Kathy Tran desperately needed some good PR Thursday in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding her radical abortion law proposal, and when a Twitter post of hers failed to persuade people, a familiar Democrat-friendly source swooped in to try and save the day.
The Virginia Democratic Delegate reactivated her Twitter account Thursday morning to address the “misinformation” being spread about “The Repeal Act”, which would significantly loosen restrictions on third trimester abortions and make access to them much easier:
Her attempt at providing “the facts” didn’t go over so well.
Just a few hours after that tweet was posted, the Washington Post published their own spin on Tran’s week. It painted a glowing picture of a first-term legislator: a good person and hard-working mom who is just misunderstood. The first several paragraphs were on how she wished she had been better prepared and had not “misspoke” (note: she didn’t).
Antonio Olivo went on to write:
An edited video of Tran’s testimony was circulated and went viral on social media, leading some on Twitter to call Tran a “baby killer” or “a demonic creature.” Asked about the incident by the Daily Caller, Trump said he had seen the video and called Tran’s testimony “terrible.”
Stop, stop, stop. The “edited video” note the mainstream media slides into articles about videos released to the public by conservatives and Republicans make you think the video is deliberately deceptive (note that you didn’t see them play this trick in the initial coverage about the Covington Catholic controversy where the edited video was purposely deceptive, natch).
Video edits happen all the time, especially in broadcast news. Sometimes video edits are deliberately misleading, sometimes they’re not. But you’ll never hear a broadcast media journalist say, “in our next edited video segment…”
Besides, several videos were circulated of Tran from that day speaking about her legislation. Some were short clips under a minute, and some went over 6 minutes. Her comments were not taken out of context.
Olivo then reported, after numerous edits that substantially lengthened the piece, on how Tran and her family were receiving death threats in the aftermath of the backlash, which is not a good thing. Tran was quoted as talking about how difficult it was to have conversations with her elementary-school-aged children about why they needed extra security.
The article really veered off the rails after it explained a little bit about why Tran’s proposal was so controversial.
It read like it was lifted right off of a press release from Tran’s office, and it included three large photos of Tran holding her infant daughter while on the campaign trail and in her legislative office:
The first Asian American woman to win a seat in the Virginia House, Tran came to the United States as a Vietnam boat refugee in the 1970s, when she was an infant, according to her campaign website.[…]In 2017, she ran for the seat being vacated by retiring delegate Dave Albo (R-Fairfax). She says she decided to seek public office after realizing that her fourth baby was due on the day that Trump would be inaugurated as president of the United States.Tran campaigned on a platform that includes creating more opportunities for immigrants, equal pay for women and expanding Medicaid in Virginia, beating Republican Lolita Mancheno-Smoak by 22 points. She often brought her infant, Elise, doorknocking with her, strapped in a carrier that she wore on her chest.Once in Richmond, Tran drew attention for nursing Elise — by then a year old — on the House floor. She and Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy (D-Prince William) worked with first lady Pam Northam to establish lactation rooms inside the Capitol and started an informal “parents’ caucus” to help members — male or female — deal with the tricky issues of raising young children while serving in the legislature.
And let’s not forget about the (final) headline, which read:
Del. Kathy Tran was known for nursing her baby on the House floor. Now she’s getting death threats over abortion.
She’s “known for nursing her baby on the House floor.” She campaigned frequently while carrying her infant child. Her children’s safety is her top priority. She made the decision to run for office when she realized her was fourth baby was due on the day of Trump’s inauguration. She helped establish lactation rooms in the Capitol and started an informal “parents’ caucus.”
WaPo wants you to know that Tran is a caring, compassionate mother who likes to help fellow parents who are also serving in the state legislature. She has your best interests at heart. She couldn’t have meant anything bad by her pro- third trimester abortion “Repeal Act”, y’all. She’s just misunderstood, and we should believe her because she says so.
Lastly, not a single Republican opponent of the bill was featured in the piece to provide a counterpoint.
I almost wish the mainstream media would just stick to not covering these stories at all if all we’re going to get out of them are fluff-pieces that read more like “getting to know you” articles that completely gloss over the issue at hand.
Come on, Washington Post. Be better.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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