Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > No, it’s not. > > The problem is that Maddow’s show did shitty journalism. (It might not have been Maddow herself.) This “Poe’s Law” excuse is a load of stupid horseshit. The most cursory sort of professional journalism would have revealed that the Palin story was false. > > They were lazy and incompetent. That was the problem, nothing else. Again, I don’t think you grok what was the problem. The story was quoted as an example of right-wing calls to action. It wasn’t presented as factual reporting of something Palin was going to do. It was as if Guy 1 says: Palin should get a gun and kill Osama! Guy 2 says: Palin should have a nightly news show! Guy 3 says: Palin should run for president and shame the libs! Guy 4 says: Palin should go to Egypt and rally them! And not realizing that guy 4 is being sarcastic. Ya dig? If the noise on the right wasn’t full of insane rantings ala-Beck, it would be easier to tell apart. I’m not saying they didn’t make a mistake, but they retracted it immediately and owed up to it. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/23 "2011-02-11T02:14:29Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > We have the far right Republicans and the moderate right Democrats. The left is essentially nonexistent. Um, what about Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters or Tom Ammiano? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/24 "2011-02-11T03:21:16Z")
If the biggest name you can come up with is Tom Ammiano, I think you’ve just proved his point. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/25 "2011-02-11T03:31:29Z")
I wonder if the OP will come back to offer an apology to Maddow. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/26 "2011-02-11T04:06:02Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Nitpick: Maddow is not an alleged Rhodes scholar. She is an [actual Rhodes scholar](http://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/section/rhodes-scholars-complete-list-1903-2009). Thanks for helping, but OP already knew that. Right-wingers delight in snarky half-truths even when they’re accusing the other side of the same thing! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/27 "2011-02-11T05:13:56Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > If the biggest name you can come up with is Tom Ammiano, I think you’ve just proved his point. Why is he a bigger name than Waters or Lee? ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/28 "2011-02-11T09:22:08Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Why is he a bigger name than Waters or Lee? More letters. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/29 "2011-02-11T09:34:27Z")
**Der Trihs** has called for all people who have ever donated money to a religious cause to be deported to Cuba. **Diogenes the Cynic** has suggested that anyone who enters into a non-monogamous relationship should be neutered. I have no large reason to doubt these statements, if someone reported them to me. Should I thus publish these two statements as factual comments by these posters, or should I verify the accuracy first? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/30 "2011-02-11T09:53:05Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > **Der Trihs** has called for all people who have ever donated money to a religious cause to be deported to Cuba. > > **Diogenes the Cynic** has suggested that anyone who enters into a non-monogamous relationship should be neutered. > > I have no large reason to doubt these statements, if someone reported them to me. Should I thus publish these two statements as factual comments by these posters, or should I verify the accuracy first? That’s not a good analogy. A good one would be if **elucidator** had told the above a joke about **Der Trihs** and **Dio** , and that you, not knowing that **elucidator** has a tendency to make jokes, reported that “ **elucidator** says that Dio wants to neuter all polygamists.” Then, the next day you check into the SDMB, you post an apology post about misunderstanding, apologizing to **elucidator** , but not **Dio**. Do you really think **Dio** would be upset? ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/31 "2011-02-11T13:46:46Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > This is getting to be a trend- some left-wing satirist writes a joke story in which Sarah Palin says or does something demented, and someone in the mainstream media eagerly repeats the story without making the slightest effort to find out if it’s true. > > Rachel Maddow picked up a satirical piece by [ChristWire.org](http://ChristWire.org), a piece in which Palin was about to call publicly for a U.S. invasion of Egypt, and broadcast it as fact. > > For an alleged Rhodes Scholar, that wasn’t very smart, was it? But instead of apologizing profusely, for admitting she was either unforgivably stupid, unforgivably lazy, or too blinded by Palin-hate to question an implausible story, Maddow did what liberals usually do: she excused her own stupidity and indirectly blamed her goof on Palin. After all, everybody knows that Sarah Palin is a dangerous loon, so how was Rachel supposed to tell truth from comical distortion? > > Now, US Magazine has published another satirical story about Palin as fact: without bothering to check, they stole a story from a satirical web site. This time, the joke story alleged that Sarah Palin was pushing to have Christina Aguilera deported for her botched rendition of the National Anthem. > > Again, no fact checking. None. Everybody knows Palin is a stupid racist, so why bother checking a fishy story? That just SOUNDS like the kind of thing Palin’s enemies KNOW she’d say, and isn’t that enough to justify running a phony story? > > Just a thought, Lefties in the media… maybe, just MAYBE, you could wait until Sarah Palin actually says or does something newsworthy before you write about it. Hmm? As opposed to the Right which always does proper fact checking? Like their claim that Obama’s recent trip to Asia was going to cost $200 million per day. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/32 "2011-02-11T14:09:36Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > **Der Trihs** has called for all people who have ever donated money to a religious cause to be deported to Cuba. > > **Diogenes the Cynic** has suggested that anyone who enters into a non-monogamous relationship should be neutered. > > I have no large reason to doubt these statements, if someone reported them to me. Should I thus publish these two statements as factual comments by these posters, or should I verify the accuracy first? No, you you can publish somebody else’s claim that they made them. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/33 "2011-02-11T14:48:50Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > No, you you can publish somebody else’s claim that they made them. With no interest taken in whether there’s any truth there? What’s the point of that? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/34 "2011-02-11T14:59:05Z")
In this particular case, the point was the story itself. Maddow was apparently reporting on what ChristWire thinks Palin ought to be doing, not on Palin. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/35 "2011-02-11T15:01:53Z")
It would be nice to see a transcript. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/36 "2011-02-11T15:18:06Z")
Maddow said, aboutChristwire recommending invading Israel “To be clear, this is what this website is asking Sarah Palin to do. It’s not Sarah Palin’s own idea.” I guess I’m finding it hard to see what you are all het up about. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/37 "2011-02-11T15:27:05Z")
So, is the OP in the running for the annual Emily Litella Memorial get-the-facts-garbled Sweepstakes, or what? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/38 "2011-02-11T15:33:04Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > In this particular case, the point was the story itself. Maddow was apparently reporting on what ChristWire thinks Palin ought to be doing, not on Palin. What is the value of that? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/39 "2011-02-11T15:33:40Z")
MSNBC has 24 hours to fill, and that presumably filled 5 minutes of it. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944/40 "2011-02-11T17:10:06Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > If the biggest name you can come up with is Tom Ammiano, I think you’ve just proved his point. **Der Trihs** said there are no left wing politicians in America. I live in the San Francisco area, where there most certainly are left wing politicians. I only had to name one to disprove his point. It’s not a matter of how big they are – it’s whether they exist at all. Anyway, Ammiano is now a state assemblyman after years of being on the S.F. board of supervisors. I could see him getting elected to congress one day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddow-us-magazine-mighty-quick-to-report-palin-jokes-as-news/570944.md?page=3)