So That’s What Viral Looks Like!
About 24 hours after my piece refuting Paul Ryan’s RNC speech went up on the Fox News website, I tweeted this:
Wow, Internet, thanks for an awesome 24 hours. Glad to know truth can go viral.
— Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) August 31, 2012
It appears that my article “Paul Ryan’s Speech in 3 Words” which I wrote for the Fox News website went viral. I’m still trying to keep up with it all, but here are some of the places where it’s been cited, shared, etc. All I can say is: Wow. And thanks.
And second, for the record, no I do not get paid for my writing for Fox News. So if you’re inclined and want to help keep me off the stripper poles in Tampa, feel free to make a tax-deductible donation via my fiscal sponsor the Grassroots Policy Project in order to support my work. I’d be grateful.
Here’s the clip from the Colbert Report:
The Atlantic Wire’s Serena Dai named by article one of the five best columns of the day, alongside the great Maureen Dowd and Bill Keller of the New York Times.
Reuter’s columnist and social media editor Anthony De Rosa tweeted:
The best thing you’ll read about
@paulryanvp‘s speech comes from@foxnews by@sallykohn fxn.ws/Txn1UY— Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) August 30, 2012
A Huffington Post story about my piece by Bonnie Kavoussi has so far been shared over 21,000 times and received over 10,000 comments. And there are a bunch of other stories just about my essay — in the Houston Chronicle, PolitiScoop, Daily Kos, Truthdig. Syndicated columnist Pat Cunningham wrote a blog post about my article that was posted on more city and small-town newspaper websites than I can count. And Michael Musto wrote about my column at the Village Voice.
Henry Blodget quoted me in his post about Ryan’s speech on Business Insider. So did Gabrielle Levy in a UPI story, Dylan Byers in Politico, Aviva Shen at ThinkProgress, Alex Hern in the New Statesman, Kevin Spak in Newser, Michael Arceneaux for NewsOne, John Aravos on AmericaBlog, Raf Sanchez in the UK’s Telegraph, Laura Matthews in the International Business Times, Latifah Muhammad on Hip Hop Wired, Sarah Wolfe for Global Post, Rekha Basu in the Des Moines Register, Tod Robberson in the Dallas Morning News, and the magazine The Week.
I hope all these folks have their Google Alerts set and know I appreciate being included in their stories.
And my piece was included in the post-speech rounds ups of The Atlantic’s James Fallows, David Pinar’s list in the Tucson Citizen and this list by Grist’s Philip Bump.
I’m sure I’m missing some but that’s a good start.
Then, for fun, there the tweets from famous folks. Here are a few:
@sallykohn Thanks for being unbiased in your news coverage. The american public needs the TRUTH to be reported going into this election!— octavia spencer (@octaviaspencer) August 30, 2012
Here’s a FOX News article for your dad: foxnews.com/opinion/2012/0…
— rob delaney (@robdelaney) August 30, 2012
Interesting read
@sallykohn “Paul Ryan’s speech in 3 words | Fox News” fxn.ws/OzkZ8f via@fxnopinion— Dulé Hill (@DuleHill) August 30, 2012
Paul Ryan’s speech in 3 words | Fox News fxn.ws/OzkZ8f via
@fxnopinionRyan couldn’t even get FOX NEWS to believe him.— Harvey Fierstein (@HarveyFierstein) August 30, 2012
For an unbiased review of Ryan’s speech take a look at what this Fox Reporter says fxn.ws/OzkZ8fI couldnt agree with him more
— Suze Orman (@SuzeOrmanShow) August 30, 2012
Then a correction:
Oh my it was written by a womanhttp://twitter.com/sallykohnSo sorry Sally.Kudos to you for having the guts to tell the truth.
— Suze Orman (@SuzeOrmanShow) August 30, 2012
@sallykohn Very good piece!! Thank YOU!— Morgan Fairchild (@morgfair) August 30, 2012
Anyway, keep sharing the original article here. And for those looking for somewhere to post a comment, feel free to do so on this post — including if you want to point out any links or mentions that I’ve missed. And thanks.
Update
First, thank you so much to all of you who have donated to support my work! Words cannot express how touched and grateful I am. Feel free to tell your friends!
Second, here are some more mentions and links.
New York Times columnist Charles Blow quoted me in his column today.
Apparently, Bill Maher mentioned me on Real Time, but I don’t have the clip yet.
Comedian Andy Borowitz referenced my piece in a post for the New Yorker.
Andrew Sullivan cited my essay in his article for Newsweek’s Daily Beast.
If you like it, share it!
52 Responses to So That’s What Viral Looks Like!
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Just another liberal drinkin’ the Kool-Aid. Your “facts” are so inaccurate an intelligent person like me wouldn’t even know where to begin proving you to be a liar. As usual, I can “prove” most of what Paul Ryan said with those pesky things called facts, and I can prove your comments wrong based on those same facts. But alas, silly ol’ facts just get in the way of a liberal’s almighty opinions. Liberals spell fact, o-p-i-n-i-o-n. You oughta be ashamed.
So, instead of just saying you can prove what he said, why don’t you do it?
Ray Dickey is not going to let his internet posts be dictated by fact-checkers.
Because of all the times I have proven a liberal wrong, with verifiable facts, citing books and page numbers, research & where to find it, original source documentation, only one person has bothered to do research and come back and admit that they were wrong in their assessment. Normally their “research’ involves asking their liberal friends if they can believe someone had the audacity to challenge their opinions. And almost to a person, they then attack me, or my heritage, or the fact that I live in Texas…anything to deflect from the truth.
The truth will only set you free if you accept it.
Not a liberal. Registered Republican here. But, you have to have some pretty strong partisan blinders (what Orwell called “crimestop”) in order to not detect the BS coming from the GOP these days. The Party just nominated a guy who is almost an ideological clone of Obama, and now they are trying their hardest to fabricate political differences between them, where no significant difference exists. It’s so sad to watch.
In any case, it does not do any good to merely *claim* that you have some sort of counter-argument. Please, share with the class.
And… still not a shred evidence from Ray “Small” Dickey. Bluster is cheap, zombie-boy. Ms. Kohn’s facts already ARE verifiable. Where are yours? Other than rattling around in your feeble imagination?
Rather than claiming facts you don’t have, you might just want to follow the example of your hero Lyin’ Ryan and just make sh*t up. It’s no less pathetic, but if you’re going to lie, at least lie big.
We are ready to accept the truth if you would just tell us what it is! You keep saying you have the truth, but you haven’t shown it. And if you don’t like liberal “research”, then show us what conservative “research” looks like. From what you have shown us, it consists of claiming to have facts, but not citing any sources or telling us what the facts are.
Are you serious Ray Dickey?
I’m always serious when it comes to people advocating and espousing truth over opinion, heresay, and personal or political agendas.
R-i-i-i-i-ght, Ray. From what you just posted it looks like there’s plenty of Kool-Aid to go around. As a moderate independent, something the GOP abhors, I just wanted to ask, how’s it going over there in the alternative universe.
OK…… So prove it (them)….
Really Ray… it’s a kool-aid drinking liberal Opinion that the Janesville factory was closed plant was actually closed under President George W. Bush… really?
Or it’s a kool-aid drinking liberal Opinion that the way Paul Ryan juxtaposition Obama’s comments with the fact that the plant closed (under Bush) that those comments were designed to blame Obama? …. really?
Ray is right in that Sally’s facts are wrong in at least one area … The debt downgrade. She stated “the credit rating was actually downgraded because republicans threatened not to raise the debt ceiling”. Well, the facts are: 1) the downgrade to AA+ occurred four days after the 112th United States Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling … and … 2) S&P cut the long term US rating by one notch citing concerns about growing budget deficits.
Come on Sally. You present your opinion piece as including facts. But you are clearly wrong. Either you are blatantly including misinformation or you (or your staff) are not too bright (or a bit lazy).
why use facts this is politics?
PAUL RYAN:
“President Barack Obama came to office during an economic crisis, as he has reminded us a time or two. Those were very tough days, and any fair measure of his record has to take that into account. My home state voted for President Obama. When he talked about change, many people liked the sound of it, especially in Janesville, where we were about to lose a major factory.
“A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: “I believe that if our government is there to support you … this plant will be here for another hundred years.” That’s what he said in 2008. “Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day. And that’s how it is in so many towns today, where the recovery that was promised is nowhere in sight.”
Transcript from Obama’s speech at the plant in Janesville on Feb. 13, 2008, in which then-candidate Obama says precisely what Ryan quoted him as saying:
“I know that General Motors received some bad news yesterday, and I know how hard your Governor has fought to keep jobs in this plant. But I also know how much progress you’ve made – how many hybrids and fuel-efficient vehicles you’re churning out. And I believe that if our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to re-tool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years.”
Your “analysis” leaves out a few events after Obama’s February 2008 speech which give the lie to Ryan’s deceit and hypocrisy.
There is the June 2008 Ryan press release ( http://paulryan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=200270 ) for example.
According to a rudimentary LexisNexis search, Ryan made multiple public pleas to GM, including op-eds in his home state newspaper, to keep the plant open. He and fellow Wisconsin lawmakers went to the automobile company’s headquarters to present plans to extend the plant’s life. When the Bush administration itself called the decision to close the plant evidence that the auto industry was trimming fat and improving its bottom line, Ryan called the news “gut-wrenching.”
And as it became clear in early-fall 2008 that GM wouldn’t relent, Ryan publicly touted the federal tax money he secured to help displaced workers — a use of funds that would seem at odds with his limited-government, fiscal conservative image.
Obviously, blaming Obama for the plant’s closure – which became certain well before Obama had an opportunity to help and well before even the 2008 election – is the worst sort of political dishonesty which is only compounded by Ryan’s publicly touting the federal money he piled on the national debt he claims to be concerned about.
And what is your point???? The GOP is really playing the game: tell a lie enough times and it becomes truth.
Obama was neither responsible for the plant’s closing nor able to stop it and he was not President at the time it closed.
As President, Obama supported American car manufacturers and brought them back from the brink via federal loans.
I’m just repeating this to try to counter the repeated lies. It is the only thing we can do in the face of the insanity of the emperor has no clothes.
Congrats, Sally! You are making waves where nobody else dares to.
Sally – your fact checks evidently – came from the DNC – Fact: Obama did say that “If the government is there to support you – this plant will be here for the next 100 years.” Was he just saying that to get votes??? Also Fact: Obama said of small businesses “You did not build that – the government made it possible by building roads and bridges.” Fact: Small businesses made roads and bridges possible by payiing taxes to the government. Just in case you did not know, the government does not generate money – it gets it’s money from us the tax payers! Fact: you say that SS is not being robbed – the $716 billion savings is savings?? Why have they waited for 3 1/2 years to find these so called savings??? Also show me where the government actually takes something and saves money??? If you cut $716 billion that money is $716 billion dollars less for seniors period!
Obviously Herb, you either didn’t read or hear the whole piece or you simply don’t know what it means in a paragraph to refer back to earlier points. When the President “You did not build that”, Herb, he was talking about the infrastructure (roads, bridges, airports, among others), police, fire and emergency services that (gasp!) government put in place to enable a business to operate successfully and safely. And no, the business owner didn’t do that, but his TAXES did!
And the taxes of all the non-business owners too.
Philip,
I’m not sure what transcript of Obama”s speech you looked at, but Obama WAS referring to people’s businesses when he said “you did not build that.”
One thing you are right about is that a business owner’s taxes helped pay for the infrastructure. Without the businesses, there would be no taxes paid. Without taxes, no infrastructure. Government/infrastructure are DEPENDENT on the businesses.
The term “media whore” fits you perfectly…which makes it a no-brainer that libs would love you…and pimps too!
And yet you think them parroting YOUR lies hither and yon is somehow a testament to your reporting and analytical skills…LMAO!
Go watch more tenacle porn and let the adults talk, mmmkay?
All I have to say is this: if the media acyually reports facts & issues…Romney/Ryan will win in a landslide…just one fast FACT: Democrats controlled both the house and congress from 2006 to 2010..last two years of Bush and first two years of Obama…right damn in the middle of our worst economic down turn since the 1930′s…yet they blame the Republicans!!! Oh by the way why did it take two years to pass Obamacare w/ democrats majority??? BECAUSE their constituents said no!!!! But after a few well placed bribes or “$$$favors” that was reported on although not very much a few blue dog democrats finally gave in…2 yrs!!!
Two words that you should look up and understand before you go on a website talking about how congress works. Filibuster and Reconciliation. They are parliamentary devices that actually fully explain your question. Not that you would bother with facts or anything nearly that useful.
The economic meltdown started far, far before 2006 and had nothing to do with Democrats.
I noticed it when I saw ads for houses that should have cost around $300-400K selling for a million. A friend of mine, who was a realtor, also took interest. She looked into what houses were being sold for, the craftsmanship, etc. We came to a conclusion after a couple of years that something was very, very fishy.
In April 2005 she sent me an email that said “I think the market is drying up”. October 2006 housing construction plunged. Democrats STILL weren’t in control. It was the beginning of the end.
But, hey, if you want to blame it on Democrats, that’s your fantasy. Reality says it wasn’t the Democrats, but the fact that the Bush Admin ignored a problem until it escalated into a catastrophe.
The economic meltdown had nothing to do with democrats?? UMm Then why was most of the toxic housing mortgage’s underwritten my fannie mae and freddie mac. Two government sponser entities highly supported by democrats founded by democrats and run by democrats. It amazing me government left out the honey jar and there surprised it attracted ants.
Should have guesses that because this was put out on Fox News there would be backlash from the lunatic fringe, but I thought they would at least leave it on the Fox site. I was once again overestimating the intelligence of those who read Fox on a regular basis. Even taking your “Quotes” at face value, no where in it does the President, then candidate, promise to save the plant. Only that if the government were to act that it stay open. However government did not act, at least not until after that plant was closed. Are we really arguing over the time travel capabilities of a policy that saved tens of thousands of jobs and help revive a manufacturing sector in a country with precious few of them left.
Sally thank you for bring a light of truth to Fox News and I would like to apologize for those among us incapable of civil discourse. They will stop at nothing to get their way and it is quite disturbing to watch.
Silly Kohnhead you are the lying liar of all lying liars and a fellator of the Obomination socialist fascism!
You are an obvious lesbian freak man hater and have been brainwashed into retarded mental process that hates anyone who does not agree with your perverted view of the world.
You also seem to attract like minded retards, it’s obvious with all the pitiful mental midgets that congregate here like a bunch of flies over a pile garbage, that pile of garbage being your retarded blog!
I am sure that she will be very offended by such an obvious bigot.
I think we can all enjoy the shrill screams and babyish rage of the Fox Zombies. Every tear of hate and frustration they shed over people learning the truth just further waters the ground of America’s recovery from the dark night of Rethuglican ignorance and treason.
Well said Eric R. ^
“Obvious lesbian freak man hater?” Wow! You get a lot more out of what you read than I do. It must be the depth of your thinking. But, I do agree with you when you characterize the people who post here as “pitiful mental midgets.”
You’re not only an in-depth reader, you also have great self-awareness. Very admirable that you could make this confession in such a public forum. Keep up the great posts, Ymmot. We need some comic relief here.
@Laura – yes, Ymmot’s post is comical and not too beneficial to the debate.
However, I posted a few very rational and factual comments about problems with Sally’s so called ‘truth’. But not a single person has come back to refute, or even address, what I wrote.
It’s interesting because some Sally supporters specifically asked for facts, so that is what I gave.
Seems some people don’t actually want what they ask for.
Hi Sally! Great article. Ignoring the moronic posts above mine, I would actually like to ask you a serious question: I think a good deal of the news coverage of your article (Colbert, for example) focused on the fact that you were writing for Fox News. I think people assumed you were essentially speaking for Fox News even though your piece was obviously an opinion piece. Since you weren’t even paid (!) I think it’s clear you were not. But can you say any more about “the biz” and how these things work, for those many of us who really don’t get it? How does one go about writing a column for a major site like Fox News that then just happens to get picked up and turned viral? I’m assuming it was still vetted or approved or there was some process by which you were ok’d for the article in the first place, yes? Thanks, just wondering.
Yes, please clarify how this happened and how it is that you write an unpaid blog under the Fox News banner.
I’m sure there are people who’d love to see you on the stripper poles. So that may not be the best incentive to get people contributing. Just sayin. And great work!
Ok, one more time for the knuckle dragging talibaggers. Until Al Franken was sworn in on July 7, 2009 the Democrats held 59 seats in the Senate. After that it was technically up to 60, but Ted Kennedy hadn’t cast a vote in months due to illness. He died a few weeks later and was replaced by Paul Kirk on September 24, finally bringing the Democratic majority up to 60 in reality as well as theory. After that the Senate was in session for 11 weeks before taking its winter recess, followed by three weeks until Scott Brown won Kennedy’s seat in the Massachusetts special election. SO THAT MEANS DEMOCRATS HAD AN EFFECTIVE FILIBUSTER-PROOF MAJORITY for ABOUT 14 WEEKS.
I’m puzzled by the number of comments praising this opinion piece as truth.
I find this piece to be just as deceptive as the speech which Kohn laments.
It seems odd that the references to which she directs us to back up her “facts” are, in fact, other writers’ OPINION pieces.
1. S&P’s statement on their decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating does not in any way state that it was due to a Republican threat to block an increase in the debt ceiling unless a certain level of spending cuts were agreed upon. That is a completely partisan interpretation. I believe the downgrade was actually made AFTER Congress had agreed upon increasing the debt ceiling.
If you are truly interested in truth, actually read the S&P statement for yourself.
2. In his speech Paul Ryan did NOT blame Barack Obama for the closure of the plant in Janesville. He used the fact that the plant remains closed as an example from his own hometown of our continued poor economy – which he does at least partially blame on the current administration’s economic approach. Of course that connection happens to be biased in his stance’s favor. Wouldn’t we expect such from any convention speech?
3. The medicare claim.
If anyone on this site actually has direct knowledge of the details of how Ryan’s budget plan incorporates the medicare reimbursement cuts that Obamacare uses to work its “budget neutrality” I would love to hear them. Neither this article nor the blatantly slanted opinion piece to which Kohn refers the reader gives any real facts on this subject.
Are there any journalists that actually read the primary sources anymore?
I am the only person out there that would actually like to have facts from the primary sources reported instead of endless stories of what so&so on one side has to say about what dingbat on the other side has proposed?
I would like to formulate my own opinion, and so do each of my family members. We prefer to do that based on fact, which is not easy to find. We are still trying to recover from the disaster that unemployment wreaked upon my household. The fact is that we are fortunate to have found new jobs with small and mid-size companies, but if our bosses have to cut back in the new year, we may be looking for work again. Now that two of my children are old enough to vote, and we have all taken the time to register to vote, we have lively discussions at the dinner table about this election. With four votes to cast, we want to make sure to do our homework, come to our own conclusions, and made the best choice possible to reflect our individual voices. The best choice possible — feels a lot like choosing between a root canal or pulling the tooth.
Well done and thank goodness you have the strength of your own convictions. More journalist should follow your example.
WOW…why is a total lib like you writing for Fox?/ You must be kidding about
begging for donations (HA)…..Your writing isn`t worth reading for free. As far as your comment about being the REPUBLICANS Fault for NOT RAISING THE DEBT CEILING instead of Obama for OVERSPENDING show just how ridiculous you talk. STUPID statements like that halt any further credibility on your behalf —and make you a total joke.
Sally’s facts are wrong in at least one area … The debt downgrade.
She stated “the credit rating was actually downgraded because republicans threatened not to raise the debt ceiling”. Well, the facts are: 1) the downgrade to AA+ occurred four days after the 112th United States Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling … and … 2) S&P cut the long term US rating by one notch citing concerns about growing budget deficits.
Come on Sally. You present your opinion piece as including facts. But you are clearly wrong. Either you are blatantly including misinformation or you (or your staff) are not too bright (or a bit lazy).
Here is additional insight into problems with Sally’s “facts”.
This is regarding her statement that “Paul Ryan accused President Obama of taking $716 billion out of Medicare … the fact is that that amount was savings in Medicare reimbursement rates”
She is misleading in that statement because Paul Ryan’s accusation is fact, and the money being primarily savings, is also fact. The fact that she forgot to mention is that Paul Ryan wants to take that savings and keep it in the Medicare program (trust fund) to help the long term solvency of the program. Whereas Obama is taking that savings and spending it on Obamacare (which does not help Medicare’s future fiscal problems).
What is also interesting about this is the Democrats like to accuse Ryan of ‘gutting Medicare’ when in fact Ryan’s Medicare plan is basically the same as Obama’s – EXCEPT for what he does with the savings.
It’s actually a bit funny now because some Democrats are defending Obama’s Medicare cuts by saying Ryan wants to do it too.
The facts are quite interesting, aren’t they Sally?
[...] Kohn’s column went viral — no doubt because GOP-friendly Fox News published such a scathing indictment of an otherwise peak rhetorical moment for the Republican ticket — being shared, retweeted, commented upon and praised by tens of thousands of readers and commentators from a variety of sources. [...]
PLEASE stay off the stripper pole —I’ll contribute to the cause as soon as I finish this — and keep being the one thoughtful and intelligent voice affiliated with Fox News. Hope they keep you.
Sally, I’m SO proud of you!
While Paul Ryan speech did include some misleading statements, your criticism of his piece was filled with flat out lies.
1) “the credit rating was actually downgraded because Republicans threatened not to raise the debt ceiling.” That is a complete and utter lie. I don’t even know where to start to address such ignorance, except to refer you to the S&P report.
2) “Ryan blamed President Obama for the shut down of a GM plant in Janesville, Wisconsin” That’s not what he said. Period.
If you feel Ryan was being dishonest, I suggest the proper response it to combat dishonesty with honesty, not more dishonesty.
I have been following the american election from Norway. What really makes me wondering is all the lies from the Romney/Ryan campaign. I know that there is some lies, halftruth stories, twisted stories in all political elections. These guys brings the lies to a new level. They are serial liers. It seems to me that the Romney / Ryan campaign prefer to lie even when the truth could do fine. Even better. It is really impossible to trust these two, and I really feel sorry for people that “must” vote for these because they are representing the republicans.
An other thing is the clumsiness of Romney regarding style and his comments. It seems like he never have been out among ordinary people. He seems a litle bit odd.
I hope the republican party will have a critical review on this years nomination prosess. You deserve a better choise.
Can you be more specific? What lies are they telling?
Exactly. I discovered the same thing about her ‘truths’.
Pretty shameful to use false statements to accuse someone of lying. She should apologize.