The Associated Press is taking a page from the McClatchy playbook: taking as fact the unsupported allegation of one party to an incident.
The scene of the incident was a meeting of the Dallas County Commissioner Court, at which many citizens attended to complain about the dismissal of the elections administrator. One such attendee named Jeff Turner referred to Commissioner John Price (who happens to be black) as the “chief mullah of Dallas County.”
As I’m sure any reader of this blog knows, the mullahs are the unaccountable religious leaders in the Islamic theocracy of Iran. It’s a strange insult in context, but one without any racial implications.
John Price didn’t see it that way. Price thought Turner had said “chief moolah”. Price claims that “moolah” is a racial slur against black people. It is not, as far as I can tell, but after some googling I believe Price confused the word “moolah” with “moolie”, which is an obscure racial slur in Italian slang.
The incident culminated in Price dismissing the complaints, saying “All of you are white. Go to hell.” Price, incidentally, is a piece of work. He previously gained notoriety by taking offense at the term “black hole” (he says it’s racist), and he has a long history of assaults (although he always manages to get acquitted of the most serious charges).
When the Associated Press reported the story, they accepted Price’s version as fact, reporting that Turner called him “chief moolah” (false) and that “moolah” is a racial slur (also false):
Note that the AP’s bogus history of “moolah” as a racial slur is cribbed from Price’s press release. The local CBS affiliate later corrected its story as to what Turner said, but has yet to correct its description of “moolah” as a racial slur.
This, it seems, is how the Associated Press reports a controversy now: Pick one party and report his side, and don’t bother checking any facts. Moreover, the party they picked to support is the one who said “All of you are white. Go to hell.” Nice work, AP.
(Via Patterico.)
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