Add Eugene Robinson to the rapidly growing list of Washington Posties who are sick of George Will’s efforts to mislead readers about global warming science.
Via Mathew Yglesias, Asked by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow about the increase in “made up stuff” in the news lately, Robinson brought up his fellow Post columnist’s string of distortions on climate change.
Here’s the exchange:
Maddow: Eugene, I feel like factchecking politicians is a full-time job and it is a very fun one. But does it sort of feel like there is just more made up stuff in the daily back and forth of political news right now than usual?Robinson: It certainly does, and it’s distressing. I think there’s a distinction here among the examples we cite. What George Will did was cherrypick a sentence in a report, be very persnickety in the way he parsed his sentences, and end up making it sound as if the report had said the exact opposite of what it actually said. He was persnickety enough that his editors, who happen to be my editors, felt he didn’t cross the line. I thought he did. And the ombudsman agreed with me, actually, and wrote about it in last Sunday’s paper.
Watch the video:
Yesterday, we told you about push-back against Will from Post reporters, editors, a blogger, and even the paper’s cartoonist.
Still nothing from Will’s nominal bosses at the editorial page, though.