PP has pointed out that Amendment E’s California “publicist” Bonnie Russell now claims Nina Totenberg never interviewed Bill Stegmeier for the NPR story on Amendment E that aired Wednesday morning.
Last night, Russell left a comment here (even though she has claimed several times she never reads it) that Totenberg “cut and spliced and didn’t speak to anyone associated with Amendment E.” I recall Totenberg saying she had interviewed Stegmeier. And no one would question that it was Stegmeier’s voice that appeared in the story.
Now I will admit it is possible I do not accurately recall what Totenberg may have said about interviewing Stegmeier. Likewise, the fact Stegmeier’s voice appears in the story does not alone render Russell’s statement untrue. But I would surmise any interview would have been recorded in order to have been used. Yet lacking access to any such recording, I cannot personally and officially declare this to be another installment in the J.A.I.L. Lies series.
Since online gambling is illegal in South Dakota, readers can vote rather than place bets on whether this post belongs in the series. Here are your options:
- A. Bonnie Russell is telling the truth when she says she never reads this blog so her comment (and what appears on the “South Dakotan’s (sic) for Amendment E” website) is all part of a massive disinformation campaign orchestrated by the anti-J.A.I.L./New World Order conspiracy.B. Nina Totenberg never talked to Stegmeier or “anyone associated with Amendment E” and, instead, just took Stegmeier’s (and Ron Branson’s) voice from other recordings she found somewhere.
C. Bonnie Russell is not telling the truth.
D. Bonnie Russell was not told the truth by Stegmeier (or someone else with the South Dakota J.A.I.L.ers) about whether Totenberg interviewed Stegmeier for the story.
“A straw vote,” says I, “only shows which way the hot air blows.”
O. Henry (William S. Porter)
“A Ruler of Men,” Rolling Stones
Bonnie made the same claim on my blog.