April 23, 2019

40 seems really young, and it's easy to remember that Pete Buttigieg is younger than that — 30 whatever — so Moulton's probably second-youngest... journalism!

"ABC News flubs presidential candidates' ages," John Althouse Cohen blogs.

ABC News wrote that Seth Moulton is the "second-youngest candidate," when he's 40.
Wait, Tulsi Gabbard and Eric Swalwell are both 38-year-old members of Congress who've announced they're running for president. Have they dropped out? No, Moulton is at most the fourth-youngest candidate, not the "second-youngest"; ABC News just didn’t bother to fact-check....

33 comments:

Unknown said...

What? No more fact checking at major new organizations? If I could find it, here's my shocked face...

Assistant Village Idiot said...

I always imagine people doing this waving their hands in the air and saying "like," and "y'know" a lot.

Jon Stewart used to be pretty sloppy, shooting from the hip and relying on eye-rolss and vaudevillian takes. However, I don't think he dropped this low.

tcrosse said...

Somehow I imagine the entire Democrat field standing on a hillside, singing "I'd like to buy the world a Coke".

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

They are much smarter than I am because I didn’t finish college and had babies instead. So I’ve been told by my “friend” who is a journalism professor, anyway.

(I’m out of state right now at my daughter’s college orientation; she has received a large scholarship to study aerospace engineering. But she isn’t also not as smart and diligent as a journalist. They are the best and the brightest because Change the World.)

rhhardin said...

Erik Satie has a piece entitled second-to-last thoughts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV-r50r8mBA

Drago said...

What do the Russians want us to believe the dem candidate ages are?

Thats the only thing that matters.

Clearly.

gilbar said...

ABC News just didn’t bother to fact-check....

WHY? Why should they start now?

rehajm said...

Cut ABC some slack. There not journalists, they’re waiting for their new memes from their Democratic betters post Mueller and, well, there’s just so many of them running now it’s hard to keep track.

rehajm said...

What do you call this many lefties candidates? Clown car is out. Angry mob? A politburo?

Yancey Ward said...

ABCNews doesn't deal in facts, so nothing to check.

Temujin said...

Acch. Journalism has gotten so bad that the written word "Journalism!" is universally used derisively.

Very few go to them for accurate information anymore. Nobody is surprised by misspelled words, awkward sentences or phrasing, completely incorrect facts. These are regular occurrences daily, in every form of "Journalism!". On TV we look at bobble heads giving us their expert opinions and like their "Journalism!" friends, no one takes them seriously (except for the most religiously secular of the crowd).

I ask again, what do they actually do in J-School, and what is the point any longer?

JPS said...

Mrs. Pants:

"[Journalists] are the best and the brightest because Change the World."

Don't forget: Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

Congratulations to your daughter, and to you.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

He said probably

Given the ages of presidential candidates through history, there was a high probability that Moulton would be the second youngest.

Politifact rates this: True. /sarc

mccullough said...

The Young Pretenders. They are all about the same age.

Klobuchar and Kamala and Beto are the tweeners.

Sanders, Biden, Hickenlooper, and Warren are all old.

tcrosse said...

Let's not start this whole birth certificate thing again.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I’m out of state right now at my daughter’s college orientation; she has received a large scholarship to study aerospace engineering

Congrats! Where is she going, if you don't mind my asking?

gahrie said...

Who cares? Facts don't matter. Objective truth doesn't exist.

If Moulton feels like the second youngest Democratic candidate, and identifies as the second youngest Democratic candidate, who are we to dispute him?

gahrie said...

Somehow I imagine the entire Democrat field standing on a hillside, singing "I'd like to buy the world a Coke".

Never happen. Now maybe "I'd like to force the American taxpayers to buy the world a bottle of Nutrient-Added Water"

Rick.T. said...

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

"I’m out of state right now at my daughter’s college orientation; she has received a large scholarship to study aerospace engineering."

Congratulations!

Ken B said...

Gell Mann amnesia.

chuck said...

> ABC News just didn’t bother to fact-check

Great horny toads ... a trespasser gettin’ footie prints all over my narrative.

JAORE said...

What do you call this many lefties candidates? Clown car is out. Angry mob? A politburo?

A Gang of Givers?
A Triumph of Taxers?
A List of Lefties?
A Freer of Felons?
A Murder of Abortionists?

Sigivald said...

"We meant of serious candidates that have any plausible shot, obviously."

Unlike "Nuke 'em" Swallwell.

tcrosse said...

What do you call this many lefties candidates?

The Mickey Mouse Club

TrespassersW said...

That's what you call journalisming.

Bilwick said...

So maybe there's still time in his young life for Red Diaper Buttsky to learn some basic economics?

Granted, that would disqualify him from being the Democratic Presidential candidate; but stranger things have happened.

stevew said...

And they wonder why their approval rating is so low and their credibility has cratered.

narciso said...

when they get to 24 hunger game rules apply, back in 1988, it was only the seven dwarves,

Michael K said...

(I’m out of state right now at my daughter’s college orientation; she has received a large scholarship to study aerospace engineering.

That was my major. If I were doing it again. I think I would go into power plants,

Tell her congratulations.

Anonymous said...

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

They are much smarter than I am because I didn’t finish college and had babies instead. So I’ve been told by my “friend” who is a journalism professor, anyway.
----------------------

You take it so personally...
Anyone who studies a subject seriously, a trade or skill or apprentice, is bound to be "smarter" in that particular subject than one who never practices, fails, learns, gets it better, and grows in their study.

I'm not telling you the worth of many of our "institutes of higher education" these days -- some are not equipped with the talent or the resources to teach a subject properly. But you can definitely learn and grow with a college education, if you choose your subjects and teachers carefully...

Not everyone with a degree, or otherwise lofty credentials, earned them in the same way, though. That's the problem with generalization -- making sweeping conclusions from a few exmples -- that shows itself in our identity politics problem and political correctness problem in society, too.


And don't feel so bad. Surely your years in baby-making and baby-raising have elevated your skills well above those of us who never studied, worked or practiced in that field. All we have is our instincts to go on, in the rare situation where we are called on to act.

It's likely the same with you, and so many others who might have wanted to "report" and indeed do so in your own lives, with your own writing, in a limited fashion. Everybody specialized, and there are trade-offs in all the choices we make.

Give your kids a hug, and be content with your lot. And stop making such reaching generalizations and forgive your... "friend." Your heart will be happier!

Gretchen said...

Dear Anonymous

That was the most condescending screed I have seen in a while. Most journalists really aren't smart, even within their field. They are partisan hacks looking to "change the world" rather than present unbiased facts to the public. Furthermore, they cannot be trusted to research basic facts or use proper grammar.

Scientists have determined a child's intellect is determined primarily from maternal genetics. We can assume I Misplaced My Pants is at least as smart as her daughter who was admitted to a highly selective program.

I have worked with a few PhDs who were dumb. No way around it. People who attend college can be more educated, not smarter.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Lazy corrupt leftwing news.

Anonymous said...

Most journalists really aren't smart, even within their field. They are partisan hacks looking to "change the world" rather than present unbiased facts to the public. Furthermore, they cannot be trusted to research basic facts or use proper grammar.
----------------------------

Or maybe... you swim in shallow circles, ma'am.

And you're not reading the same materials I am. Stick to the source materials whenever possible, and steer clear of these young "journ-o-lists" coming up, who have effectively re-written all of the ethical tools of the trade. It shows in their work.
--------------------
"Scientists have determined a child's intellect is determined primarily from maternal genetics. We can assume I Misplaced My Pants is at least as smart as her daughter who was admitted to a highly selective program."

Let me guess? You weren't a science major yourself?

(and don't be offended by what you are reading as "condescension" or sarcasm here. I'm trying to help you grow, and I'm expressing myself honestly. Your own defensiveness -- or insecurities? -- make it more difficult for you to understand a different perspective, it seems...)


"And as you push off from the shore, won't you turn your head once more? And make your peace with everyone..."
~Tull.