Cokie Roberts has a real problem sticking to facts, especially when the facts support Democrats. During the VP debate, I heard a word I didn’t know, and so I looked it up. Took me about 5 seconds to discover that Bosniaks is a valid word. Apparently, Ms. Roberts doesn’t know how to use any of the internets or their traditions.
During coverage of the October 2 vice-presidential debate on PBS’ Charlie Rose, Rose asked, “Did either of them make any mistakes that you noticed?” National Public Radio senior news analyst Cokie Roberts responded that Sen. Joe Biden “talked about the Bosniaks.” Roberts later said: “[I]f [Gov. Sarah Palin] had said ‘Bosniak,’ everybody would be making a big deal of it, you know.” In fact, Biden correctly referred to certain residents of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Bosniaks. According to the U.S. State Department, as of 2002, the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina consisted of the following ethnic groups: “Bosniak 48.3%, Serb 34.0%, Croat 15.4%, others 2.3%.”
The CIA World Factbook states: “Bosniak has replaced Muslim as an ethnic term in part to avoid confusion with the religious term Muslim — an adherent of Islam.”
[From Media Matters – On PBS, Cokie Roberts falsely suggested Biden’s reference to “Bosniaks” was a gaffe]
Cokie Roberts has never heard a Republican talking point she won’t repeat.