The hit piece was curious because The Guardian admitted that it could not confirm the allegation. Nevertheless, it breathlessly reported on “Canoe-Gate” with the headline, “JD Vance’s team had water level of the river raised for family’s boating trip.”In the article by Guardian writers Stephanie Kirchgaessner and David Smith, the outlet’s writers suggested that the water-raising was done for recreational reasons, stating “one source with knowledge of the matter who communicated with the Guardian anonymously alleged that the outflow request for the Caesar Creek Lake was not just to support the vice-president’s Secret Service detail, but also to create ‘ideal kayaking conditions.’” They then added, “The Guardian could not independently confirm this specific claim.”
Hmmm, that “specific claim” is the entire story.
USSS spokesman Anthony Guglielmi explained that the USSS conducted a trip to the Ohio area ahead of the vice president’s trip, and one of their vessels actually ran aground. That is why the USSS asked for the increase: “It’s very normal, it’s very routine.” He said that the decision was made without input or involvement from the vice president’s office.
Instead of confirmation, they went with confirmation bias, reaching out to familiar figures who immediately expressed disgust or outrage.
This included ethics experts Richard Painter and Norm Eisen. What was most interesting was Eisen’s statement that it did not matter if this was entirely due to security and was not the result of any request from the Vice President or his staff: “While there may well be security-related explanations or justifications that come into the analysis, my reaction is: I don’t care. We shouldn’t be utilising government resources in this way. I never would have allowed it.”
The usual media crowd jumped on the story as an example of facts too good to check. The New Republic ran a headline claiming: “JD Vance Abused Power to Raise River Levels for Family Kayaking Trip.”
HuffPost declared: “JD Vance Had A River’s Water Level Raised For His Family Vacation.”
The Daily Beast said this: “JD Vance Ordered a River’s Water Level Raised for His Family Boat Trip.”
Keep in mind that many of these voices were supportive of the Biden Administration’s censorship efforts to combat “disinformation.” Indeed, there is an alarming uptick in such false claims being spread by figures who are most vocal in calling for the censorship of others.
Take Hillary Clinton, whose campaign secretly funded the false Russian collusion conspiracy claims. Last week, Clinton was back spreading another false story. After the White House announced the start of construction for a new ballroom, Clinton posted a false story that then spread over the Internet.
Clinton claimed that the project is being funded by taxpayers when citizens cannot afford groceries.
When the announcement was made, it was expressly stated that Trump and private donors would pay for the entirety of the project and would not, as she claimed, be “spending $200 million of taxpayers’ money.” She has never taken down her false claim.
It does not matter that the statement is false. This is not the type of disinformation, misinformation, or malinformation that the left felt justified censorship. When Clinton went to Europe to demand that it force the censorship of fellow Americans (after Musk bought Twitter), she clearly was not speaking of Democratic disinformation which is done with the best of motivations.
The same is true with “Canoe-gate.” It does not matter that The Guardian could not confirm the allegation or that it was false that Vance ordered the raising of the river. This is good disinformation to help democracy. For these figures and outlets, the important thing is that the media is still paddling in the same direction, even if it is against the factual current.
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Author: jonathanturley
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