Drew Griffin/CNN smears Sarah Palin with completely out-of-context National Review quote

Drew Griffin of CNN recently conducted an interview with Sarah Palin and asked her this:

Governor, you've been mocked in the press, the press has been pretty hard on you, the Democrats have been pretty hard on you, but also some conservatives have been pretty hard on you as well. The National Review had a story saying that, you know, I can't tell if Sarah Palin is incompetent, stupid, unqualified, corrupt or all of the above.

As detailed here, Griffin took that NR quote completely out of context; the laundry list referred to the impression that the media has been trying to give of her. How recursive!

Here's the article in question:

Watching press coverage of the Republican candidate for vice president, it's sometimes hard to decide whether Sarah Palin is incompetent, stupid, unqualified, corrupt, backward, or — or, well, all of the above. Palin, the governor of Alaska, has faced more criticism than any vice-presidential candidate since 1988, when Democrats and the press tore into Dan Quayle. In fact, Palin may have it even worse than Quayle, since she's taking flak not only from Democrats and the press but from some conservative opinion leaders as well.

UPDATE: Drew Griffin spent a minute apologizing on the air for this (link), but CNN has apparently not posted a correction on their site. Others say Griffin has been at least somewhat of a fair reporter, so perhaps he made an honest mistake or a producer/writer snuck it in.

UPDATE 2: This quotes Media Research Center President Brent Bozell as saying:

"We also take Drew Griffin and CNN at their word — that this mistake was not intended to mislead viewers to think a conservative magazine had trashed Gov. Palin... Conservatives have endured hundreds — even thousands — of examples of the media deliberately distorting our words and positions. In this case, there was not a deliberate attempt...As far as the Media Research Center is concerned... this case is closed."

Politics · Tue, 10/21/2008 - 18:57 · · Importance: 1