Washington Senator Flies Below National Media RADAR
Before Christmas, U.S. Senator Patty Murray of the State of Washington told a group of high school students that Osama bin Laden is popular in some countries because he built schools, roads, and daycare centers there. This was originally pointed out in The Columbian, a newspaper based in Vancouver, WA, but subsequently picked up by the AP and carried in newspapers across the Western U.S.
We have to chuckle at the disingenuousness of Murray's speech. How likely is it that a millionaire leader of worldwide terrorism would build daycare centers at the same time that he was in league with groups like the Taliban, who are notoriously anti-woman? The implication of her statements is that the United States has not provided foreign aid to the Islamic countries of the world-- another misleading notion.
We can excuse Murray for assuming that the average American adult is stupid. But, she was speaking in front of impressionable high school students. There is no excuse for this degree of misrepresentation.
The Washington Post broke its silence on the matter in an editorial about Murray's speech in its Christmas edition. It referred to Murray as "inept but entitled to have her say"-- as if all of her misstatements were OK in light of her patriotic criticism of American foreign policy. But, The New York Times has failed to mention the incident at all. How long will "the paper of record" be silent? So far, it's been 12 days.