It shouldn’t surprise anyone that, amid the ongoing battle for Speaker of the House and what can only be called infighting among the Republican Party, the political left and its allies would jump on even the smallest chance to make this into an advantage for them.
Case and point is the recent story that unfolded on Thursday about North Carolina Representative and GOP member Dan Bishop. Bishop is one of 20 conservatives who have blocked the supposed shoo-in for the seat, Kevin McCarthy, from attaining the speakership.
And so when Bishop made comments about his lack of faith in McCarthy and his wishes that someone else is instated as Speaker of the House, liberal-backed media outlets didn’t hesitate to take those words and attempt to use them against the lawmaker.
The stories that resulted from several of these outlets were that should McCarthy actually win his bid for Pelosi’s recently vacated seat, Bishop would resign.
Roll Call said that Bishop had made comments saying, “We’re going to either see improvement up here the same way we made remarkable improvements in North Carolina in the state legislature, or I’m out.” He was noted to add that he’s willing to resign because he’s “older than the average bear” and ‘not going to stay up here for decades.”
Naturally, other outlets took this supposed story and ran with it, claiming that Bishop had “threatened to resign” should the speakership be given to McCarthy.
Hell, even Fox News wrote a piece on the topic. They also claimed that Bishop was a “never Kevin,” as those opposed to him have recently been labeled by the left.
But in reality, this is not at all what Bishop had said. And he and his staff made sure to clear the air just hours after the stories began to pop up everywhere.
In a tweeted response to Fox’s article, Bishop wrote, “This story is incorrect. I said nothing of the kind – I will serve my term with all the force and vigor in me.”
Next, he made sure to add what he had actually said.
His communications brief, Allie McCandless, also made sure to correct the story, adding that the initial reporter had clearly and “purposefully misconstrued the full quote.”
She pointed out that the lawmaker had indeed said that he was “older than the average bear” and therefore was determined not to spend his whole life in that office. However, it didn’t mean that his term would be cut short or even that if he didn’t get the results he wanted that we would quit.
McCandless said, “if we *eventually* can’t get the necessary changes to the institution,” Bishop may “shorten his planned tenure.”
I’m pretty sure this is the likely outlook most Congressional members have on their future. They come to Washington to make changes for our nation and their state, sometimes very specific ones. And either when those changes are made or when it’s clear they will never be, they move on to a different role.
That is unless you’re just a power-hungry liberal intent on keeping your power for as long as possible.
This shouldn’t be news to anyone.
Also pointed out was the fact that Bishop never said he was a “never Kevin.”
And just like that, the fake news was proved as just that.
Then again, most outlets were unwilling to admit their wrongs. Instead, they merely added to their articles saying that Bishop had denied their claims.
But that’s media for you, isn’t it? At least nowadays. Gone are the days when an outlet would apologize and walk back their words. Rather, the usual now is this blatant arrogance and lies. It’s up to us to hold them accountable.
