Don't let a fact get in the way of a reflexive political point.
That'd be an apt mission statement for The Washington Times, a conservative newspaper in the capital, which jumps on Detroit's municipal bankruptcy as proof that Mitt Romney is smart and Barack Obama isn't.
"Mitt Romney was right about Detroit’s bankruptcy," says the subhead atop a Wednesday editorial headlined "Motor City meltdown."
Another day and another of President Obama’s campaign boasts bites the dust. While out on the hustings last year, Mr. Obama pummeled Mitt Romney for writing a 2008 op-ed column in The New York Times titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”
The Republican nominee sensibly argued that bankruptcy would force the city to go through a drastic — and necessary — restructuring of its finances. Mr. Obama, on the other hand, boasted, “We refused to let Detroit go bankrupt. We bet on American workers … and that bet is paying off.” Until Tuesday.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes cleared the way for Detroit to do exactly what the president promised would never happen: file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. It’s as though the president had told Detroit, “If you like your budget and spending plan, you can keep it.”
See how they did that?
The flaw in that argument, as you surely know, is . . . well, everything.
"You can't chalk this up to ignorance or incompetence," a national media accuracy site says. "They know they're ling. They just don't care."
Memo to editorial page managing editor Richard Diamond: Google and the archive at that other paper named The Times are your friends. They're always ready, easy to use and can avoid the national humiliation of mixing up the federal GM and Chrysler rescues from bankruptcy risks with the City of Detroit's historic municipal Chapter 9 filing.
Look it up, WashTimesfolks -- they're as different as . . . forgive me, a reliable newspaper and a sloppy one.
Actually, no need to click back to Romney's editorial on Nov. 18., 2008 with the well-known head. Just see your own reader comments and how Media Matters ridicules you today:
That's complete garbage. Romney's op-ed was entirely devoted to the dire consequences he warned would result "if General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for" and his call for a managed bankruptcy for the automakers, not the city of Detroit, as "the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs."
And the Washington Times knows this garbage. The published a bunch of articles in 2012 chronicling Obama's and Romney's squabbling on the issue.
But wait, there's more trash-tossing:
The Washington Times editorial was aggregated by Fox Nation, which also suffered from selective amnesia regarding the meaning of "Detroit." Glenn Beck's news website The Blaze noted that "Detroit is moving forward with bankruptcy" and contrasted that news with Obama campaign statements from 2012 on not letting Detroit go bankrupt. . . .
You can't chalk this up to ignorance or incompetence. They know they're lying. They just don't care.
