Earl Aagaard’s opinions about everything that interests him. Og also enjoys gardening, travel, reading, woodbutchery, and lots of other stuff.
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I’ve spent a lot of time looking at the rumors about Sarah Palin that have appeared in the weeks since John McCain announced her nomination. (The new list is up to 91 and still growing.) Its given me a whole new insight into rumors and how the press responds to them. It seems to be very predictable — and very artificial.
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The first example is the “she cut Special Olympics funding in half”, when it really got a 10% increase from the year before, but received a good deal less than was requested….typical Washington politician “truthiness”......
I like the author’s general attitude on how these rumors spread:
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I’m a big believer in Heinlein’s Razor: “never ascribe to malice, that which is adequately explained by stupidity,” and its corollary, “believe simple malice before conspiracy.” The way these Palin rumors got around, however, has always had some peculiar aspects.
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but, like Ronald Reagan, it’s “trust but verify”. Fascinating and educational at the same time.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 09/23 at 09:16 PM