A great example is CNN’s Peter Hamby sending out the following appraisal of a motion at the GOP platform committee:
GOP platform committee agrees to strike language comparing illegal immigrants to “cattle”
— Peter Hamby (@PeterHambyCNN) August 21, 2012
As of this posting, it has 48 retweets, 8 favorites, and many many admirers and scoffers deriding the racism of the GOP. [UPDATE: 101 retweets, most after the retraction] Except….
Romney communications adviser Ted Newton stepped right in to correct him:
you are incorrect – @peterhambycnn. The language was regarding human trafficking, not immigration. Please correct for the record.
— Ted Newton (@Ted_Newton) August 21, 2012
Eventually ol’ Peter got around to correcting his earlier tweet, but didn’t delete it. How sexy is a correction? Not nearly as much as “evidence” that the GOP is racist:
to clarify earlier tweet: GOP platform condemned traffickers who treat illegal immigrants like “cattle.” committee still killed language.
— Peter Hamby (@PeterHambyCNN) August 21, 2012
Five retweets. Job well done! His original tweet even made headlines at Real Clear Politics, who smeared Rep Steve King today as well. No correction yet.
The tweet was also picked up by the Democrats’ new “Director of Hispanic Press”:
.GOP compares immigrants to cattle. Someone is behaving like animals but it’s not the immigrants. Buena suerte in attracting Latinos to GOP.
— Diana Rubio (@DianaRubioDNC) August 21, 2012
Correction? What correction? Liberals don’t need no steenkeng correction….
UPDATE:
I wonder if Peter Hamby’s seemingly intentional mischaracterization of the GOP platform has anything to do with his girlfriend and Obama “rapid response” Director, Lis Smith? [from an anonymous source]