Greg Palast
Have you heard about Cynthia McKinney
Wed Jun 18 22:01:13 2003
208.152.73.79

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: AlterNet.org : The Screwing of Cynthia McKinney
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 20:18:45 -0400
From: palast@gregpalast.com

The New York Times is crowing about the coon skin on the wall: the Paper of Record is mighty proud of itself for nailing the hide of Jayson Blair, cub reporter and liar, to the corporate newspaper wall. And, for good measure, this week we have the resignations of Times editors Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd. The trouble on the Olympus of Journalism seems to be, editorial writers say, affirmative action run amok. Now that the stable’s been cleaned out, the rest of the Times news is, in their self-congratulatory words, “simply truth.”

Oh yeah? This past year I’ve been keeping rapidly thickening files of fakery, fabrications and outright lies printed in the Times and other of America’s mainstream news outlets. Here’s a sampler – beginning with a whopper told by Times hotshot Lynette Clemetson.

But first, a little background:

Have you heard about Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Congresswoman?

According to those quoted on National Public Radio, McKinney’s “a loose cannon” (media expert) who “the people of Atlanta are embarrassed and disgusted” (politician) by, and she is also “loony” and “dangerous” (senator from her own party).

Yow! And why is McKinney dangerous/loony/disgusting? According to NPR, “McKinney implied that the [Bush] Administration knew in advance about September 11 and deliberately held back the information.”

The New York Times’ Lynette Clemetson revealed her comments went even further over the edge: “Ms. McKinney suggest[ed] that President Bush might have known about the September 11 attacks but did nothing so his supporters could make money in a war.”

That’s loony, all right. As an editor of the highly respected Atlanta Journal Constitution told NPR, McKinney’s “practically accused the President of murder!”

Problem is, McKinney never said it.

That’s right. The “quote” from McKinney is a complete fabrication. A whopper, a fabulous fib, a fake, a flim-flam. Just freakin’ made up.

To read the rest of the article please go to http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=229&row=1 

This article is based on his contribution to the compendium, "Abuse Your Illusions," released this month by Disinformation Press. Oliver Shykles, Fredda Weinberg, Ina Howard, and Phil Tanfield contributed research for this report.

Greg Palast is an investigative reporter for BBC television and author of the New York Times bestseller, “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy” (Penguin/Plume 2003).
Available at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452283914/qid=1055980347/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-8447291-7716128