MSNBC retracts false Palin story; others duped — As much as a few of the editors here disliked Palin, this BS about her thinking Africa was a country was never posted. 
It didn’t make any real sense that she was that dumb since she would have to see African dignitaries in Alaska. People wanted her to be that dumb so they took the bait. Meanwhile, Bill Maher ranted about it relentlessly as did many on MSNBC. These people’s lack of skepticism is frightening. This is the media at work. Even the LA Times was duped. The fact was, she denied saying it. Nobody had it on tape and there was no confirming source. Cripes, how hard is it to get things right?
The hoax was limited to the identity of the source in the story about Palin — not the Fox News story itself. While Palin has denied that she mistook Africa for a country, the veracity of that report was not put in question by the revelation that Eisenstadt is a phony.
Eisenstadt’s “work” had been quoted and debunked before. The Huffington Post said it had cited Eisenstadt in July on a story regarding the Hilton family and McCain.
Among the other victims were political blogs for the Los Angeles Times and The New Republic, each of which referenced false material from Eisenstadt’s blog.
Found by Roger Strukhof.
Dan Rather, anyone?
And who said unobjective reporting was dead!!
“a few of the editors here disliked Palin” … that might be the quote of the day for me. Few? That’s rich, that really is.
Still feeling bad that no one other than you wanted 4 more Bush years eh John.
‘Lack of skepticism’?
John, the woman couldn’t identify the Prime Minister of CANADA.
It WAS possible to dislike her because she was republican AND because she was ignorant and lazy.
And I saw Diane Sawyer stumble on the question – “Who’s the head of the RNC?” She didn’t know.
Nice.
Thanks for posting this John – too bad there aren’t more of your kind in journalism.
MSNBC, false story? Goes together like America & apple pie…
#4, fake but accurate, eh?
Never posted, but some people did repeat it in the comments.
Who is the Prime Minister of CANADA?
John
Just because someone pranked MSNBC by saying they were the source of the story doesn’t invalidate the original story.
For a guy who deals in computers you sure are light on the laws of logic.
I like Jonathan Stein’s excuse for being duped:
“…if I had as much time on my hands as he clearly does, I probably would have figured this out…”
He’s too busy to fact check his own article? Sheesh. And what a lame dig at the prankster.
The article states that the story about Palin is not being refuted, just the “Eisenstadt” source.
FTA:
“The hoax was limited to the identity of the source in the story about Palin — not the Fox News story itself. While Palin has denied that she mistook Africa for a country, the veracity of that report was not put in question by the revelation that Eisenstadt is a phony.”
FTA:
“Yet neither he (Martin Eisenstadt) nor the institute (Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy) exist; each is part of a hoax dreamed up by a filmmaker named Eitan Gorlin and his partner, Dan Mirvish, the New York Times reported Wednesday.”
and
“While Palin has denied that she mistook Africa for a country, the veracity of that report was not put in question by the revelation that Eisenstadt is a phony.”
So the story is still acurate while the source of the story is fake!?! No wonder MSNBC is in the tank. Both figuratively and literally.
Reading the last 4-5 paragraphs, this article is more a comment on the state of journalism than it is on Gov. Palin
for all intent and purpose the forth estate doesn’t exist anymore… it’s all about “infotainment” and the general public eats up like a mcdonalds happy meal. even with the republic on the brink of financial collapse they seem to be eating it up even more. those who repeated the palin thing “wanted” to believe that… and thats the horrible beauty of america now… you can believe whatever you want, when you want and how you want… truth? we can’t handle the truth.
Angry liberals continue to fail. Why act shocked?
Let’s see, who on this site believed the story?
Mongo, Mustard, Fusion, anyone else?
>>the veracity of that report was not put in question
’nuff said.
Stephen Harper?
They just had an election. Didn’t change much.
I live in Seattle.
I won’t mention what I can see from my porch.
#15 – Lyin’ Mike
>>Let’s see, who on this site believed the story?
>>Mongo, Mustard, Fusion, anyone else?
The fucking story was TRUE, Lyin’ Mike. What’s not to believe?
#16 – You failed again. ‘Nuff said.
Liberals are coming off their Obama high and realized how much they’ve failed. Suicide rates are going to go up over the next few months, as liberals finish themselves off.
Or, the holidays. Either works.
# 18 Mister Mustard said, “The fucking story was TRUE, Lyin’ Mike. What’s not to believe?”
What’s the source for that story?
She’s still a dumbass.
I actually know somebody that didn’t know that Africa wasn’t a country, so it is believable.
The fact that so many believed it says a lot. In 2012, she’ll have as much credibility as Dan “potatoes” Quayle.
JCD and most of the nutballs commenting can’t get past that the source was reported on MSNBC. But, the story came from Fox Snooze.
Sacrosanct to sophistry.
#5 – Brenda Lee
>>And I saw Diane Sawyer stumble on the question –
>>“Who’s the head of the RNC?” She didn’t know.
Diane Sawyer is a talking head. It’s not the end of the world if she “stumbles” on a question. It’s not like she’s running for VP or something.
>>Thanks for posting this John – too bad there
>>aren’t more of your kind in journalism.
Take a napkin and wipe the brown off your nose.
FYI, John and others apparently uninformed, the original story about Palin’s geography gap was broken by that bastion of left wing commie pinko propaganda, FOX NEWS. They haven’t revealed their source, so MSNBC was anxious to break that part of the story and got duped. Foolish of them, but as has been pointed out, it doesn’t invalidate the FOX story.
It seems the journalists are dumber then Palin.
Whatever happened to verify the story?
Lazy is what I call it.
Who said that they were visiting all 57 states to a rally of supporters?
>>So the story is still acurate while the source of
>>the story is fake!?! No wonder MSNBC is in the tank.
>>Both figuratively and literally.
Just like the Dan Rather fiasco. His story (that Dumbya was a cowardly deserter during wartime) was true, but that inconvenient truth got lost in all the bruhaha over typewriter fonts and chain of custody.
The facts remain: Dumbya was a deserter, and Palin is a dummy.
As much as I don’t like Palin, I never fell for that story. People commonly confuse South Africa with southern Africa and _that_ I might have believed. (It still would be totally unacceptable for a VP candidate.)
This smear of Sarah Palin has Karl Rove’s stink on it.
When she started making noise that she expected a party leadership role, I suspect that GOP leaderships started trying to cripple her while she was still having her fifteen minutes of fame.
These conservatives can be total bastards, that way.
For those of you who just take what John and his false headline say and don’t actually read the article, here is the chain of events:
1. Carl Cameron of Fox News reports that Palin didn’t know Africa was a country.
2. Everyone else (including MSNBC) picks up on it and reports it as well.
3. “Eisenstadt” claims to be the source of the story.
4. MSNBC reports that “Eisenstadt” was the source.
5. “Eisenstadt” found out to be a hoax.
6. MSNBC retracts story that “Eisenstadt” was the source, but does not retract story about Palin and Africa.
7. Ignorant people report that the whole story was a hoax.
The fact that Fox News has not retracted their story should be a tip off.