First Door on the Left

This is the kind of thing for which the righties are becoming famous. It’s right out of the Karl Rove playbook.

Yesterday on Power Line, John Hinderaker posted the following:

Yesterday, Representative John Dingell of Michigan appeared on a Detroit television program along with Republican Candice Miller. They discussed the crisis in Lebanon; Dingell proclaimed himself neutral. “I don’t take sides for or against Hezbollah; I don’t take sides for or against Israel.” Asked, “You’re not against Hezbollah?” Dingell answers, “No…”

From reading that, you would come away with the impression the Representative John Dingell of Michigan (who, by the way, is a Democrat) is rooting for Hezbollah. However, note the ellipsis after the word “No” at the end of the paragraph. Rep. Dingell said more after he said “no,” but Mr. Hinderacker of Power Line cuts the sentence at that point.

Thanks to the folks at Think Progress, we are able to view the entire transcript of the conversation.

DINGELL: First of all, our problem is that we must be a fair and honest broker and a friend to all parties. The resolution didn’t make us that. We have to have the trust of both of the people of Israel and the people of the Arab countries around it, in order to help resolve the problem. If we don’t, the possibilities of regional war, calamitous situation with regard to israel which has 5 million people amidst a billion and a half Arabs are a real potential for calamity. Having said at that, what we have to do is to see to it that finally we begin to address the problems that exist to abate the difficulties that are preventing a– a honest solution to the problem and a negotiated end. It takes– it takes a lot of work to get the trust that it takes to do this. The resolution did not instill that kind of trust and the end result would be quite frankly, the real solution to the problems that exist in the middle east would probably have been and probably will be put off.

ANCHOR: Overall majority of your colleagues didn’t see it that way and some would suggest that if– even though there are obviously a lot of issues with Lebanon and with Palestinian cause wrapped up in this, that this largely boils down to israel against Hezbollah and Hezbollah is a group that the United States has deemed a terrorist organization, that there’s only one side for the Americans to come down on in this fight.

DINGELL: Well, we don’t, first of all, I don’t take sides for or against Hezbollah or for or against Israel.

ANCHOR: You’re not against Hezbollah?

DINGELL: No, I happen to be — I happen to be against violence, I think the United States has to bring resolution to this matter. Now, I condemn Hezbollah as does everybody else, for the violence, but I think if we’ve got to talk to them and if we don’t — if we don’t get ourselves in a position where we can talk to both sides and bring both sides together, the killing and the blood let is going to continue.

Note the last paragraph. Mr. Hinderaker of Power Line does not quote beyond the first word. This is either blatant dishonesty or Mr. Hinderacker does not believe the righties in his audience have the attention span required to read beyond the first word. I’d probably opt for the former.

This is but one example of why you cannot believe a word of what the righties say or write. Their goal is to destroy this country, and they will stop at nothing… up to and including misquoting members of the House of Representatives… to accomplish that goal.

Update: It turns out that Hinderaker lifted his post, practically verbatim and without attribution, from Erick at RedState. Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

Update II: John Hinderaker just does not know when to quit. To further prove his lack of any credibility whatsoever, he has now posted this on his site:

I see now that the very silly far-left site “Think Progress” criticized me for posting an excerpt from Dingell’s appearance. The excerpt was emailed to me by a reader; I considered the possibility that it might be misleading because of something that came before or after. I concluded, however, that Dingell had plainly declared himself neutral between the state of Israel and the terrorist group Hezbollah, and that nothing that preceded or followed could change that disgusting fact. The longer excerpt posted by the loons at “Think Progress” confirms that I was right.

Actually, John, it proves just the opposite. Nowhere in the excerpt that you posted does it state that Representative Dingell condemns Hezbollah (as he does). Nowhere in the longer excerpt posted by Think Progress does it state that he condemns Israel (he does not). Your claim that Mr. Dingel “declared himself neutral” is just plain ludicrous. And to think that your parents wasted all that money on law school!