Associated Press this week posted a false report on a comment by GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance, and Democrats quickly grabbed it to use in their campaign, even though it was, in fact, deleted for being false.
The AP statement, later deleted, claimed JD Vance “says school shootings are a ‘fact of life.’”
The reality is that Vance said, “I don’t like that this is a fact of life.”
The legacy wire service announced, when it released a new statement, that it “replaces an earlier post that was deleted to add context to the partial quote from Vance.”
JD Vance says he laments that school shootings are a “fact of life” and says the U.S. needs to harden security to prevent more carnage like the shooting this week that left four dead in Georgia.https://t.co/mdz0617PDl
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 6, 2024
The correction was seen by thousands even though the original incorrect posting was seen by millions. And the correction wasn’t used by Democrats, only the original.
JD Vance responds to the deadly shooting in Georgia by saying school shootings are just “a fact of life” and attacking common sense gun safety reform pic.twitter.com/ISNRuXneg6
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 6, 2024
”Kamala HQ” said, “JD Vance responds to the deadly shooting in Georgia by saying school shootings are just ‘a fact of life’ and attacking common sense gun safety reform.”
”Kamala Harris” then reused it.
School shootings are not just a fact of life.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We can take action to protect our children—and we will. https://t.co/Oi8s9MfgvU
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 6, 2024
So did Gavin Newsom:
JD Vance: School shootings are just “a fact of life.”
Kids are being killed and he’s shrugging his shoulders.
Remember that in November. pic.twitter.com/zY7erJjgAs
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 6, 2024
Vance called out Harris for the misleading statements:
Kamala wants to take security out of our schools instead of protecting our children. Instead of addressing her own failures, she lies about what I said.
More desperation from the biggest fraud in American politics. https://t.co/KNOwOtpcLx
— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 6, 2024
A commentary at Twitchy said, “Shame on the Associated Press. Well, we’d shame them if they had shame. But they’re incapable of it.”
Then it posted an image of the deleted claim.
Social media concluded, “This is a really misleading headline and tweet. AP should really change it.”
But, Twitchy explained, “It was intentionally misleading.”
Another pointed out Vance’s full statement was: “I don’t like that this is a fact of life. But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security at our schools.”
Townhall noted the false statement was seen by at least 2.2 million; the correction only 100,000.
The Harris campaign later put out a fuller statement, explaining, “Harris said ‘it doesn’t have to be this way’ in response to another senseless school shooting. Donald Trump and JD Vance think school shootings are a ‘fact of life’ and ‘we have to get over it.’”
The Daily Caller News Foundation said the Harris campaign “and some liberal media outlets pushed a false claim on Thursday night indicating that Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance referred to school shootings as a ‘fact of life.’”
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