WASHINGTON POST GIVES IT FOUR PINOCCHIOS
◼ Spinning Obama’s reference to Islamic State as a ‘JV’ team - Glenn Kessler/Washington Post
Question: “Did the president underestimate ISIS [the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] when he referred to them in an interview only a couple months ago as a JV squad and making a reference to National Basketball Association basketball teams like the Lakers?”
◼ Yesterday on Meet the Press, Obama told Chuck Todd that he was not specifically referring to ISIL in his infamous JV quote from the New Yorker in January - The Right Scoop
TODD: “Long way, long way from when you described them as a JV team. Was that bad intelligence or your misjudgment?”◼ We rate the statement False. - POLITIFACT
OBAMA: “Keep in mind I wasn’t specifically referring to ISIL. I’ve said that, regionally, there were a whole series of organizations that were focused primarily locally, weren’t focused on homeland, because I think a lot of us, when we think about terrorism, the model is Osama bin Laden and 9/11.”
But Politifact disagreed and gave the above statement by Obama a big fat LIE after contacting the author of the New Yorker piece in which the quote was originally published...
And there it is. A big fat lie.
◼ WashPost Awards Obama Press Secy ‘Four Pinocchios’ For His Defense of Obama’s ‘JV’ Comments - Newsbusters
Washington Post Fact Checker Glenn Kessler took aim at White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Wednesday, September 3 and the result wasn’t pretty. At issue was Earnest’s attempt to clarify remarks made by President Obama during an interview in January where he labeled the terrorist group ISIS as a “JV” team.
Despite the press secretary’s best efforts to argue that Obama was “not singling out ISIS” when he called them “JV”, Kessler made clear that nothing could be further from the truth and gave Earnest four Pinocchios for his efforts.
◼ Obama said in 2008, “I mean, words mean something. You can’t just make stuff up.” - Washington Free Beacon
Why Obama Can’t Claim He Never Called ISIL ‘JV’
Commentary‘s Pete Wehner recently ◼ eviscerated that claim, calling it “demonstrably untrue.” Wehner quoted Obama’s original remarks, which were in response to David Remnick pointing out that “the flag of Al Qaeda is now flying in Falluja”–and that flag was an ISIL flag.
The Washington Post‘s Glenn Kessler has also given the White House’s defense of the “JV” comment four pinnochios.
Wehner writes:
The problem is in this whole process the president of the United States is distorting the truth. He’s doing so willfully. But this deception will not only fail; it will further undermine his credibility, which is already at a low ebb. As Mr. Obama said in 2008, “I mean, words mean something. You can’t just make stuff up.”
Mr. Obama is at war with reality, and reality is winning.
