Star corrects “beheadings” story

by David Safier

Whether it came from this morning's posts on BfA or other sources, Bodfield has posted an online correction or clarification (take your pick) to this morning's Star story about Brewer's beheadings claims, including the video clip I posted. That clip makes it absolutely certain, Brewer was talking about beheadings in Arizona, which didn't happen.

Bodfield's post in its entirety:

In a story that ran this morning, Gov. Jan Brewer insisted that her statements about beheadings had been misquoted or taken out of context.

“I never said 'Arizona,’ and it's unfortunate that it was construed as ‘Arizona,’” she said.

Perhaps the first time, when the issue first surfaced back in mid-June, when she told Fox News that the state “cannot afford all this illegal immigration….and the drugs and the kidnappings and the extortion and the beheadings.”

True, there was no specific reference to Arizona in that comment. Presumably, Brewer could have been talking about being afraid of a future spillover into Arizona.

But her comments were unequivocal later that month, when she showed up on “Sunday Square Off” with host Brahm Resnik.

He said “which beheadings in Arizona were you referring to?” — noting he was unable to find any law enforcement sources to back that up.

Brewer responded, “Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert, either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded.”

See for yourself:

(h/t to AzBlueMeanie for catching Bodfield's post)

NOTE: For the sake of clarity, I should say that Bodfield's post referred to a Howard Kurtz Fischer article, not hers. The part of Kurtz's Fischer's article that referred to the video clip was edited out of the Star version. [Note to self: If you're writing about someone making corrections, then you add an extra note for clarity, don't screw up on people's names. Sorry about writing "Howard Kurtz" instead of Howard Fischer.]