Misleading Atlantic Wire Piece Accuses Boehner of Saying ‘Out Loud He Hopes’ Blacks, Latinos Don’t Vote
by Noah Rothman | 5:03 pm, August 27th, 2012

On Monday, The Atlantic Wire’s Elspeth Reeve published a dramatically misleading piece that spun a response by House Majority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) to a question about the economy into the unwitting exposure of his outright racism. The headline of Reeve’s post reads ‘Boehner Says Out Loud He Hopes Blacks and Latinos ‘Won’t Show Up’ This Election,’ and the body of the piece backs up this assertion. But the quote in question reveals no such sentiment by Boehner.

Boehner’s offending quote was made when he took questions during a Christian Science Monitor luncheon in Tampa on Monday. Boehner was asked about several demographic groups – notably, women, African Americans and Latinos — that polls have suggested are going to turn out to vote against his party in November unless the dynamics of the presidential race change.

Boehner replied that the state of the economy is likely to keep many of those voters from casting their ballots for President Barack Obama. He said that those voters were just as likely to stay home on Election Day as they were to vote against the GOP:

‘This election is about economics,’ Boehner said. ‘These groups have been hit the hardest. They may not show up and vote for our candidate but I’d suggest to you they won’t show up and vote for the president either.’

Continue reading at Mediaite.