Hoaxsters dupe MSNBC on source of Palin story

[Gingersnap]

Hoaxsters dupe MSNBC on source of Palin story

By The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 11/13/2008 01:50:11 AM MST

NEW YORK — MSNBC was the victim of a hoax when it reported that an adviser to John McCain had identified himself as the source of an embarrassing story about former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the network said Wednesday.

David Shuster, an anchor for the cable news network, said on air Monday that Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, had come forth and identified himself as the source of a Fox News Channel story saying Palin had mistakenly believed Africa was a country instead of a continent.

Eisenstadt identifies himself on a blog as a senior fellow at the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy. Yet neither he nor the institute exists; each is part of a hoax dreamed up by a filmmaker named Eitan Gorlin and his partner, Dan Mirvish, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

(snip)

The hoax was limited to the identity of the source in the story about Palin — not the Fox News story itself. While Palin has denied that she mistook Africa for a country, the veracity of that report was not put in question by the revelation that Eisenstadt is a phony.

Where is this clip of Palin making the Africa blunder? Has anybody ever seen it?

Denver Post

[Cold Warrior]

Where is this clip of Palin making the Africa blunder? Has anybody ever seen it?

Denver Post

I think the assertion has been made that it occured during a foreign policy briefing. However, this sort of thing needs to be ignored by both sides. I'm not sure of the exact context in which she supposedly said this, but I don't believe for a moment that she thinks Africa is a country. Just like I think her answer regarding to the VP's duties and Obama's 57 states comment are bogus in the since that they are clearly misspoken statements (or statements taken out of context) made by candidates who had been talking non-stop for months.

I disagree with Palin on the majority of issues. However, these trivialities have no place in rational discourse

[AmPat]

I think the assertion has been made that it occured during a foreign policy briefing. However, this sort of thing needs to be ignored by both sides. I'm not sure of the exact context in which she supposedly said this, but I don't believe for a moment that she thinks Africa is a country. Just like I think her answer regarding to the VP's duties and Obama's 57 states comment are bogus in the since that they are clearly misspoken statements (or statements taken out of context) made by candidates who had been talking non-stop for months.

I disagree with Palin on the majority of issues. However, these trivialities have no place in rational discourse

I agree. This type attack has as much validity as simple gaffs like "57 States." It is improbable that people as accomplished as Palin and Obama are so clueless as to not know how many States in the Union or major continents. People who push this crap as some kind of insight or legitimate weaknesses of their opponents tend to insult my intelligence.