Post by robeiae on Apr 24, 2021 8:21:42 GMT -5
Tim Scott--Repub Senator from South Carolina--likes to tell his family history, on occasion. He likes to talk about his grandfather picking cotton, and about how he grew up poor, yet managed to make it to the US Senate. Typical politician bootstrap stories, really. As with AOC's tales, and those of most every other successful politician, there's probably some stretching in there, somewhere. Who cares, though? Apparently, WaPo fact-checker extraordinaire Glenn Kessler cares, very deeply:
Kessler searches for "truth" by digging through census and death regards to tell an incomplete story about Scott's family. But Kessler isn't even sure he's got the right people:
What is this, Ancestry dot com?
Anyway, Kessler goes on an on, using census records, making assumptions, all in the name of showing what, exactly? Kessler's conlcusion:
So...there's nothing verifiably false or true in what Scott is saying--based on some super-basic research--but WaPo is going to run the piece anyway, so that we all might learn what, exactly? Nothing, from what I can see. After reading Kessler's piece, I'm not enlightened. The only point I see to it is that it lets Kessler throw some shade Scott's way on twitter, by running a tweet that suggests he has some dirt on Scott when he's really got absolutely nothing.
Question: would Kessler run the same story about a Dem? Would he run the same sort of story about a white person?
Kessler searches for "truth" by digging through census and death regards to tell an incomplete story about Scott's family. But Kessler isn't even sure he's got the right people:
Notwithstanding inconsistencies in the ages listed, we believe we located Lawrence Ware, who was born in 1861, in the 1870 census and the 1880 census. His father, who is listed as not being able to read or write, was a farmer and Lawrence is listed as a field hand in the 1880 census. When we fast forward to the 1910 census, Lawrence Ware is recorded as owning his ow n farm and a home without a mortgage. He is able to read and write. He and his wife have nine children, including Willie Ware, Scott’s great-grandfather.
Anyway, Kessler goes on an on, using census records, making assumptions, all in the name of showing what, exactly? Kessler's conlcusion:
Scott’s “cotton to Congress” line is missing some nuance, but we are not going to rate his statements. To some extent, Scott may be relying on the memories of his grandfather, not a detailed examination of records.
Question: would Kessler run the same story about a Dem? Would he run the same sort of story about a white person?
