Palin to AP: It's 'Ground Zero mosque'

There's a theme developing today. It's the way the right wing think that repeating something - even if it's factually incorrect - will eventually make that thing true.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) called out The Associated Press on Twitter Thursday for its decision to avoid the term "Ground Zero mosque" in its coverage.

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Palin's tweet then continued with a shot at The Associated Press.

"(Note to AP: GZM term)," she said, emphasizing her use of "Ground Zero mosque" to refer to the project.

The AP had directed its staff in a memo earlier in the day not to use the term.

"The site of the proposed Islamic center and mosque is not at ground zero, but two blocks away in a busy commercial area," wrote Tom Kent, the AP's deputy managing editor for standards and production. "We should continue to say it's 'near' ground zero, or two blocks away."

No matter how many times Palin and others repeat the term Ground Zero Mosque, they can't actually move the mosque from where it stands, two blocks away from Ground Zero.

But they continue to insist, against all the facts, that the mosque be referred to in this way.

We saw this nonsense during the McCain/Palin campaign in 2008. What astonished me during that campaign wasn't that McCain and Palin told lies, as that happens during campaigns, everyone can be guilty of exaggerating to make their point. But usually, when called out on a lie, the candidate obviously never withdraws the lie, but they also never repeat it. They simply move on as if it had never been said.

McCain and Palin's campaign was unusual in that they continued to repeat lies long after they had been publicly exposed as lies.

McCain's lies have ranged from the annoying to the sleazy, and the problem is in both degree and kind. His campaign has been a ceaseless assault on his opponent's character and policies, featuring a consistent—and witting—disdain for the truth. Even after 38 million Americans heard Obama say in his speech at the Democratic National Convention that he was open to offshore oil-drilling and building new nuclear-power plants, McCain flatly said in his acceptance speech that Obama opposed both. Normal political practice would be for McCain to say, "Obama says he's 'open to' offshore drilling, but he's always opposed it. How can we believe him?" This persistence in repeating demonstrably false charges is something new in presidential politics.

And now we have Palin insisting that the AP should continue to use a term which the AP know to be false.

Again, we see Palin insisting that her passion be a substitute for reality.

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Tags: Palin, Park 51, Ground Zero mosque