RNC blasts Politico over Michigan election story

[Eugene]

From Nov. 24: The Inside Story of Michigan’s Fake Voter Fraud Scandal (Politico)

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Source: Washington Post

RNC blasts Politico over Michigan election story

Opinion by
Erik Wemple
Media critic
12/2/2020, 11:26:34 a.m.

Politico chief political correspondent Tim Alberta packed a lot into his sizzling Nov. 24 feature, “The Inside Story of Michigan’s Fake Voter Fraud Scandal.” There’s a tight narration of the Trump campaign’s destructive effort to undo the Michigan vote, strong writing about the central characters in this drama and bluntness about the bad faith behind all the maneuvers. “All of this was a lie,” writes Alberta in reference to President Trump’s allegations of voter fraud in Detroit. “Republicans here — from Ronna Romney McDaniel to Laura Cox to federal and local lawmakers — knew it was a lie. But they didn’t lift a finger in protest as the president disparaged Michigan and subverted America’s democratic norms. Why?”

One thing was missing from the presentation, however: A comment from McDaniel and the Republican National Committee, which she chairs. The problem wasn’t that McDaniel declined to provide one; it was that Alberta didn’t seek one. (Michael Ambrosini, executive director of the Michigan Republican Party, tells this blog that Alberta “never” sought comment from his organization, either.) Following publication of the story, RNC Communications Director Michael Ahrens emailed Alberta with this question: “Is there a lot more editorial leeway granted with magazine pieces that allows you to write at length about someone and not reach out to them at all before publishing? Haven’t run into this before with Politico, or many other mainstream outlets to be honest, but wanted to check.”

Late on the night of publication, Alberta punched out this response:

Thanks for reaching out.

To answer your question: Our editorial standards are fairly uniform across mediums/verticals. 99.9% of the time, I will request comment from a principal or organization I’m writing about. However, there are extremely rare instances when the person/entity has proven so dishonest and so untrustworthy that I feel no obligation to provide them a platform from which to deceive the public. Sadly, that is the case with Chairwoman McDaniel and her staff at the RNC.

If you’d like to pass along comment from her in response to the piece, I’d be happy to review it.

Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving,

Tim

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/02/politico-rnc-michigan-election-ronna-mcdaniel/

[Karadeniz]

1. Ouch! That stung!

[Arne]

2. The response has that flair of a true wordsmith.

[yellowcanine]

5. Yes, although "Fuck You" would have said the same thing in less words.

[Indykatie]

3. Color Me Impressed with the Story and Response to GOP on Not Asking for Comment

[LessAspin]

4. Beautiful...

Unless they wanted to admit being hell-bent on overturning a fair election? He absolutely made the correct editorial call.

This is probably the part that really hit them where it hurt..

Laura Cox, chair of the state party, began dialing prominent lawmakers, attorneys and activists, urging them to get down to the TCF Center .. Cox told them. It was time to flood the zone..

Cox, a former ICE agent, was creating the chaos she later tried to claim as grounds of fraud.. and put poll watchers at risk in the process..

Link to tweet

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016276609

Link to tweet

Inside Story of Michigan's Fake Voter Fraud Scandal