As NewsBusters reported Monday, media outlets across America are cherry-picking a lengthy speech by Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum to accuse him of impugning Barack Obama's religious beliefs.
Not surprisingly, MSNBC's Ed Schultz joined the hit parade (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):
As the segment began, Schultz said, "Rick Santorum ramped up his radicalism this weekend big time. In addition to comparing President Obama to Hitler, Santorum said he wants the federal government out - I mean out - of public education. And on Saturday, he said this about President Obama's agenda."
Schultz then played the same exact snippet of Santorum's speech to the Columbus Tea Party that media outlets have been dishonestly airing for days:
After playing video clips from other Santorum speeches, Schultz said, "But by Sunday, Santorum had developed a new explanation for his theology comment."
A video clip of Santorum's interview with CBS's Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation followed:
SANTORUM: I wasn't suggesting the president's not a Christian. I accept the fact that the president is a Christian...I was talking about the radical environmentalist. That's why I was talking about energy, this idea that man is here to serve the Earth as opposed to husband its resources and be good stewards of the Earth. And I think that is a phony ideal.
When the clip ended, Schultz said, "Phony's a good word directed at the wrong person. I'm not buying a bit of it. You heard the tape. Santorum said President Obama was imposing a theology not based on the Bible. That is a direct attack on the President's faith."
Actually, Schultz's viewers didn't hear the tape. They heard six sentences out of a 41 minute speech.
Here's what Schultz dishonestly withheld from his viewers:
SANTORUM: The price of fuel right now, they’re talking maybe by the summer we’re looking at $5 a gallon. Why? Why? Because this president systematically is doing everything he can to raise the price of energy in this country. He’s shutting down all sorts of opportunities for us to drill for oil. He’s now trying to infuse not science when it comes to the environment, not environmental science when it comes to drilling wells for oil and gas in Pennsylvania and North Dakota and other places that use hydraulic fracking.
He’s trying to do again what he tried to do with global warming. Instead of using climate science or global science he uses political science. An
This is what the president’s agenda is. It’s not about you. It’s not about you. It’s not about your quality of life. It’s not about your jobs. It’s about some phony ideal, some phony theology. Oh, not a theology based on the Bible, a different theology.
Not even close to Santorum attacking the President's faith, is it?
But that's what Schultz said, and what media members have been reporting all around the country for days.
At this point, there really is only one conclusion: Obama's supporters in the press are engaging in a coordinated attack against this presidential candidate and they don't care about the facts or the truth.
If there's any other conclusion to draw from all of these media outlets cherry-picking exactly the same sentences offering exactly the same false opinion of them I'm all ears.
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