Diane Sawyer Edits Two Different Statements to Make Rush Limbaugh Look Racist

ABC Morning host Diane Sawyer, must have been trying for a good grade in a Creative writing class. Today on her poorly rated early morning show she weighed in on the Rush Limbaugh "I hope he fails" controversy with creative editing . While interviewing Senator John McCain she "cut together" two different statements to make Rush Limbaugh look racist:

SAWYER: Another big issue in the news and out there on the internet, of course, is Rush Limbaugh who basically says that Republicans have got to take sides and here was the question that he posed. Here is the challenge he posed.

RUSH LIMBAUGH Clip: [From his show] I don't need 400 words. I need four. I hope he fails. [From A Fox News interview] We are being told that we have to hope he succeeds. Because his father was black. Because this is the first black president. We've got to accept this.

Nice going Diane. You are supposed to report the news not make it up. Both parts of the Rush clip were taken out of context. And together they look horrible, that is if your perception of Limbaugh, allows you to believe what Ms Sawyer put together.

More on the story below:

Rush Limbaugh Wants Obama to ‘Fail’ for Racial Reasons, ABC's Diane Sawyer Suggests
Monday, February 02, 2009
By Susan Jones, Senior Editor
– More than two weeks ago, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh told his radio listeners he hoped President Obama would fail in his attempt to advance liberal, socialist policies.

Since then, liberals -- including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and now ABC News -- have taken Limbaugh’s words out of context to suggest that Limbaugh was attacking the president personally.

On Monday morning, ABC’s “Good Morning America” gave Limbaugh’s “I hope he fails” comment a racial slant by editing it in a deliberately misleading way.

In an interview with Sen. John McCain on Monday, anchor Diane Sawyer described Limbaugh’s “I hope he fails” comment as “another big issue in the news.”

She then tossed to a sound bite comprised of two separate comments made five days apart, which ABC joined together. The edited comment made it sound like Limbaugh wants Obama to fail because he’s black.

Here’s the ABC version of Limbaugh’s comment:

Limbaugh: “I don’t need 400 words. I need four. I hope he fails.”
[Edit]
“We are being told that we have to hope he succeeds, because his father was black, because this is the first black president, we’ve got to accept this.”

“Good Morning America” took the first sentence from Limbaugh’s Jan. 16 radio program. The second sentence comes from Limbaugh’s January 21 appearance on Sean Hannity’s TV show. In the interview with Hannity, Limbaugh stressed that Obama’s race doesn’t matter to him, but his policies do.

Sawyer prods McCain

“So he says he hopes the Obama presidency fails,” Sawyer said at the end of the carefully edited sound bite on Monday. “What do you say to Rush Limbaugh?” she asked McCain, apparently hoping to prompt an internal Republican feud.

McCain, however, would not be drawn. He said he hopes that “all of us as Americans can succeed in getting a package that will get this economy going…”

In response to Sawyer’s second question about Rush Limbaugh (“Were you offended by what he said?”) McCain said only that he “respects” Limbaugh’s opinion on the “issues of the day.”

As CNSNews.com has reported, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last week ran an audio clip on its Web site that misrepresented what Limbaugh meant when he said on his Friday, Jan. 16 radio program that he wanted President Obama "to fail." The audio clip, as played by the DCCC, omitted a key sentence.

Here’s what Limbaugh actually said on his Jan. 16 radio program:

If I wanted Obama to succeed, I'd be happy the Republicans have laid down. And I would be encouraging Republicans to lay down and support him. Look, what he's talking about is the absorption of as much of the private sector by the U.S. government as possible, from the banking business, to the mortgage industry, the automobile business, to health care. I do not want the government in charge of all of these things. I don't want this to work. So I'm thinking of replying to the guy, "Okay, I'll send you a response, but I don't need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails.

Moment later, Limbaugh on that same Jan. 16 radio program, Limbaugh told his listeners that Obama’s “ideas and policies are what count for me, not his skin color, not his past, not whatever ties he doesn't have to being down with the struggle, all of that's irrelevant to me.”