(not quite) BREAKING NEWS: REPUBLICAN BLOGGER DISTORTS OBAMA RALLY TURNOUT
February 5th, 2008 3:38 pm by DJ DanielsonOn AM 1280 “The Patriot” Saturday, Minnesota Democrats Exposed kingpin Michael Brodkorb said the following at about 3:30 p.m. during his show “the Final Word”:
“I just wanna report that, uh, Target Center was reported to be sold out for Barack Obama’s event and all indications there are liberal blogs out there are reporting that the event is only 1/3rd full. So as the Republican Party of Minnesota has labeled Barack Obama the audacity of hype”…”Hype was that this place was going to be sold out there were going to be thousands and thousands and thousands of people crying in the streets because they couldn’t get into the Target Center.”
I left a comment over at MDE and asked Mr. Brodkorb the following three questions.
1) Why do you always cite the generalization “liberal blogs” as your source for something what could be from one blog or many blogs instead of citing the specific place?
2) Which of the “liberal blogs” was it from which you grabbed this statistic?
3) Was there any additional context presented by these “liberal blogs” when this statistic was cited?
Brodkorb has yet to reply.
During my liveblog of the Obama rally, at 2:09 p.m. I stated the “lower bowl was about 1/3rd full.” At this stage of the doors had been open for barely 30 minutes. Sen. Obama did not take the stage for another two hours.
Was it this very blog Brodkorb was citing on the air? We will never know as it appears “the cat got his tounge.” If it was though, by citing IDHA listeners could have came here and picked up the additional context.
And no, I wasn’t just referring to Ron Carey as a…nevermind.
As someone who often rips on other bloggers for “being sloppy” and for not citing sources, I would advise Brodkorb to look in the mirror!
February 5th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I’m really confused by your post, as I had Zach from MN Publius on as a guest to report on Obama’s event. He reported on my show that the event was packed and that over 20,000 people attended. I wasn’t at the event, so during the first portion of the show, I was limited to blog reports and emails from readers of Minnesota Democrats Exposed.
February 5th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Michael, that was how long, 75 minutes later you had Zach on?
The context in which you presented these “blog reports” was that of “Oh, golly gee, Obama was only able to fill the Target Center 1/3rd full when it was supposed to be sold out. That Obama crowd, what a bunch of hype-mongering carnies!” when in reality the context should have been “After the doors have been open 35 minutes, the lower bowl is about 1/3rd full with huge lines outside waiting to pack the place”
I argue your choice to not elaborate on why the place was 1/3rd when you mentioned it is attributed to sloppiness.
February 5th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
DJ: I guess my mistake was reporting on information from your blog. I won’t make that mistake twice. Once again, I had Zach from MN Publius on the radio and he reported that the Target Center was full. The entire show was wasn’t dedicated to tracking the attendance at the Target Center. I wanted an update on the Obama event and I appreciated Zach coming on the show to report on the attendance.
February 5th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
No, that wasn’t your mistake. Reporting the information without the context was.