Jack Kelly Sunday - A Followup

I have a followup to this morning's posting.

First, let me give a shoutout to EdHeath. HIS deconstruction of Jack is worth a read. Some salient points:

Kelly selects some quotes from whatever he read from Vaknin:

• subtly misrepresents facts and expediently and opportunistically shifts positions;
• ignores data that conflict with his fantasy world;
• feels that he is above the law;
• craves to be the exclusive center of attention, and
• has a messianic-cosmic vision of himself.

I have to say it was not Obama I thought of when I read those quotes. “Feels he is above the law” – Bush’s theory of a unitary President? “Subtly misrepresents facts” – weapons of mass destruction? “Has a messianic-cosmic vision of himself” - This is a quote from an April 2003 USA Today (maybe an April Fool’s joke): “Bush believes he was called by God to lead the nation at this time, says Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a close friend who talks with Bush every day.”

Great point. I was gonna say that. Really. I was. You gotta believe me.

Now back to Jack. I was going to skewer Jack on his comment about the iPod the President gave to the Queen of England a few months ago but a curious thing happened sometime between yesterday and today.

The column changed.

For those who don't know, Jack Kelly's column is actually published in TWO newspapers. On Sundays, of course, it's found in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. On Saturdays, it's found in the P-G's sister paper, the Toledo Blade.

When I reread Jack's column this evening, I thought something was off - on the iPod part. There was something in it that I didn't remember reading this morning. So I checked the column at the Toledo Blade. Wanna know what I saw?

This:

It reads:

If Mr. Obama is a narcissist, it would explain otherwise odd things, such as his notion that an iPod loaded with his speeches is an appropriate gift for the Queen of England and his frequent references to himself in virtually all of those speeches. [emphasis added]

Now take a look at what's at the P-G now:

If Mr. Obama is a narcissist, it would explain otherwise odd things, such as his notion that it was appropriate to include two of his speeches on an iPod he gave to the Queen of England and his frequent references to himself in virtually all of his speeches. [emphasis added]

We can assume that the version in the Toledo Blade is the original one. It's factually incorrect, of course, but it makes more sense. Take a look at the patch in the P-G's version of the column. What was "loaded with his speeches" in Toledo became "two of his speeches" in Pittsburgh. It's obvious that in Jack's original version, he's saying that the speeches loaded onto the iPod were also loaded with references to him.

But what was on the iPod to begin with? On April 1 of this year, ABC reported that, along with a huge amount of Broadway show tunes, on the iPod, there were also:

• Photos from the Queen's 2007 White House State Visit
• Photos from the Queen's 2007 Jamestown, Va., Visit
• Photos from the Queen's 2007 Richmond, Va., Visit
• Video from the Queen's 1957 Jamestown Visit
• Video from the Queen's 2007 Jamestown Visit
• Video from the Queen's 2007 Richmond Visit
• Photos from President Obama's Inauguration
• Audio of then-state senator Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and
• Audio of President Obama 2009 Inauguration Address

Only two speeches (goes without saying that Jack initially got the facts wrong) and how does one question the statement "his frequent references to himself in virtually all of his speeches"? What criteria does one use to define "frequent"?

It's a bad patch for a bad mistake.