Before an article is readied for publication at a newspaper, editors squabble over something called the pull-quote (also known variously as the billboard, or teaser, or blurb). Boxed off, printed in a larger font, the pull-quote is a typographical device that calls attention to a compelling passage in a piece, or highlights the underlying theme. It's standard practice -- ie, journalistic ethics -- to "pull" the passage verbatim from the article, and to put quote marks around it if it is in fact a direct quotation.
Unfortunately, at The Wall Street Journal, standard practice went down the toilet with the pull-quote the newspaper employed in the op-ed article by outspoken Kerry critic (and Vietnam veteran) John O'Neill.
Here's the pull-quote verbatim:
Quote:'I was on Mr. Kerry's boat in Vietnam. He doesn't deserve to be commander in chief.'
I understand the appeal that passage has to an editor. It's a memorable quote.
It would be even more memorable if it were something O'Neill wrote.
But it isn't. Those words are nowhere to be found in the accompanying article.
What O'Neill
does write is that, while he was "on" the same boat that Kerry commanded, he wasn't there when Kerry was. As he makes clear, he in fact was shipped in to succeed Kerry as commander of the boat once Kerry was removed from the combat zone.
Without verification (and that's impossible, since this is a subjective judgment anyway), inferences such as these...
Tarantulas wrote:When Kerry left, his crew probaby stayed on the same boat under the new commander. The new commander had the opportunity to observe his men and other men.
...don't pass muster in light of Kerry's stellar evaluations by his superiors, and the stories of the men whose lives he saved.
Additionally, while it's safe to conclude that John O'Neill isn't going to be voting for John Kerry, at no point in the article does he write the words, "he doesn't deserve to be commander in chief." He writes some other words, words that sort of mean the same thing, but to quote
exactly what he did write would not be as provocative.
So instead they quoted John O'Neill as saying something he did not actually say.
The WSJ's ethical lapse aside, I continue to be simply delighted at the fact that George Bush's lickspittles keep bringing up Kerry's service records in comparison to the President's valiant fight against tooth decay in Alabama.
They seem to be too stupid to stop doing so, and the distinction is winning them no converts.
But y'all keep on, please. It's working real good.