In today's column, they take a look at a statement made by State Representative Christine Sinicki regarding Glenn Grothman's misogynist attitude towards women in the workplace.
What they look at specifically is this (emphasis mine):
Sinicki charged that Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) had openly pined for a bygone "Leave it to Beaver" world of stay-at-home moms during a Senate hearing.They then spend the rest of the column taking great pains to prove conclusively that Grothman did indeed not say that.
"His words were to the effect of, he didn’t believe women belonged in the workplace," Sinicki quoted Grothman as saying. "He believed that women belonged at home, cooking and cleaning and having babies."
Well, duh!
The phrase "to the effect of" points out that Sinicki was not quoting Grothman, but rather was paraphrasing or interpreting his words.
So what the PolitiFact writer did was not prove Sinicki's statement false, but that she was correct in saying "to the effect of."
Surely they could have found something better to check on, unless they were purposely trying to mislead their readers, that is. Remember, Steve Smith, the top dog of the paper and all of the Journal's media empire, was actively against another pro-working woman bill when he fought against paid sick leave.
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This helps John Menard, hopefully. I mean, help the "poor" person who has to deal with the state on anything these days....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.leadertelegram.com/news/front_page/article_222abd6a-3c10-5c30-adda-dd72fa0c8cb0.html
http://www.ibj.com/menard-lawsuit-entangles-businessmen-hilbert-dick/PARAMS/article/23775
I'm so sick of it all I'm not even gonna check the JS article BUT....
ReplyDeletethey COULD have clarified for "citizens" that there is no quote by Grothman, in some meeting or private conversation that will surface later. People, as anyone who has ever read a newspaper comment thread, do not have high reading skills. So the JS will know with certainty that many readers will be taking things very very literally. In fact, such obtuseness could later have people concluding that Sinicki is a liar on their own, when no quote surfaces. The JS could have committed some journalism, and clarified facts in a spoon-feeding manner - what Grothman actually said, how Sinicki's remarks fit. Rather than obfuscating.
What Grothman said REPEATEDLY in that meeting was that he felt strongly that "we" (Wisconsin, the nation) should should SHOULD return to "Old-Fashioned Families". He used that phrase many times.
Sinicki responded emotionally, freaking out as anyone would, and ranting, paraphrasing. Actually you could argue that she was taking Grothman's words to their obvious conclusion.
Extracting Sinicki's emotions from the issue, The JS COULD have done the responsible thing, which is - to start an open public dialogue on what Grothman means by "old-fashioned family" )possibly even ASKING HIM TO CLARIFY HIS VISION OF OLD-FASHIONED), and they could have opened dialogue on if in fact the public (even if they can agree on what Olaf-Fashioned Families are) believes that Vision should be driving public policy and new legislation. Or - if they'd rather have jobs. And roads. And streetlights. And schools. But I digress.
I would suggest that MOST people, upon hearing the phrase "old-fashioned family" WOULD indeed think of Leave it to Beaver stuff, Moms in kitchens, Dads in offices - just as Sinicki said. An intelligent examination could lead us all to conclude that Sinicki really was giving voice to common cultural imagery. But, as irresponsible gossip-mongers rather than journaislts charged withthe publi trust, they chose to nit-pick on a "missing quote". They know full well what the situation is. They just choose the dark path of misleading, rather than clarifying over and over again under the mantle of "fact". Fact is not as exclusionary as the JS bosses lead people to believe. Fact INCLUDES, it does not select and filter. But what can ya do..
as a footnote, while watching the video of the meeting I realized that Glenn grothman himself is not an "old-fashioned" Dad or husband. Old fashioned, old school, moral guys do not and did not act like he does, like Limbaugh does, like any of them do. Glenn Grothman wouldn't know an old-fashioned person or ideal if it bit him in the ass. He is doing what Limbaugh does, what Walker does, just trying to get his name in lights, hoping the Kochs will notice him too and propel him forward.
Grothman is using legislation as a personal publicity platform, he is grandstanding and that is all. He hasn't got one single thought for the abused children of WI. Not one.
http://www.jsonline.com/business/menard-to-pay-1-million-to-settle-discrimination-claim-2s43r0l-138874579.html
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