I am not a difficult person to please. If you're going to write about me or quote me in a story, all I ask is that you get the facts right and report accurately what I said - without editorial comments that presume to explain to the reader what I really meant.
Because what I really meant was what I really said.
But sadly this is a difficult thing to find in our modern day media, which is why I was so happily astonished to see the fair and accurate work Patricia Murphy did in reporting my recent comments about Ben Carson for the Daily Beast:
Speaking about their Carson coverage, Cain called Politico “sneaky” and “dirty" for writing that Carson had admitted to “fabricating” a story in his book Gifted Hands, in which Carson said he had been offered a scholarship to West Point. The Carson campaign said that he had never applied to West Point, but called the story “a flat out lie.” Politico later changed the story’s headline and added an editor’s note with more details from the Carson camp.
“Clearly Ben Carson did not lie,” Cain said. “Politico lied because they said he fabricated a story, when in fact, they fabricated a headline. At this point I think that Ben is winning this round.”
But reporters have continued to repeat Politico’s original report and go on to question Carson’s accuracy on a number of details in Gifted Hands. Cain says that Carson has handled the controversies well, but that there is a larger dynamic at play in Washington journalism and politics.
“Ben Carson is not only a conservative, he is a conservative who happens to be black. There is only one group of people that liberals hate worse than conservatives, and that’s conservatives who happen to be black,” Cain said. “The reason for that is real simple. They resent conservatives who happen to be black for leaving the Democrat plantation. And you can quote me on that.”
Ms. Murphy did exactly what a good journalist should do. She quoted me accurately and told the story fairly. She did not lavish praise on me, nor should she. That's not her job. It's just to let the facts and the accurately reported quotes tell the story, and that's what she did.
I suppose it shouldn't be so remarkable that a journalist simply does his or her job correctly that it's worthy of kudos when it happens, but sadly that is the media world in which we live - and I'm sure Ms. Murphy's colleagues are disappointed that she didn't "nail" me in some way, or add "analysis" that would slant the story.
So thank you, Patricia Murphy, for being fair and doing your job well. We respect that sort of thing around here.
I am not a difficult person to please. If you're going to write about me or quote me in a story, all I ask is that you get the facts right and report accurately what I said - without editorial comments that presume to explain to the reader what I really meant.
Because what I really meant was what I really said.
