Every now and then there is just one of those mainstream media moments which points out how false narratives are created.
This time it’s a story from CBS Boston titled Gingrich Left ‘Speechless’ By Young Voter’s ‘Old People’ Question (h/t reader punfundit in the Tip Line). Here’s the pertinent section, with the bold italics added by Mike Toole, the CBS reporter:
“I would like to know what hope I have as a hard-working, young individual, what change will you actually accomplish in Washington? What can be done in eight years that will affect the life that I have yet to live, that you have already lived?”That drew more laughter and applause from the crowd.“You know, there are moments in this business where I’m just left speechless,” Gingrich said.What do you think? Are politics just for ‘old people’?
CBS Boston provides audio cutting off right after “I’m just left speechless.”
The story has spread far and wide how Gingrich could not answer a question posed by a young voter.
There’s just one problem. The story is misleading. Right after the exchange quoted by CBS Boston, Gingrich answered the question, via The Concord Monitor:
After the crowd settled down, Gingrich gave an answer a student might have heard decades ago when he was teaching history at West Georgia College.”Let me suggest to you that if we had this meeting in 1859, a young person might have asked that question, and it wouldn’t have occurred to them that in two years they would be volunteering for the Union and Confederate armies and that more Americans would die in the following four years than all of our other wars combined,” Gingrich said to a sober, silent audience.What did Davies think?He’ll probably vote for Gingrich, he said in an interview after the event.
Reuters also reported that Gingrich answered the question:
“There are moments in this business where I am just left speechless,” said Gingrich, before going on to explain why most political issues, such as the threat of a nuclear Iran and crippling student loans, were not just an “old person’s concern.”
(video added)
That’s right folks, the question which left Newt “speechless” and which caused CBS Boston to ask if politics only was for old people actually was answered by Newt and convinced the young voter to vote for Newt.
I have sent a tweet to Toole asking for a correction. I’ll keep you posted.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY