Amid the ongoing Republican battle for speaker of the House, the establishment media smelled blood in the water and immediately jumped to push a story about one of the conservative holdouts refusing to support Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speaker.
But once again, it was all just fake news.
On Thursday, several media outlets began claiming that North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop said he would resign if McCarthy became speaker of the House.
Roll Call quoted Bishop as saying, “We’re going to either see improvement up here the same way we made remarkable improvements in North Carolina in the state legislature, or I’m out.”
Roll Call added, “He said he’s willing to make that threat because he’s ‘older than the average bear’ and ‘not going to stay up here for decades.'”
From there, outlet after outlet highlighted Bishop’s quote and extrapolated it to mean that he had “threatened to resign” if McCarthy is elected to the speaker’s chair.
But only hours later, Bishop pushed back on the media’s breathless proclamations and said that the outlets had mischaracterized his words.
“This story is incorrect. I said nothing of the kind – I will serve my term with all the force and vigor in me,” he tweeted in response to a Fox News article on Thursday. He added a second post revealing his full quote as reported by the News & Observer.
What I said – pic.twitter.com/JdxrMPwgww
— Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) January 5, 2023
Bishop’s comms department also jumped in to knock down the fake news.
The congressman’s communications chief, Allie McCandless, quickly corrected the record, saying, “This is NOT what he said. This reporter is purposefully misconstruing the full quote.”
“Congressman Bishop said that he doesn’t plan to be on the hill for life, & that if we *eventually* can’t get the necessary changes to the institution, that he would shorten his planned tenure.”
This is NOT what he said. This reporter is purposefully misconstruing the full quote.
Congressman Bishop said that he doesn’t plan to be on the hill for life, & that if we *eventually* can’t get the necessary changes to the institution, that he would shorten his planned tenure. https://t.co/XOpxhcFm3X
— Allie McCandless ?? (@AllieMcCandless) January 5, 2023
McCandless also noted that Bishop never said he was a “never Kevin.”
This is also NOT true. Congressman Bishop told reporters yesterday that he is NOT a “never Kevin.” The second screenshot is from an outlet that actually accurately reported the conversation. pic.twitter.com/a0yV2bPZ4W
— Allie McCandless ?? (@AllieMcCandless) January 5, 2023
Fox News and the New York Post updated their articles on Bishop’s “threat” to show that the congressman had denied their previous claims.
It is clear that Bishop never said he would quit Congress if McCarthy became speaker. But the media is desperate to deepen division at any cost, even if it means misrepresenting people.
It’s no wonder that former President Donald Trump always called the media “fake news.”
Sadly, there just doesn’t seem to be any way to hold these “news” outlets to account for their lies.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.