The Roman poet Juvenal famously asked in Satires VI: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (“Who will guard the guardians themselves?”) A variant applies to the establishment media: Who will fact-check the fact-checkers?
We saw the problem on display during the debate between President Trump and Vice President Harris hosted by ABC News this week. Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis repeatedly “fact-checked” Trump while letting Harris skate.
To take one example, Davis posed a question on abortion to Trump that she prefaced with a statement of her own. She sought to highlight abortion as an issue. It’s a cornerstone of Harris’s campaign.
Davis asked why voters should trust Trump on the issue. When Trump cited the extremism of Minnesota and Tim Walz on the issue, Davis weighed in: “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.”
Who will fact-check the fact-checkers? The Daily Caller has published a scrupulously detailed analysis of the situation in Minnesota following Governor Walz’s signing of the DFL’s 2023 let’s go crazy abortion bill: “ABC Debate Moderator’s Fact Check Ignores What Tim Walz’s State Can Do To Infants Born Alive After Attempted Abortions” (republished by Alpha News here, where I first found it). Fox News has more here.
The Star Tribune covered — or obscured– all this yesterday in the story “Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has not said abortion in ninth month is ‘absolutely fine.’” The Star Tribune acts as the Praetorian Guard of Walz and the DFL. Republican state representative Walter Hudson understands perfectly.
I love this. It's so good.
1) You have to respect the swapping out of "has not said" for the more relevant "has enacted into law." Top notch gasligting. Well done.
2) The fact they're defensive about it affirms that conservatives are on the right side of this issue. pic.twitter.com/Yrdy6cKw7k
— Walter Hudson (@WalterHudson) September 11, 2024
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