...the award goes to..... for previous winners, Weekly Spin Archives

----Rosie O'Donnell----
When All Else Fails...Spin...Too Bad There's Video Proof...

I don't watch 'The View', never have, and while I know who Rosie O'Donnell, Joy Behar and Baba Waba are, I didn't know who Elisabeth Hasselback was (she was on 'Survivor' but I don't watch that show either), until the other day. This past week there was a heated debate that took place involving Rosie and Elisabeth. Now there's all kinds of controversy surrounding this 'fight' because right after it, Rosie said she would not be fulfilling her contract with ABC by refusing to return for her last 3 weeks. OK, before reading on, please understand that this is NOT about whether or not you, I, or anyone else agrees or disagrees with the views of either women, it's irrelevant for this 'spin'. What IS relevant is just how much spinning of words took place. Much like you'd think Lindsay Lohan would be a little more careful about driving drunk and keeping cocaine on her when the paparazzi follows her just about everywhere, you'd think Rosie would be careful about quoting people incorrectly when there is video proof. But you and I, would be wrong on both fronts...Another note, I find it incredibly frustrating that no one has bothered to make a big deal about the fact that so called 'FACTS' and other people's 'QUOTES' were stated as such, when in reality, there's absolutely no question, that they weren't.

So here's how it went: May 17, The whole thing started when Joy Behar was talking about having seen the Republican debate and she commented that Ron Paul had brought up some points with which she agreed with him on.

 

JOY: But anyway so I watched the Republican debate the other, the so called debate, the other night, anyone, did, did anyone see it?
ELISABETH: I ah watched the whole thing.
JOY: you did?
ROSIE: I actually watched it last night because of this conversation.
JOY: Well for the purposes of people who didn't see it basically there was a very strong interaction between Rudy Guilliani and Ron Paul who is from Texas
ELISABETH: Congressman Paul
JOY: And he is a very conservative congressman from Texas this guy Ron Paul, there he is, and I'd never heard of him before and yet I thought he was just right on the money
ELISABETH: You did?
JOY: Yes I did.
ROSIE: Now we have a clip right?
JOY: Well we don't...The clip is too long to show, but basically he was saying that we need to rethink what we're doing in the middle east as policy rather than just being angry and reacting the way that we do.
ELISABETH: Well he didn't say it way
JOY: Well if you saw him on CNN later he elaborated
ELISABETH: Right but during the debate what he had said was, the reason he, essentially, in so many words said that the reason why maybe 9/11 happened was that we had been attacking them for 10 years
ROSIE: That's not what he said. That's why we wanted the clip... that's how Rudy Guilliani interpreted it, but that's not what he said.

Actually Rosie, that's EXACTLY what he said. EXACTLY:

MR. GOLER: Congressman, you don't think that changed with the 9/11 attacks, sir?
REP. PAUL: What changed?
MR. GOLER: The non-interventionist policies.
REP. PAUL: No. Non-intervention was a major contributing factor. Have you ever read the reasons they attacked us? They attack us because we've been over there; we've been bombing Iraq for 10 years. We've been in the Middle East -- I think Reagan was right.
And just so there's no confusion as to what he meant, Guilliani responds and even gives Ron Paul a chance to 'take back' what he said (which is what Rosie claims he didn't say in the first place) and clarify it, but instead, Ron Paul retracts nothing, and goes on to defend his previous answer:
REP. PAUL: I believe very sincerely that the CIA is correct when they teach and talk about blowback. When we went into Iran in 1953 and installed the shah, yes, there was blowback. A reaction to that was the taking of our hostages and that persists. And if we ignore that, we ignore that at our own risk. If we think that we can do what we want around the world and not incite hatred, then we have a problem. They don't come here to attack us because we're rich and we're free. They come and they attack us because we're over there. I mean, what would we think if we were -- if other foreign countries were doing that to us?

So Rosie tries to 'spin' WHO said or didn't say something and Elisabeth stated almost verbatim what the quote was with no spin at all. I'd like to point out the funniest part of all, which is that Rosie says, 'Well, that's why I wanted the clip.' I would have paid good money to see that happen right then... but anyway, on with the show.
Next up, later in that conversation, the following banter takes place: (It's in the same clip as the first conversation, if you don't feel like watching the whole thing, this takes place at about the 5:57 mark:

ROSIE: I just want to say something. 655,000 Iraqi civilians are dead. Who are the terrorists?
ELISABETH: Who are the terrorists?
ROSIE: 655.. Iraqis - I'm saying you have to look from the, we invaded -
ELISABETH: Wait, who are you calling terrorists now? Americans?
ROSIE: I'm saying if you were in Iraq, and the other country, the United States, the richest in the world, invaded your country and killed 655,000 of your citizens, what would you call us?
ELISABETH: Are we killing their citizens or are their people also killing their citizens?
ROSIE: We're invading a sovereign nation, occupying a country against the U.N...

Now never mind the fact that the number of dead Iraqi civilians that she quoted, was from a study that itself, is considered by many to be spun and controversial (but for the sake of this argument, let's assume it's true), what else can one imply from that statement, but that Rosie is saying that the United States, are the terrorists? Never mind the 'republican pundits', not even the liberal media can deny that that's exactly what she is insinuating...
And how often does THAT happen?

OK, so on to the May 23 show on 'The View'...
It starts off (this particular debate) where Rosie calls Elisabeth a coward because people in the media (Rosie notes the 'Republican pundits' specifically) had been insinuating from her statement from the show earlier in the week, (see above) that she was calling the American troops in Iraq, the real terrorists, and Elisabeth didn't defend her. Soooo just so we're clear, Rosie was pissed because Elisabeth didn't defend a statement that Rosie had made, when Rosie herself couldn't defend it. This makes sense who what now???

Rather than putting all the text here, feel free to read along while watching the clip...

All political feelings aside, Rosie CLEARLY relies on 'spin' to somehow get herself out of trouble and she does that by altering not just facts (because that is another debate all together) but changing something as simple as who said something when there's clear proof, disproving that? And TWICE? About your OWN comments?
Now as a Communication major (I know, probably not the first or last time you'll hear me state that) I did an awful lot of research on fallacies and basically every single thing that Rosie spews from her mouth, (besides the obvious lies) is textbook 'how to make a complete and total fallacious argument'. I looked for Elisabeth's use of fallacies and the only one I could really see, was when she brought Donald Trump into the debate. Now I can't stand Donald Trump so Elisabeth calling him obnoxious is true as far as I'm concerned, but well...it's more of an opinion...I suppose ;)

So what now? Well, Rosie is gone and making some random, drunken videos and posting them on her blog and I've heard that she's supposed to be getting her own show on NBC. Please. PLEASE! For the love of all that is holy, NBC....please don't do this. You guys have enough trouble already with your ratings and if I want to hear a "big, fat, loud lesbian" rant and rave and claim to know what 'really' happened to building 7 on 9/11, then I'll...well, nope, I'm certain I will never have such a desire. Now I don't care if I ever see Rosie on television again, (didn't care before this, still don't care now) but if I were her publicist, I'd suggest she actually tried to 'right' this mess by being a real man, and admitting to her mistakes. I'm not holding my breath...


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