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Politics

Prof. Althouse Fisks the AP - and Hillary

by Clay Staggs

For those not familiar with the verb “to fisk”, it means to analyze a (typically absurd) written piece on the internet, ripping it to shreds logically, frequently line by line. I think it came from a bad writer whose last name was Fisk, whom other bloggers frequently held up to ridicule for factual errors, agenda journalism, poor logic, etc.

The fisking in this case is done by Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison Law Professor Ann Althouse, and can be found in its entirety here. The article being fisked is this one from the AP, which purports to analyze the performance of Hillary Clinton in yesterday’s hostage drama.

Here’s a key quote:

Afterwards, she [Clinton] used the occasion to make a show of her emotions (or did you think she was cold and mechanical). She said:

“It affected me not only because they were my staff members and volunteers, but as a mother, it was just a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, anger, everything at the same time.”

Is that what you want in a President? Someone who feels extra confusion because she’s a mother? … She probably wanted to make sure not to confirm the widely held belief that she’s unemotional, and, while she was at it, delight all the ladies out there who lap up emotional drivel.

Just a hunch, but I don’t think Prof. Althouse has much use for either the AP or Hillary.