Unbelievable news about Sarah Palin

Unbelievable, because the majority of mainstream media reporting on Palin lacks credibility and even the most basic fact-checking. You know this just by watching, reading and listening (unless you’re distinctly anti-Palin and enjoy this attack campaign), and one of the surest signs is how frequently accusations are picked up from one critic and re-run over and over, by big-name journalists, using the exact same language.

Two professors did just a bit of actual research and turned up the clearest revelation yet. 

The Left’s nastiness toward Gov. Sarah Palin is quite appalling, even given the usual ugly character assassination we have come to expect from liberals. That has been especially true regarding Palin’s family, particularly her choice to bring to term a baby with Down Syndrome.

Within that, there is a particularly nasty tack. The Left, including its mainstream-news sources, are alleging that Palin, as governor of Alaska, “slashed” funding for Special Olympics — as well as a myriad of other notable charitable causes — from the Alaska budget. The strategy is to frame Palin as a hypocrite, one who chose life for her own son, and claims to support government funding for special-needs programs, but as a state official worked to do just the opposite.

They give a rundown of names, dates and news outlets….just to name a few.

As far as we can tell, the Special Olympics claim was first made in the September 6 edition of the bible of the Left, the New York Times, where Jennifer Steinhauer and Amy Harmon reported, “According to state documents, she cut the state’s Special Olympics budget in half.” Then came an Associated Press piece on September 9, in which a writer in the Atlanta bureau wrote, “During her few years as governor, she vetoed $275,000 for Alaska’s Special Olympics — half the amount being sought.” From there, the story became more twisted and mangled.

Margaret Carlson, September 11 (and again on the 18th), Bloomberg News. Linton Weeks, Sep. 12, NPR (quoting not any real source in, say, Alaska, but another news reporter, Palin critic Sue Libenson).

And…

The myth shows no sign of dying. To the contrary, it is gaining momentum, as shown in the reporting of Keith Olbermann on MSNBC on September 17. Olbermann noted Palin’s claim that she increased funding for special-needs kids. But there’s a “problem,” reported Olbermann: “As the chief executive up north, she vetoed $275,000, crossed it out, of the state funding for the Special Olympics. She cut the Special Olympics budget in half and is campaigning as an advocate for special-needs kids. That’s pretty sick.

There is ‘sick’ behavior going on, alright. But exactly where?

Liberal blogs are piling on to the rumor bandwagon, but so are other mainstream media. Al Hunt passed the tired and worn rumor along in an op-ed piece, which is just amazing how these lies and distortions are given that kind of credibility.

As we write, opposition researchers are going through Alaska budgets looking for more “cuts” in funding. What’s the truth?

That’s the ‘money line’ in the piece. What’s the truth?

That question used to drive journalists in their daily work. But since it no longer does, intelligent people willing to do a little research are pursuing the truth, thankfully.

The confusion stems from a failure — or refusal — to understand the difference between cutting funding and declining to increase funding to the requested degree. In a cut, you get less money; with a denied raise you get at least as much as you got before. This is not the first time liberals have abused these terms for political purposes.

Last year, the state of Alaska gave the Special Olympics $250,000. This year, the Alaska legislature requested $550,000 for Special Olympics, which would have constituted a 120 percent increase. It is typical, of course, for advocates to submit impossibly high budget requests, even during budget crunches, in the hopes of getting whatever they can. This is understood by anyone who has ever run an organization or prepared a budget that requires legislative or executive approval.
 
Gov. Palin denied the request, but not completely: She reduced it to a 10-percent raise, approving a gift of $275,000. A 10 percent raise during tough times is very good, as any employee in America would quickly attest. For most employees, a raise of 3 to 4 percent is a good raise.

In other words, not only did Palin not cut funding, she actually raised it — just not as much as some would have liked.

See the difference? But that’s not all…

As a further check into the context of the 2008 raise, we went back to the 2005 budget. For that year, the Special Olympics received only $125,000. We also reviewed the Special Olympics 990 form for 2006, which shows that the group received over $1.8 million in revenues that year; thus, the organization gets the vast majority of its money from sources other than the state.

These numbers are straightforward. This information is easily accessible on the state of Alaska and Guidestar websites, and took us about 30 minutes to find. In other words, two professors at a little college in Western Pennsylvania have been left to do the simple research that America’s top news organizations — scrambling all over Alaska to dig up information on Gov.Palin — have ignored or, worse, abused.

It doesn’t get much clearer than that.