Rochester's Thin Blue Line

Another installment of the Rochester (NH) Police Log. Sample:

Wednesday, Aug. 20

12:28 a.m. — At Wal-Mart there is one car and three people arranged as follows: 1 driver, 1 passenger, 1 kid outside body-slamming the vehicle, which is going all over the parking lot.

Friday, Aug. 22

3:15 p.m. — A home on Harding Street has been burgled, with DVDs, knives, a PlayStation, games and medication stolen. A second call comes in to cancel the report, followed by a third to reinstate it. Things get more complicated when a fourth call is made.

Saturday, Aug. 23

5:08 p.m. — On North Main Street, a neighbor allegedly moved out two months ago and abandoned a pet turtle, which has been cared for ever since by someone else who has now made arrangements for it to go to a turtle rescue farm in a couple days time — but now the first woman wants the turtle back, so the second woman wants to know if she can keep it until Tuesday. Police inform her of her turtle rights.

Monday, Aug. 25

2:50 p.m. — At Rochester East Apartments a man threatens to kill the manager and other residents, especially if John McCain is elected president. He has also thrown feces around the building.

Yes, the political season is heating up.

Contextomy at the New York Times

One Rachel Kleinfeld, writing at one of the New York Times blogs:

John McCain has told us — over and over again — that he is willing to fight. In fact, he relishes a fight. So much so that, in his own words Thursday night, he said he liked to “pick a few fights for the fun of it.”
On the strength of this quote-snippet, she continues for a few hundred more words to trash McCain as a reckless warmonger.

But what about that quote? Thanks to the comrades at Commie Radio, I checked out the transcript of McCain's acceptance speech. The relevant paragraph of the speech:

On an October morning, in the Gulf of Tonkin, I prepared for my 23rd mission over North Vietnam. I hadn't any worry I wouldn't come back safe and sound. I thought I was tougher than anyone. I was pretty independent then, too. I liked to bend a few rules, and pick a few fights for the fun of it. But I did it for my own pleasure, my own pride. I didn't think there was a cause more important than me.
In short, McCain's obviously not talking about his current mindset; he's talking about pre-POW days in order to contrast with his current mindset.

So you won't find a neater example of quoting out of context. Rachel Kleinfeld is either stupid, or thinks her readers are. I'm leaning toward the latter, how about you?