Press Secretary Sean Spicer gave a rather impassioned first meet and greet with reporters when he came out visibly upset and stated:
"... one was a particular egregious example in which a reporter falsely tweeted out that the bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. had been removed from the Oval Office. After it was pointed out that this was just plain wrong, the reporter casually reported and tweeted out and tried to claim that a Secret Service agent must have just been standing in front of it. This was irresponsible and reckless."
The above was the main reason Spicer was upset, but the popular narrative was that he was mad about the crowd size controversy only. That's simply not the case. I don't blame him and others for being upset about either one, however. The media knows what impact saying something, anything to make Trump look racist, will have and the person who tweeted it out, Zeke Miller, was forced to make a rather tepid apology. But the fake news didn't end there. There was of course the crowd size, here is what Spicer said:
"... secondly, photographs of the inaugural proceedings were intentionally framed in a way, in one particular tweet, to minimize the enormous support that had gathered on the National Mall. This was the first time in our nation's history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass on the Mall. That had the effect of highlighting any areas where people were not standing, while in years past the grass eliminated this visual. This was also the first time that fencing and magnetometers went as far back on the Mall, preventing hundreds of thousands of people from being able to access the Mall as quickly as they had in inaugurations past."
This was true. I was actually headed down there with my daughter but had to turn around because of the moronic Antifa people who were tearing up the town. I was listening to the radio halfway there when I caught word about violence, fires beings lit and flash bangs being employed. Many couldn't make it to the lawn, because people were blocked from entering. Back to the press briefing. Sean mentioned something else:
"We know that 420,000 people used the D.C. Metro public transit yesterday, which actually compares to 317,000 that used it for President Obama's last inaugural. This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration -- period -- both in person and around the globe."
For one, notice he said Obama's LAST inauguration, not the first one. Yet, the media made it sound like he was referring to 2009. Secondly, Sean said, "both in person and around the globe." Given social media and other coverage not present in 2009, the Trump inauguration most likely was the most seen around the globe. But that's not how it was portrayed. The media even showed side by side pictures. What they didn't tell you was the time was different; the Trump Inauguration photo was taken before everybody was able to get on the Mall.
Here is a photo of what it actually looked like later in the day from the Capitol:
This is was the genesis of the whole Kellyanne Conway brouhaha when she spoke with Chuck Todd about "alternative facts." Chucks' premise was that Spicer was lying, when in fact he wasn't. Spicer may have been incorrect about when the white tarp was used to protect the grass, but otherwise he was essentially correct. The American Thinker mentioned the validity of the legal term "alternative facts" as such:
"Of particular note is the clause “provided there was plausible evidence to support both alternatives.” In other words, two points of view may differ and still both be truthful."
The piece went on to say:
"In conclusion, when Chuck Todd upbraids Kellyanne Conway with the claim that “alternative facts are not facts; they’re falsehoods,” he is not only wrong, but propagating an ignorance born out of lazy and shallow thinking. But this is not surprising, really, since when it comes to telling half-truths, or presenting alternative facts, the liberal mainstream press is more notoriously guilty than any other group currently out there."
No, not surprising at all.
Sources:
1. http://thehill.com/homenews/media/315486-trump-attacks-time-report-for-mistake-about-mlk-bust
2. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/transcript-press-secretary-sean-spicer-media-233979
3. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/02/alternative_facts_a_common_legal_term.html
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