Boston Globe Leads With a Lie — Debunked Palin Rape Kit Story Again
-By Warner Todd Huston
I would urge someone close to members of the editorial board of the Boston Globe to let them know that the world is not flat, the moon is not made of green cheese, and Elvis is, indeed, dead. I say this because obviously the Boston Globe is way behind the times in discovering facts that debunk rumors and it’s clear they have no capacity to do any research. I mean, they must not be paying attention to reality because in today’s editorial, the Globe again raises the thoroughly debunked claim that Sarah Palin charged rape victims for their rape kits when she was mayor of Wasilla. The claim is a straight out lie that has been demolished by many writers (including myself), yet the Globe obviously took no efforts to research the facts before they revealed their incompetence to the world.
It’s no surprise that this proven lie against Palin is being whipped up again just before the VP debates by the Obama flacks at the Globe. They want her to be tagged with this lie to distract her from real issues, it is plain. And that isn’t just my opinion because they justify the re-raising of this long ago debunked charge as one that should be asked of her during the debate on Thursday.
ONE QUESTION that Sarah Palin should answer during tomorrow’s debate is why, during her tenure as mayor of Wasilla, the town started charging rape victims or their insurers for hospital emergency-room rape kits and examinations.
And the answer for the Globe’s edification and education: she didn’t charge anyone anything. Further, she wasn’t even aware it was going on because it was never an issue brought to her attention as far as anyone can tell.
But one lie in the first paragraph wasn’t enough. The Globe had to fill the second paragraph with another one.
The policy so outraged the Alaska Legislature that in 2000 it passed unanimously a bill forbidding such fees. But Palin has never explained why, under her leadership, the town stopped picking up the cost of the swabs, specimen containers, and tests.
It is absolutely untrue that the town of Wasilla was the one town that caused the Alaska Legislature to ban the fees in question. As reported in multiple sources, the records of the debates about the 2000 bill in the Alaska State House shows not a single mention of Wasilla or Sarah Palin. Further there is no mention at the time of either Wasilla or Sarah Palin in any of the media from the rest of the state outside her own town newspaper. If the Alaska Legislature were “so outraged” at Palin, why did neither her name nor that of her town show up in the debates or the rest of the media at the time?
The FACTS behind this issue are diametrically opposed to the claims the Globe makes. There is no evidence Palin ever knew about this rape kit policy during the time the issue was being debated in Juneau, no rape victim was ever charged for a rape kit being administered, Wasilla was only one among several Alaska towns with the policy under question, the Alaska Legislature did not have any conflicts with Wasilla nor is Wasilla mentioned anywhere in government records, and no mention of Mayor Sarah Palin was raised at any time during the 2000 debate on this policy.
The rest of this Globe piece contemptuous of truth isn’t worth bothering with as it is all predicated on the lies in the first two paragraphs.
Obviously the lazy, incompetent writers at the Boston Globe have allowed the DailyKos to do their writing again. Or maybe they already know that they are perpetrating a lie? If that’s the case, if the Globe knows that their editorial has already been proven a lie, doesn’t that make them something worse than merely incompetent?
Either way, this editorial is proof that the Boston Globe is useless as a source of real news as well as in the tank for The One.
| More from Warner Todd Huston
Stumble It!
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:41 pm
I’m afraid the lies and fraud of the left will fool enough Americans this time.
What have we (and by “we” I mean “they”) gotten ourselves into now?
October 3rd, 2008 at 5:28 am
Lying is all that the left needs to do since the MSM pushes the left’s agenda.
More lies:
VP Debate
Joe Biden’s 14 Lies
1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted “the exact same way†as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.
2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.
3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, “Drill we must.†But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping†the Outer Continental Shelf.â€
4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it’s passage.
5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he’s always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.
6. ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain’s record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.
7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people’s health insurance coverage — they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false
8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska — she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it’s not a windfall profits tax.
9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.
10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation — he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.
11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was “dead wrong on Iraqâ€, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.
12. TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn’t see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.
13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn’t meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of “part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.â€
14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won’t pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.