Utah Republican Orrin Hatch went straight to the source on the Senate floor Thursday in a speech opposing a proposal targeting hate crimes -- the source anyone can edit, that is.
Hatch was speaking about legislation by Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy, which he believes would be "unwise, unnecessary and unconstitutional." To make one of his points, he cited the definition of "gender identity" on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia edited by readers around the globe.
The site has been used lately for a variety of political tricks. But it's not often that a politician cites the resource in discussions about policy. That may have something to do with the running disputes about its accuracy.
At one point last year, the Wikipedia entry for Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., claimed he was 180 years old. The entry cited by Hatch, though, closely mirrored the one for the same topic in Encyclopedia Britannica.
Hatch, himself a musician, finished his speech about the hate crimes bill by invoking the Rolling Stones classic, "You Can't Always Get What You Want." In that song, Mick Jagger reminds us that if we try sometimes, we can get what we need.
This nugget of wisdom might have applied to what he was saying about the bill, but it certainly doesn't seem to work for Wikipedia. Because if you can't find what you want there, can't you just write something up yourself and say that it's true? -- Michael Martinez
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