October 13, 2009, - 1:44 pm
Not Sharp, Drew: USA Today/Freep Sportswriter Used Fake Wikipedia Quotes to Savage Limbaugh
Did USA Today/Detroit Free Press sportswriter and columnist Drew Sharp actually use Wikipedia and a fake quote attributed to Rush Limbaugh as a source of fact and news? Apparently so.
Yesterday, when I read his USA Today sports column claiming Rush praised slavery, I scratched my head. I know Rush personally, and that’s not like him. I couldn’t believe he said that. He wouldn’t even think it in his heart of hearts. In private conversations with him, he’s never once uttered a racist word. Not even close. But that didn’t keep Drew Sharp from zealously rushing to play the race card and print this:
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Farrior agreed Sunday that nobody with Limbaugh’s litany of incendiary racial comments — Limbaugh once said on his nationally syndicated radio show that slavery “had its merits” — deserves the privilege of owning an NFL franchise.
And in fact, Rush never said that. Today, on Rush’s nationally syndicated radio show, he said that he’s never ever made any of the quotes attributed to him as supporting slavery, that they came from fake info entered into his Wikipedia profile. Yup, in his zeal to denounce Rush’s bid to be a part owner of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams, Sharp used a source less reliable than the Onion.
You would think–after all of these years of stories about the fakery on Wikipedia–that a journalist for two major newspapers, a guy who is also regularly on ESPN, FOX Sports, and FOX News, and hosts his own talk radio show, would know better. I mean, even Aunt Millie in Nowheresville, Idaho knows you can’t rely on Wikipedia.
But Sharp is not only lazy, he’s a chronic race card player who wants to see the worst in anyone right of far-left of center. That might be because everywhere he’s gotten is likely because of race-based preferences. Sharp’s columns are boring. I almost never read him . . . unless I need to induce a nap. In short, his last name is deceptive. Sharp he ain’t.
I’ve had my own personal experience with Drew Sharp. A few years ago, we were on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” debating each other on whether or not Detroit Lions GM Matt Millen should be fired for calling ex-player Johnnie Morton the f-word (rhymes with maggot), after Morton taunted him and gave him the finger from the sidelines. Sharp felt he should. I said political correctness shouldn’t enter the NFL the way it did with Limbaugh on ESPN and that Morton started it, so whatever he got in return was fair game. I also said Millen should be fired because the Lions stank and not for this extraneous reason. I kicked Sharp’s butt. Like I said, he’s lazy. And not much of a challenge. Just like his column, which is the epitome of that.
And now, his laziness and desire to see everything through racial-tinged lenses has gotten the best of him. Will he publicly apologize to Limbaugh for reprinting phony quotes from Wikipedia? He may have to, out of obligation, as Limbaugh said his lawyers are sending letters to “every journalist” who repeated these false, fabricated quotes attributed to Limbaugh. But it won’t be out of remorse. A reporter who is so motivated by alleged racism he sees everywhere won’t let go, unless he has no choice.
This isn’t the first time the liberal Detroit Free Press reporters have fabricated things. But it might be one of the first times they don’t get away with it. As I’ve reported on this site, Freep editors Ritu Sehgal and Theresa Mask removed the Muslim names of 21 men raided for bridge card fraud and cigarette smuggling and deleted a quote from a Michigan State Police detective heading the case attributing the crimes to Hezbollah from the story because they didn’t want us to know Islam and terrorism were involved. When I complained, Free Press Managing Editor Jeff Taylor defended them.
Muslim reporter Niraj Warikoo–who unethically moonlights writing campaign literature for the Muslim candidates in Dearbornistan that he covers–reported as fact a Palestinian Muslim elected official’s claim that her grandfather was shot by Israelis. There was no proof. I had to fight tooth and nail to get a correction. And recently, Free Press reporter Ben Schmitt wrote an extensive story about how bank robber and murderer Ihab Maslamani was born on Christmas and was a Chaldean (a Christian Iraqi), marking the first time the Freep found a need to identify the religion of a Detroit criminal. But it was a lie. Maslamani is a Shi’ite Muslim, born to Shi’ite Muslim parents in South Lebanon. The Freep never corrected this fraud.
And when I wrote an op-ed piece for the Freep about federal priorities prosecuting attorney Geoffrey Fieger over skirting campaign contributions above federal limits versus looking the other way on Islamic terrorism cases, Free Press online editors made up a story about me, claiming I posted things on their site I’d never posted. When I called these cowardly frauds on it, they slithered away with no proof, but never apologized themselves and had another editor do it. But it was too late. All references to terrorism were summarily removed from the piece that ran.
Yes, the Detroit Free Press and its staff have a habit of lying when it comes to attacking and destroying prominent conservatives they don’t like and protecting Islamic criminals in our midst who pose a legitimate threat. Fact-checking, actual reporting, and real journalism actually come second . . . or third or fourth or a hundredth, for these people behind their left-wing agendas. Not news. It’s the same all over the mainstream media.
Drew Sharp’s fraudulent quotes for Limbaugh are par for the course. (Hmm. . . I wonder if they’ll suspend Sharp and do an in-depth investigation of all of his columns, the way they did for Mitch Albom. Or do they not do that for minorities?)
And they wonder why the Freep’s–and USA Today’s–circulation are down sharply.
Today, I was at a gas station and noticed the newspaper stand bearing the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press–both equally unreliable sources–were far in the back next to the bathrooms.
I remarked to the gas station attendant that finally Detroit’s major newspapers are in their appropriate spot. Close enough for easy access for wiping.
Tags: Ben Schmitt, Chaldean, Detroit Free Press, Drew Sharp, Drew Sharp lies, fake, fake news, False, false quotes, Free Press, Freep, Ihab Maslamani, Jeff Taylor, lies, NFL, Niraj Warikoo, Ritu Sehgal, Rush Limbaugh, Shi'ite Muslim, slavery, St. Louis Rams, Theresa Mask, USA Today, Wikipedia
Debbie -ROTFLMAO! – That’s so funny. I think the Detroit Freep is good for that one thing. And given what their “reporter” wrote about Rush Limbaugh, I’d say its a just fate for them, indeed.
NormanF on October 13, 2009 at 2:06 pm