The Virginian Pilot and those rascally Republicans.

My wife’s out of town and so the Virginian Pilot gets unread. The paper just piles up until the weekend when my wife clips the coupons. So I was using the first section as a coaster under my lunch plate when I saw the headline:

LAWMAKERS LINING UP ON IMMIGRATION BILLS.

Just beyond my plate I was able to read the opening paragraph by Tim McClone. Here’s his lede:

By the end of the 2007 General Assembly session, the Republican-controlled Senate had successfully quashed attempts to crack down on illegal immigration.

So what can we conclude but that it was Republicans that stopped the General Assembly from passing laws designed to do something about illegal aliens.

Whoa! I said. That does not sound like the Republican Party I know. That sounds more like the Democrats. So I kept reading and found on page 9 that things were not as Tim McClone made them appear in his opening. You see, there has been a change in control of the Virginia senate and now:

In one respect, the lobbyists seeking change could face an even tougher year, despite all the headline news, task forces and tough talk: The Senate is now controlled by Democrats, who have historically taken a more liberal position on immigrants.

And if we read the December 26, 2006 issue of the Virginian Pilot, just before the 2007 session begins, we discover that it's Republicans who want to do something about illegal immigrants.

You see how easy it is to lie? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, which Tim McClone definitely is not. Every word in his opening paragraph is true, it’s the paragraph that’s the lie.

If you’re not convinced here’s a good example:

John Hinckley shot President Ronald Reagan. Reagan subsequently died.

See every word is true; it’s the choice of words that’s the lie.