More Fake News from NBC – Andrea Mitchell called Snipes a Republican, when in fact she is a Democrat
It’s one thing to misidentify a public figure’s political affiliation offhandedly during a broader discussion on something relatively bipartisan or, at the very least, not explicitly red-versus-blue. The mistake can always be chalked up to a minor, negligible slip-up.
It’s another thing entirely to make this sort of error in service of a broader narrative that suggests a certain party is guilty of partisan, unethical, hypocritical, or potentially illegal behavior. And this is exactly what NBC’s Andrea Mitchell did this week when she claimed falsely that the woman at the center of the Florida Senate and gubernatorial recounts is a registered Republican.
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“We should also point out that Brenda Snipes in Broward County is a Republican, appointed by a former governor, then-Gov. Jeb Bush,” said Mitchell during a segment on the recount efforts spearheaded by Democratic Senate incumbent Bill Nelson and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum.
NBC’s chief foreign affairs correspondent continued, saying, “So [Snipes] was put in by a Republican governor after the mess that we all remember from 2000. And she’s hardly a Democratic official or someone doing the bidding of the Democratic candidates there.”
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Again, if it were just a small mistake, it’d be exactly that: A small mistake. But Mitchell claiming Snipes is a Republican furthers a broader narrative that suggests the recount efforts are on the up-and-up and that any conservative who says otherwise is actually battling his own team. It’s as if to say, “Hey, even Republicans think this recount episode is legitimate!” That’s not a small mistake. That’s a major falsehood that helps advance a partisan storyline.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/a-pretty-big-florida-recount-screw-up-from-nbcs-andrea-mitchell