November 19, 2009 06:55 PM UTC

Michelle Malkin Prefers The Misquote

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• by: Colorado Pols

From the Colorado Independent:

Colorado U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette drew venom from conservative and Catholic bloggers yesterday for comments she made to ABC on the role Catholic bishops should be playing in shaping health care reform. But the venom was based on misquotes of the ABC interview published at The Hill, a political news website. Colorado right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin led the charge on DeGette with an acid-dipped post diluted almost not at all by a half-hearted update/correction later posted at the bottom.

ABC asked DeGette if she thought the Catholic Bishops would “be willing to look at compromised language from the Senate” on the Stupak amendment.

“I gotta tell you,” said DeGette, clearly taken aback by the notion that senators would be seeking approval from bishops.

“Last I heard there was separation of church and state in this country. I don’t think the Catholic bishops are in charge of writing our health care bill. I think they’re one of many groups we should be listening to,” she told ABC.

The Hill heard it differently, however, and reported that “DeGette said… religiously affiliated groups like the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops… should be shut out of the process.” The quote from DeGette The Hill then reprinted was as wrong as it was provocative: “I’ve got to say that I think the Catholic bishops and all of the other groups shouldn’t have input.”

Catholic bloggers jumped on the quote, as did the conservative Family Research Council, which sent out a press release calling on the president and congressional leaders to “repudiate Diana DeGette’s religious bigotry.”

Malkin was predictably half-cocked and raging, even getting Diana DeGette’s name wrong in the roaring headline: “Calling Dianne DeGette’s bigotry and ignorance out”…

About as egregious a “misquote” as you can imagine, almost 180 degrees from accurate. The reporter for The Hill, Michael O’Brien, went so far as to email Malkin to correct the record:

Hi Michelle,

I saw your blog on Rep. DeGette, and I felt obligated to set the record straight. I screwed up and misheard DeGette during her interview. She said religious groups should have input on healthcare, but not the final say. I updated my post last night to reflect this, and have been working with FRC to correct the quote.

I apologize for the misunderstanding, and I feel totally embarrassed – but I really wanted to flag this for accuracy…

From Malkin’s reply, we’re guessing she preferred the, um, uncorrected version.

Sounds to me like Mike must have gotten a lot of blowback from DeGette. The new, revised quote doesn’t make much sense…

Well, not if your goal is hysterics, no it doesn’t. And how much do you want to bet the Family Research Council won’t correct at all? Not when the misquote is what they want to hear.