Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Desensitized Maine journalists allow LePage to get away with falsehoods
Commentary: Desensitized Maine journalists allow LePage to get away with falsehoodsThe media use the governor’s outrageous statements as fodder for a partisan debate – even when the remarks are provably wrong.
By Mike Tipping
http://www.pressherald.com/2014/07/19/mike-tipping-desensitized-maine-journalists-allow-lepage-to-get-away-with-falsehoods/
excerpt:
NO LONGER NEWS
Why wasn’t LePage’s constant and outrageous disregard for the truth (recognized even by his fellow Republicans) more of an issue during that election – and why isn’t it more of one now, after it has continued through his four years in office?
In part, it’s because he does it so much. Whether he’s claiming he conducted black fly studies that never occurred, describing nonexistent college entrance exams targeting Maine students or falsely asserting that 47 percent of able-bodied Mainers don’t work, LePage routinely and unabashedly tells whoppers that are easily proven false.
It seems like every week, he finds a new way to abuse the truth. This last week, he claimed that he never threatened to veto the compromise on nursing home funding. The week before that, he claimed that he hadn’t repeatedly discussed arresting his political opponents for treason with a group of “sovereign citizen” conspiracy theorists. But the agenda that the group sent to the governor’s office before the meetings and group members’ descriptions of what was said tell another story.
By being so brazen and so consistent in his false claims, LePage has desensitized all of us to his dishonesty. It’s no longer treated as big news here when our governor tells a whopper, where in another state it would be a front-page headline.
Why wasn’t LePage’s constant and outrageous disregard for the truth (recognized even by his fellow Republicans) more of an issue during that election – and why isn’t it more of one now, after it has continued through his four years in office?
In part, it’s because he does it so much. Whether he’s claiming he conducted black fly studies that never occurred, describing nonexistent college entrance exams targeting Maine students or falsely asserting that 47 percent of able-bodied Mainers don’t work, LePage routinely and unabashedly tells whoppers that are easily proven false.
It seems like every week, he finds a new way to abuse the truth. This last week, he claimed that he never threatened to veto the compromise on nursing home funding. The week before that, he claimed that he hadn’t repeatedly discussed arresting his political opponents for treason with a group of “sovereign citizen” conspiracy theorists. But the agenda that the group sent to the governor’s office before the meetings and group members’ descriptions of what was said tell another story.
By being so brazen and so consistent in his false claims, LePage has desensitized all of us to his dishonesty. It’s no longer treated as big news here when our governor tells a whopper, where in another state it would be a front-page headline.
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
The excuse that I heard back then was that the "journalists" simply had no experience dealing with a candidate whose campaign I totally based on lying. 
Almost like the KKKarl Rove run Cheney-Bush campaigns never happened. 
PEACE! 
