National Review covered Salon’s hit piece on Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK), which tried to accuse him of lying about his military record.
But there’s a small part in the National Review article that should drive everyone mad.
At Salon, Roger Sollenberger claimed that completing Ranger School does not make one an actual Ranger. He also insisted that the military agrees with him. I emphasized the important part:
In his first run for Congress, Cotton leaned heavily on his military service, claiming to have been “a U.S. Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan,” and, in a campaign ad, to have “volunteered to be an Army Ranger.” In reality, Cotton was never part of the 75th Ranger Regiment, the elite unit that plans and conducts joint special military operations as part of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.Rather, Cotton attended the Ranger School, a two-month-long, small-unit tactical infantry course that literally anyone in the military is eligible to attend. Soldiers who complete the course earn the right to wear the Ranger tab — a small arch that reads “Ranger” — but in the eyes of the military, that does not make them an actual Army Ranger.
Newsweek jumped on Salon’s back with its own article about Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) telling Cotton that he wasn’t a Ranger if he didn’t wear the 75th Ranger Regiment beret.
Someone better put Crow in touch with retired Command sergeant major Rick Merritt because he said he knew of plenty of Rangers who served in other regiments.
Caroline Tabler, Cotton’s communications director, told National Review that his office contacted Newsweek about the Crow article because of an article it published in 2015.
That Newsweek article told everyone about how Shaye Haver and Kristen Griest became the first females to graduate from Ranger school. The media identified these women as Rangers.
Newsweek issued a celebratory article in 2015. The opening sentence (emphasis mine):
For the first time in the Army Ranger School’s 64-year history, two women have completed the intense training program and will become Rangers.
Newsweek acknowledged Haver and Griest as Rangers even though they could not join the 75th Ranger Regiment because it “does not allow female Rangers.”
Instead of saying, “My bad!” Newsweek decided to edit the 2015 article:
For the first time in the Army Ranger School’s 64-year history, two women have completed the intense training program and will be allowed to wear the coveted Ranger tab on their uniforms.
Wait! It gets better! Newsweek added this blurb at the bottom:
Correction: This article has been changed to note that completion of the course allows one to wear the Ranger tab, but does not make one a Ranger.
Excuse me?!
Fuzzy wrote about The Washington Post deleting part of a 2019 profile on then-Sen. Kamala Harris because she mocked prisoners begging for food.
WaPo added it back in after the backlash, but still.
I see people complain about others using Orwell to describe these situations. Yes, 1984 was about a totalitarian government and not supposed private companies.
But since the media has taken such a liking to Democrats, I say yes, you can describe this situation as Orwellian. The Democrats do not even have to ask the media!
Will there be more of this?
How long before the media just up and changes everything without acknowledging a “correction” or an explanation.
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