From the Edmond Sun (article here):
“We as a company do not have a problem when persons pull quotes from articles that we have reported in our newspaper and attribute them to us when they are verbatim. What we report becomes part of the public record,” said Steve Paterson, Edmond Sun publisher. “We as a company do have a problem, when they are used out of context and used to make a point or argument, which is not based on the information reported.
“What Mr. Calvey’s campaign has done is just that in two different incidences. They have structured quotes from our newspaper and interlaced their comments and thoughts then placed it on the postcard in such a way as to purport that this was a report made by The Edmond Sun. One has to just look at the dates the articles were published and review the stories to see that what was printed on the postcards is not what was published in our newspaper,” Paterson said.From the McCarville Report (article here):
“We want to assure our readers who will be voting in the Republican runoff that these were not quotes from this newspaper and do not in anyway reflect the opinion of this newspaper. We encourage our readers who will be participating in the Republican runoff to examine all the facts about the two candidates before they enter the polls,” he said. “One more thing I want to be totally clear on, we have never said in print that James Lankford is not ready to serve in Congress. That decision is made by individuals expressing their freedom to vote at the polls. They will always be the ones who will make that determination.”
The Sun attempted to get a direct comment Wednesday morning from Calvey on the issue but was deferred to Trebor Worthen of the Calvey campaign after The Sun left a message on Calvey’s cell phone.
The battle escalated earlier this week as Calvey mounted his attack on Lankford, sending a postcard message to voters claiming Lankford disrespected his military record, a line that apparently has become Calvey's closer in his campaign.McCarville quotes the Lankford "note" on Facebook where Lankford tells his faithful to "stay positive," but then goes on to rip Calvey himself. From the Facebook note:
Lankford released a statement in which he said Calvey "invented a story" as a straw man and is guilty of "deception."
Lankford's strongly-worded critique of Calvey came as their battle entered its final week.
“If you do not have good character in Oklahoma, you will not gain better character when you go to Washington. Clearly, Kevin Calvey has demonstrated that he is willing to deceive the voters of the 5th District in order to gain a seat in Congress. If he will deceive us now for his personal gain, what will he do in Washington DC.?”
My question is how do either of these guys expect to survive Washington if they can't handle this little bit of heat.
No doubt, Calvey completely misinterpreted the Edmond Sun article in question and Lankford's statements but rather than do what the Scriptures would require of these two "good, Christian men" (If your brother sins against you, go to him...), they both use statements for political gain. Calvey takes personally what Lankford supposedly said in an article, distorts it, and then goes after Lankford rather than simply calling him on the phone and simply asking, "What was your intention?"
Lankford, the former Falls Creek Program Director, does exactly the same thing - rather than just calling Kevin on the telephone and asking him why he would do that and then go public with whatever response he received, he tries to portray himself as a victim and uses it for political gain. All the while, telling his flock to "be positive" while ripping Calvey a new one - very much a status quo political tactic.
Remember: It is Lankford who is campaigning as a Christian man of high moral character...
Calvey believed early on that Lankford was "attacking" him by his statements in the March Edmond Sun article and simply waited until now to come forward with it. Lankford, on the other hand, probably knew this was coming and was just waiting to paint himself as a victim.
On Tuesday, this mess comes to a close and the real race begins. If you want to know why I'm supporting Dave White, just take a step back and look at this disaster and you'll understand.
