September 1, 2017

The Washington Examiner's Sarah Westwood knows exactly what she has to do to have a seat next to Hallie Jackson on MSNBC.

Lie about Republicans. (or if she really wants to hide the lie, say "conservatives.")

Slip in a nod to Democrats.

Then say "both sides!"

SARAH WESTWOOD: There's been a lot of lessons to be learned from Sandy. Conservatives argue that Democrats filled the bill with funding for pork, funding for projects not related to the storm, Democrats accused Republicans of demanding spending cuts as something that slowed down the process unnecessarily.

Yeah, Sarah, except only one of those arguments is actually TRUE. We have video of Mike Pence arguing for spending cuts to offset Hurricane Sandy spending. Republicans actually did that.

The "full of pork" argument was a Ted Cruz lie. Even Chris Christie said so, and as Heather noted earlier today, the LA Times has debunked that talking point:

According to an incredibly detailed analysis performed in 2013 by the Congressional Research Service, virtually every cent of the Sandy relief bill was related to damage from that storm.

But being accurate is not Sarah's tee vee job, people! See if you can figure out what she is paid to come on television and say:

WESTWOOD: And so I think that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, and if there's one overarching lesson to be learned, it's that if you politicize the funding in any way, it's a problem, AND the White House has not ruled out tying it to something controversial, like the debt ceiling, a continuing resolution, something that could gum up the wheels a little bit.

samuel_l_jackson_controversial

Holding hurricane funding or the debt ceiling or the children's health insurance program hostage in order to get Trump's stupid racist wall or his recession-inducing tax cuts for billionaires isn't "controversial," Sarah.

"Whoops, we're out of time." And Sarah Westwood did just what the suits at MSNBC required of her.

The media is broken. And cable news smashed it.

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