GQ Magazine was forced to issue a correction after one of its columnists misidentified former segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace as a Republican in an effort to smear the GOP as racist.
Laura Bassett, who also writes as freelance political reporter, wrote a Wednesday op-ed titled “The Anti-Abortion Movement Was Always Built on Lies,” attempting to chronicle evangelical efforts in building up the pro-life movement. The crux of Bassett’s piece rests on the foundation that the pro-life movement was “bought and paid for the Christian right,” to morph the Republican Party into the pro-life party.
While explaining the party’s historical support for legal abortion, Bassett used the example of Wallace as a Republican governor whose promotion of abortion was motivated by Republicans’ intent to stop “breeding children as a cash crop,” to collect more in government handouts. Only one problem: Wallace was one of the biggest 20th century stars of the Democratic Party, and by no means a Republican.
“Correction 5/21: An earlier version of this piece misstated that George Wallace was a Republican. We regret the error,” the magazine was forced to concede.
Wallace ran for president four times, including in three Democratic primaries in 1964, 1972, and 1976. In 1968, Wallace ran as a third-party independent.
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1263509841269702657?s=20
Lifelong Republican™️ George Wallace speaking at the 1972 Republican National Convention: https://t.co/vhzgyuUmCu pic.twitter.com/i3ArQmSG1w
— NeverTweet (@LOLNeverTweet) May 21, 2020
Lol the wild part about this is that it wasn't just a typo or passing error. In the context of the full paragraph, she's using Wallace as an example of broader GOP trends… meaning she really believed he was a Republican and GQ really didn't catch the mistake. https://t.co/xz80HeTc1i
— Emily Jashinsky (@emilyjashinsky) May 21, 2020
