‘Meet The Press’ Issues Correction On VP Harris’s Attendance At Dignified Transfer Of Killed American Service Members
'Kamala Harris was sitting at her mansion in Washington, D.C.'
Biden fact-check fail: Writer insists president did not look at his at his watch during dignified transfer ceremony — then big-time correction comes
Do the so-called "fact-checkers" — the pros whose supposed nonpartisan detective work and painstaking research guide news narratives far and wide — need fact-checkers, too?
If the answer to that question isn't obvious, consider this week's faux pas by a USA Today fact-checker in relation to President Joe Biden and his wristwatch.
What happened?
Biden didn't earn any friends among the family members of the 13 U.S. service members who were killed in a recent suicide bombing in Afghanistan. But the public's perception took an even deeper dive after reports of his behavior during the dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base over the weekend.
The president got failing marks for things like going on and on to grieving families about his late son Beau — who died of cancer rather than at the hands of the enemy — and rolling his "f***ing" eyes at service members' relatives and allegedly showing "total disregard" for the dead.
And then there was the looking-down-at-his-watch-during-the-ceremony thing. Numerous relatives said they saw Biden checking his watch more than once as caskets came off the plane — and the apparent demonstration of non-concern angered them.
Enter USA Today fact-checker Daniel Funke, who penned a Wednesday piece taking issue with folks on social media for pointing out Biden's watch obsession. Funke wrote that "the claim that he checked his watch instead of honoring the fallen service members is wrong," according a Wednesday version of the story found on the Internet Archive.
Funke added, "The full video of the dignified transfer ceremony shows Biden honored each of the fallen U.S. service members. He appeared to check his watch after the ceremony ended."
Oops
But something went wrong with the fact-checker's claim.
Just a day later the story's headline changed from "Fact check: Biden honored service members killed in Kabul, checked watch only after ceremony" to "Fact check: Biden honored service members killed in Kabul, checked watch during ceremony."
"Only after" to "during." Big difference.
And the new version of the story has a correction at the top: "This story was updated Sept. 2 to note that Biden checked his watch multiple times at the dignified transfer event, including during the ceremony itself. The rating on this claim has been changed from partly false to missing context."
A two part story courtesy of the "fact checkers" in the media. https://t.co/DyBFCBJH2g
— The First (@TheFirstonTV) 1630629580.0
Speaking of that changed rating
The original "partly false" rating said: "Based on our research, we rate PARTLY FALSE the claim that Trump saluted the caskets of fallen U.S. service members, while Biden checked his watch. The pictures are real, but they don't accurately summarize the two events. The way Biden honored the 11 caskets presented at Dover Air Force Base, with a hand over his heart, was similar to how Trump paid respects to fallen service members during his presidency. Biden checked his watch, but he did so after the ceremony had ended."
The new "missing context" rating reads: "Based on our research, we rate MISSING CONTEXT the claim that Trump saluted the caskets of fallen U.S. service members, while Biden checked his watch. The way Biden honored the 11 caskets presented at Dover Air Force Base, with a hand over his heart, was similar to how Trump paid respects to fallen service members during his presidency. However, Biden did check his watch at least three times, according to photos and video reviewed by USA TODAY. Several family members of fallen service members who attended the ceremony have criticized Biden for checking his watch."
'It's easy to dunk on journalists'
Funke did acknowledge his error on Twitter: "As many of you already know, this story has been corrected. Biden checked his watch multiple times during the ceremony. I regret the error."
And on Friday Funke offered a bit of defense in a pair of additional tweets.
He first wrote that "journalists and fact-checkers are human (yes, even me!) We make mistakes. When we do, we correct them and try to make it right."
Funke then added: "It's easy to dunk on journalists when we get things wrong. I get it – to many, we're just another name on a screen. But behind that screen is a person trying to do their best."
Twitter comments restricted
However, Funke's tweet thread about his failed fact-check shows he restricted replies to it to those he's followed or mentioned on Twitter:
And one might argue that such a move doesn't demonstrate willingness to take some hits after an unfortunate "you had one job" scenario.
How did folks react to the fact-checking fail?
As you might guess, observers sounded off anyway — both on his page and elsewhere — and were less than forgiving about the mistaken conclusion the fact-check generated:
- "Way to attempt a slam dunk on gold star families and falsely claim they lied, pronouns guy," independent journalist Jordan Schachtel shot back.
- "From 'partly false' to 'missing context,'" another commenter noted. "Is there a fact-check on a Democrat that ever gets confirmed TRUE if it makes the Democrat look bad?"
- "What is the missing context? WTF IS THE MISSING CONTEXT!?" another user wondered. "What's next.. 'story has been updated to note there is no missing context.. we just absolutely hate everyone who isn't a Biden supporter so we will never EVER admit we are biased.'"
- "Fact checkers are nothing more than propagandists," another commenter opined. "Joseph [Goebbels] wishes he'd thought of it. Hitler would be proud."
- "These people have no moral compass! That he looked at his watch was not lacking context; it was true!" another user declared. "They are so bias[ed] trying to hide the callous way Biden acted."
- "So 'missing context' is the new 'mostly peaceful protests?'" another commenter quipped.
- "Get outta here," another user exclaimed, adding "the way you guys are trying so hard everyday to minimize and downplay all his faults is staggering. Had this been Trump we wouldn't hear the end of it. This ultimately is gonna be Biden's downfall. You all are part of it."
(H/T: Red State)
'I hope you burn in hell! That was my brother!': More anger unleashed at Biden by relatives of US service members killed in Kabul terror attack
Grieving families of 13 U.S. service members killed in a terror attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, had just finished meeting Sunday with President Joe Biden at Dover Air Force Base and were watching the caskets containing their loved ones come off a C-17 plane, the Washington Post reported.
Mark Schmitz — whose 20-year-old Marine son Jared was among the slain — told the Post he got angry every time he saw Biden look down at his watch.
And then Schmitz told the paper he witnessed a grieving woman go off on Biden from across the tarmac.
"She said, 'I hope you burn in hell! That was my brother!' " Schmitz recalled to the Post. "I can't fault her for it. ... We all lost somebody."
What's the background?
This was far from the only criticism of Biden stemming from his meeting with grieving families at Dover Air Force Base. TheBlaze on Monday reported that the pregnant widow of another Marine killed in the terror attack left her meeting with Biden distraught after he showed "total disregard" for her husband.
Jiennah McCollum — the widow of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum — reportedly said Biden told her about his late son, Beau, and his military service and death from cancer, all of which "struck the family as scripted and shallow," according to a separate Post report.
And Schmitz's encounter with Biden was much the same.
How did Schmitz's meeting with Biden go?
He told the Post that Biden approached him and his ex-wife after speaking to all the other families — and Schmitz noted to the paper that he glared hard at the president. With that, Biden spent more time looking at his ex-wife, "repeatedly invoking his own son, Beau, who died six years ago."
More from Schmitz' account to the Post:
Schmitz did not want to hear about Beau, he wanted to talk about Jared. Eventually, the parents took out a photo to show to Biden. "I said, 'Don't you ever forget that name. Don't you ever forget that face. Don't you ever forget the names of the other 12,'" Schmitz said. "'And take some time to learn their stories.'"
Biden did not seem to like that, Schmitz recalled, and he bristled, offering a blunt response: "I do know their stories."
It was a remarkable moment of two men thrown together by history. One was a president of the United States who prides himself on connecting with just about anyone in a moment of grief, but now coming face-to-face with grief that he himself had a role in creating. The other was a proud Marine father from Missouri, awoken a few nights before at 2:40 a.m. by a military officer at his door with news that nearly made him faint.
'It just didn't seem that appropriate'
"When he just kept talking about his son so much it was just — my interest was lost in that. I was more focused on my own son than what happened with him and his son," Schmitz added to the Post. "I'm not trying to insult the president, but it just didn't seem that appropriate to spend that much time on his own son."
He also told the paper: "I think it was all him trying to say he understands grief. But when you're the one responsible for ultimately the way things went down, you kind of feel like that person should own it a little bit more. Our son is now gone. Because of a direct decision or game plan — or lack thereof — that he put in place."
More from the Post:
Despite Schmitz's disenchantment with Biden, one part of the encounter did strike him favorably. The president at one point pulled out the card he keeps in his breast pocket showing the number of American service members who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It's something Biden has talked about for years, but now the card had an addition that reflected the new toll that Biden was responsible for. "At the end of it, it had 'Plus 13,' " Schmitz said. "I know it's just a number, but it was a simple reflective thing that he looks at. I'll give him kudos there."
Schmitz added to the paper that in terms of offering consolation, the words of military leaders who came up to him Sunday were far more healing than Biden's.
"It had to be one of the hardest things he's ever had to do," he added to paper in regard to Biden's attempt to console grieving families. "You make some calls, here's the aftereffect. It's got to be difficult. I'm not saying it was easy at all. But you can't run up and hug someone as if you had nothing to do with it. It's not going to work that way when you're commander in chief."
Today's top stories
www.theblaze.com
freebeacon.com