Norah O'Donnell's Faulty Memory: Falsely Asserts Michelle Obama 'Never' Said She Wasn't Proud of U.S.

Published: 10/15/2010 6:16 PM ET

According to MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell, Michelle Obama "never said that she had not been proud of her country." The cable host on Friday disingenuously spun for the First Lady while reporting on a speech Sarah Palin gave in California.

In fact, on February 18, 2008, Mrs. Obama addressed a crowd in Wisconsin and announced, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country, and not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change." [See video. MP3 audio here.]

On Thursday, Palin wondered, "You know, when I hear people say or had said during the campaign, that they had never been proud of America until, until that time, I think haven't they met anybody in uniform yet?" This prompted O'Donnell, during a supposedly straight news report, to chide, "Of course, Mrs. Obama never said that. She never said that she had not been proud of her country."

Now, perhaps O'Donnell was trying to argue grammatical semantics over the words "really" or "adult lifetime." But, clearly, Obama was saying that she hadn't previously been proud of America.

Of course, Norah O'Donnell is the same person who berated then-17-year old Jackie Seal for her support of Palin.

A transcript of the October 15 segment, which aired at 12:53pm EDT, follows:

NORAH O'DONNELL: Sarah Palin is throwing out punches ahead of the midterm elections. During a speech to the Conservative Liberty and Freedom Foundation in San Jose last night, the former Alaskan governor took a shots at some comments made by First Lady Michelle Obama.

SARAH PALIN: You know, when I hear people say or had said during the campaign, that they had never been proud of America until, until that time, I think haven't they met anybody in uniform yet?

NORAH O'DONNELL: Of course, Mrs. Obama never said that. She never said that she had not been proud of her country. But anyway, the vast majority of Palin's 40 minute ,speech was a critique of President Obama's policies and also some jokes about her daughter's appearance on Dancing With the Stars.