Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Sarah Palin Was Not a Member of the Alaska Independence Party - NYT Retracts

H/t to one of my commenters and a blogger, himself, Isophorone, for informing me that reports that Sarah Palin was a member of a controversial secessionist political party, the Alaska Independence Party, are incorrect.

Isophorone sent me this link and I checked further and found that the New York Times, which was my original source, also corrected the report. In fact, here's their statement in total.
Alaska Party Official Says Palin Was Not a Member

By The New York Times

The chairwoman of an Alaskan political party that advocates a vote on the state’s secession from the union said Tuesday that she had been mistaken when she said Gov. Sarah Palin was a member of the group.

A front-page story in The New York Times on Tuesday and articles in other news media reported that Ms. Palin was a member of the Alaska Independence Party for two years in the 1990’s.

The information in the Times article was based on a statement issued Monday night by Lynette Clark, the party’s chairwoman, who said that Ms. Palin joined the party in 1994 and in 1996 changed her registration to Republican.

On Tuesday night, Ms. Clark said that her initial statement was incorrect and had been based on erroneous information provided by another member of the party whom she declined to identify. The McCain campaign also disputed the Times report, saying that Ms. Palin had been registered consistently as a Republican.

After checking the party’s archives, Ms. Clark said that she could find no documentation that Governor Palin had been a member of the party. She said Ms. Palin attended the party’s 1994 and 2006 conventions and provided a video-taped address as governor to the 2008 convention.

Ms. Clark said that Ms. Palin’s husband, Todd, was a former member of the party.
And yes, Iso, I do know what loshon hora is. I would never knowingly spread a false or harmful rumor and I'm happy to correct any errors. I'm glad the NYT is too. I'm still not sure I buy all the claims that she was vetted as painstakingly as is being presented in the right wing spin, but clearly this one was the MSM's and the left's error.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic. Perhaps you'll add her husband's membership as context, and then talk about her recent speech to the AIK in which she said that she shared its vision.

You can admit a factual mistake (in this case, relying on a lying winger) without rolling it all the way back.

Karen Duncan said...

Calm down mb. I think all that has been reported. But when you make a mistake, you admit it. Otherwise, it blows your credibility and people have the right to question your integrity.

Isophorone wasn't lying. I checked it out and sourced it. And I didn't stop at National Review Online. The NYT themselves corrected their report. It's what responsible journalists do.

Nobody is mistake free. But conscientious newspapers and bloggers issue retractions when mistaken.

Believe me, though, there are far more disturbing things about Palin and McCain to report. And the only way you'll be believed is if you tell the truth to the best of your ability.

Anonymous said...

Umm, thanks for the lesson in responsibility, AIAW. Not that anything you said was really responsive to my comment (which was suggesting that the retraction give useful context to the reader - which you seem to assume they've picked up elsewhere).

Isophorone said...

Thanks for the correction! Now for all the other stuff . . . ;)

The fact is that the vetting process was a lot more involved than you gave credit. I certainly hope you found the details informative!

Anonymous said...

Oh well then that's fin--wait. She's never been a member of a party that's advocated seccession, but her husband has? Wow, you want to talk unqualified. She wouldn't be qualified to hold a security clearance.