Patterico's Pontifications

9/14/2005

Will the L.A. Times Report Senator Specter’s Clarification? They’d Better!

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General,Judiciary — Patterico @ 7:13 pm



In its coverage of yesterday’s Roberts hearing, the L.A. Times made it a point to report a statement by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter that, while ambiguous, could be viewed as a statement that Judge Roberts was giving misleading answers:

During one testy exchange, Specter asked Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) to let Roberts finish, prompting Biden to retort, “His answers are misleading, with all due respect.”

“Wait a minute. They may be misleading, but they are his answers,” Specter responded. “You may finish, Judge Roberts.”

When I read that, I assumed that Sen. Specter simply used unfortunate language in an attempt to shut Sen. Biden down, and let Judge Roberts answer the question.

But a rational person could certainly read that language as an assertion by Arlen Specter that Judge Roberts had been misleading the committee with his answer. And, out of the more than 10 hours of hearings, the L.A. Times specifically chose to print that exchange. I think it’s undeniable that the editors believed it was important for their readers to be aware of the possibility that Sen. Specter was suggesting that he found Judge Roberts’s answer to have been misleading. Given that possibility — even though it’s a possibility I personally rejected — I didn’t fault the paper for reporting the exchange.

But I am going to be very, very disappointed if the paper fails to report tomorrow that Sen. Specter clarified his comments today, and stated unequivocally that he did not find Judge Roberts’s answer misleading.

Chairman Specter’s clarification came at the very beginning of today’s hearing:

CHAIRMAN SPECTER: The committee will now proceed with the confirmation hearing of Judge Roberts to be chief justice of the United States.

One preliminary statement: I noted after the session yesterday that there was some comment about my statement when I asked Senator Biden to allow you to continue to respond, or to respond at all, and he then interjected that you were misleading the committee.

My statement was, “While they may be misleading, they are his answers.” It was in the subjective, and I was not suggesting that your answers were misleading. But in that moment, the object was to let you answer.

If somebody wants to characterize them one way or another, they can do that and you can respond. And I was not suggesting in any way, shape or form that they were misleading. And you picked it right up and said that they weren’t misleading.

There are sometimes differences of opinion between the person asking the question and the person answering the question, but there was no doubt in my find as to the fact that they were not misleading.

I am dead serious when I say that this is news, and that I expect the L.A. Times to report this tomorrow. I do not intend to snarkily suggest that the paper will bury this clarification. I mean only to say that the editors would have no excuse to do so — and if they do, I am going to be one very upset reader.

5 Responses to “Will the L.A. Times Report Senator Specter’s Clarification? They’d Better!”

  1. “I am dead serious when I say that this is news, and that I expect the L.A. Times to report this tomorrow. I do not intend to snarkily suggest that the paper will bury this clarification. I mean only to say that the editors would have no excuse to do so..”

    Uh, you really expect that having no excuse means that will actually do the right thing? May I please have whatever it is you are drinking, smoking or injesting?

    Brady Westwater (72f6df)

  2. 1. Don’t hold your breath.

    2. It’s not worth getting worked up over. Have 1 beer if they run a clarification. Have 2 if they don’t.

    Hoystory (b9390a)

  3. Would you feel the same way if it were your reputation at issue?

    Patterico (4e4b70)

  4. Three articles up on LAT site so far.

    And 0 for 3, so far.

    Brady Westwater (72f6df)


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