O'Reilly vs. Tucker, redux

Dear Ms.Cynthia Tucker,

Will you retract these statements about Sarah Palin in your 9/7/08 editorial in light of their clear falsity as spelled out at factcheck.org?

You wrote these two proven falsehoods:
“…she urged an Alaska librarian to ban books; she believes “creationism” should be taught in public schools;”
Those statements are false, as debunked in this factcheck.org article.

You wrote these statements which are either distortions or phrased to place her in the worst light (for your followers):

“She opposes abortion, even in cases of rape and incest…”

She has made it very public that her personal opinion is that abortion is only acceptable to her, in the case of the mother’s life being in jeopardy, even if it was her own daughter. As this Alaska Daily News article points out, she has not pushed that agenda as governor. It should be noted that under Alaska law, a 17 year old girl can get an abortion without her parent’s consent, though that is a law that Palin is trying to change.

You wrote, “she asked ministry students at her former church to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it ‘God’s will.’” Only, that’s not exactly what she said. What she said was, “I think God's will has to be done, in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that.” I know it’s a small distinction, but she’s asking these students to pray that God’s Will be done. If Palin was certain that God’s will was that the pipeline be built, why the need for prayer? Anyway, it’s certainly not outside the realm of Christian doctrine for people to pray for all manner of things and ask God to reveal His will. I realize attacking evangelical Christians is sport for Liberal Columnists, but, do so at your peril.

On a different tack, it’s interesting that you rail at Bill O’Reilly for his double-standard in the Palin/Spears cases. It’s not hypocrisy as you suggested in his driveway “interview” with you. Double standard, sure, hypocrisy, no. While you’re at it, can you supply a definition for “Christianist?”

Finally, you have no problem repeating proven falshehoods in your column and distorting other statements to serve your political views, which is par for the course for the AJC editorial page and why I no longer pay for this newspaper. I’d also suggest that if you want a little more truth and better context, instead of pulling your information from The Daily Kos, you use a search engine and look for some local Alaskan news sources, you’ll get more complete coverage there.

While O’Reilly practices a journalistic double standard, you outright lie.

I’m not surprised.

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