Another conservative out-of-context smear: Nina Totenberg falsely accused of dissing Christmas

[alp227]

I was searching for reviews for Kate Zernike's book about the Tea Party movement Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America (which is a fascinating yet soft-punching book), found this NewsBusters blog post, and found an entry on the banner stating that NPR legal correspondent Nina Totenberg said "forgive the expression...Christmas party." That was during an appearance on Sunday's edition of the PBS program Inside Washington. Transcript and video, from Brent Baker of the Media Research Center:

I want to say one thing about the budget that didn’t get passed, the omnibus bill. You know, we talk a lot about – we just passed this huge tax cut in part because business said, you know, we have to plan, we have to know what kind of tax cuts we have. Well, these agencies, including the Defense Department, don't know how much money they've got and for what. And I was at – forgive the expression – a Christmas party at the Department of Justice and people actually were really worried about this. These are law enforcement people don't know exactly what kind of money they can spend for what.

There was a response by saner media...that is, the Reliable Source column of The Washington Post (links suppressed here):

Conservative bloggers jumped all over Totenberg, accusing her of a liberal, politically-correct agenda: "Totenberg and her ilk. . .are making a conscious and deliberate effort to scrub the religious meaning from the winter holidays, because Christmas instills confidence in a particular religious movement they fear and despise," opined John Hayward on the Human Events blog. Many noted suspiciously that her comment aired during Friday's broadcast of the show on public television -- but disappeared by Sunday's rebroadcast on WJLA.

So you did get to hear that comment if you watched Inside Washington on a PBS station but not on WJLA, the Washington, DC ABC station. Totenberg sets the record straight:

Then we reached Totenberg herself during her "Christmas vacation" (her term) in Jamaica. Turns out her critics got it completely wrong: She was, she says, defending Christmas. The DOJ celebration was officially dubbed a "holiday" party, and she was gently mocking that generic designation. "I think that's kind of silly because it's obviously a Christmas party," she told us. "I was tweaking the Department of Justice. It was a touch of irony at the expense of the Justice department, not at the expense of Christmas."

Ugh. Conservatives sure looooove to twist words to trash people they dislike.

Besides, Totenberg has considered Bob Dole and Jack Kemp "cute" and "lovable" and characterized slavery reparations as "payback." On a 1995 episode of Inside Washington, she controversially wished that Jesse Helms would get AIDS, Fox News brought that up during the Juan Williams controversy. And MRC chief Brent Bozell had no issue telling lies about Totenberg.

[Canuckistanian]

1. Typical of these - forgive the expression - "Christians"

Like walking on eggshells whenever you MENTION "the holidays".

[flakey_foont]

2. oh for dog's sake!

some people are just a little too thin skinned for their own good.


doesn't take much to upset the poor, 'persecuted' Xtians....

persecuted only because they don't get to make all the rules

[pscot]

3. It's enough to make baby jeebus cry.

[alp227]

4. update: ConWebWatch has responded too

conwebwatch.tripod.com/blog/index.blog?entry_id=2095531