Tuesday Throwback: Revisiting Conservapedia

I haven’t visited Conservapedia in a while so I decided to stop by today and see what they were saying about our current presidential candidates. I started with Obama, of course, and was actually surprised by the level of bias there. I mean, conservative-centric or not, this is supposed to be an encyclopedia, right? But the opening paragraph alone makes Fox News look like the Huffington Post:

Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. (allegedly born in Honolulu,[1][2] August 4, 1961) is the 2008 nominee of the Democratic Party for president.[3] Obama has served as a freshman Democratic Senator from Illinois for three and a half years. On August 23 he chose Joe Biden as his running mate. In 2007, Obama was the most liberal Senator.[4] If elected, Obama would be the first Affirmative Action President.

Barack Obama, our first Affirmative Action President…that claim is unreferenced, of course. It goes on and on and on and on…I won’t even pull out the choice quotes, just read it. And then read Biden’s page, which starts off with:

A member of the Democratic Party, Biden currently serves as the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and is the senior U.S. Senator from Delaware (since 1972). Biden is a self-described northeast liberal and an admitted plagiarist.[1] He is also known as a long-winded orator. [2]. In 2007, the non-partisan National Journal ranked Joe Biden as the third most liberal U.S. Senator.

Before we get to the laughable Sarah Palin bio, let’s at least touch upon McCain’s public blowjob. From the intro:

John Sidney McCain III (born in the U.S. Panama Canal Zone, August 29, 1936) [1], prominent conservative statesman and Vietnam War hero, is the senior Senator of Arizona. He has been an influential fixture in American politics since 1986, when he began his political career in hard-fought campaigns against pork barrel spending and campaign finance reform. As a pilot for the United States Navy and former Prisoner-of-War (POW), he served in the military for 22 years, meriting several accolades from the Armed forces.[2] McCain, a Baptist,[3] has impressive credentials on issues of foreign policy and national security, which have propelled him in the forefront of national politics as both an outspoken voice for the United States military and as a Presidential contender for the Republican Party since 1993.[4] McCain is currently the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 Election. [5][6]

The rest of the article goes on to talk about how awesome McCain is. If Conservapedia was around in 2000, I wonder if they’d include a little bit about McCain’s alleged illegitimate child that the conservative powerbase used to get McCain off of the Republican ticket. Oh well, we can only imagine.

But the reason we’re all here, Sarah Palin. According to Conservapedia, Sarah Palin is the most righteous choice for Vice President in the history of the universe. There’s only one piece I want to quote, mainly because the emphasis isn’t mine:

Another question asked, "Are you offended by the phrase 'Under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?" Palin replied, "Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me and I'll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance."

Charles Barkley has some great “oh snap” soundbites, too, and he played for Phoenix – McCain should pick him for the VP spot once Palin backs out in order to “spend time with her family.”

Anyway, no mention of AIP, a complete white wash of the trooper scandal, no mention of her million-dollar earmarking as mayor – Sarah Palin is as white as a non-Affirmative Action President. I didn’t expect much from Conservapedia but when your mission statement is:

Conservapedia is a clean and concise resource for those seeking the truth. We do not allow liberal bias to deceive and distort here. Founded initially in November 2006 as a way to educate advanced, college-bound homeschoolers, this resource has grown into a marvelous source of information for students, adults and teachers alike. We have received over 50 million page views!

The starting point for increasing your knowledge, your faith and the well-being of you and those around you is to understand concepts better. Conservapedia enables you to do that, and to impart what you have learned to others by editing here. The truth shall set you free.

No other encyclopedic resource on the internet is free of corruption by liberal untruths. Please look around while you're here, share this with others, edit your favorite entries, and enjoy the benefits of new insights that you never realized before. For example, do you know why pretzels have their shape? Click it to find out!

I’d expect at least some attempt at keeping out a conservative bias. Glass houses and all. Oh well, it’s just another examples of Republicans claiming that SOP news reporting displays a liberal bias whereas white washing it is being “fair and balanced.”

I really hate both sides. I’m going to start a new political party – details coming later this week.

Labels: editorial, politics

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