Fact-Checking

My Northern Alliance pal Saint Paul tripped across some dubious fact-checking in this excellent piece on the Strib's whizzing on Ronald Reagan's grave (Strib quote italicized):

"He was a good President who stood up for the people,"said hospice-care nurse Lisa Gibson, 38, while waiting at the bus stop at Glenwood and Morgan Avs.

Gibson said she voted for Reagan twice but understands why others are uncomfortable with the ongoing coverage. "The country's already in mourning over poverty, no jobs, and the new recession," Gibson said.

She claims to be 38 years old and to have voted for Reagan twice. Paul Levy wrote it and the editors printed it. It's in the newspaper, so it has to be true, right?

Wrong! (said John McLaughlin voice). According to my sources (the 26h Amendment to the US Constitution), you have to be 18 years old to vote in this country. And in 1980, during Reagan's first candidacy, Ms. Gibson would have been 14 years old! It would be impossible for her to have voted for Reagan twice.

But there it is, in black-and-white (again, you'll have to dig out your hard copies from Saturday to see it for yourself, as it's been stricken from the Web site).

How does this lazy reporting get into the paper?

Saint is right: Ms. Gibson is either lying about her age, or her voting record.

I'm 41. I missed the 1980 election by about a month; I turned 18 about three weeks after Reagan won his election. Just as well - chowderhead that I was, I was more likely to vote for John Anderson than anyone else.

Read the whole Fraters piece (assuming you're not one of the large group that comes from there to here in the first place...)

Posted by Mitch at June 14, 2004 01:50 PM