| Here are today's news items from Media Matters for America, click on the title or 'read more' to read the entirety of each story. O'Reilly again cited Obama's National Journal ranking without noting rankings' subjectivity
On both his radio and television shows, Bill O'Reilly again cited Sen. Barack Obama's ranking by the National Journal as the "most liberal senator" for 2007, without noting the rankings' subjectivity. O'Reilly did not note that the rankings were based not on every vote cast by senators in 2007, but rather on "99 key Senate votes, selected by NJ reporters and editors, to place every senator on a liberal-to-conservative scale." Read More Hannity distorted Clinton's remarks about Mandela, falsely cited it as part of "a series of attacks" on McCain's "military record"
On Hannity & Colmes, Sean Hannity aired a deceptively cropped statement from Bill Clinton's remarks at the Aspen Ideas Festival in asserting that Clinton was "obviously taking a shot at Senator [John] McCain," omitting the context showing that Clinton was discussing what Nelson Mandela means to him. Hannity also falsely asserted that Clinton's statement and recent comments by Wesley Clark were part of "a series of attacks on Senator McCain's military record." Read More USA Today described McCain's immigration reversal simply as McCain "placing more of an emphasis on border security"
In an article about appearances by Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama at the LULAC conference, USA Today reported that McCain "began placing more of an emphasis on border security during the primaries." But McCain's current position "to secure the borders first" is not just a change of "emphasis"; it is at odds with his prior position that border security could not be disaggregated from other aspects of immigration reform without being rendered ineffective. Read More ABC's Gibson repeatedly prodded McCain to brand Obama "a flip-flopper"
During an interview with Sen. John McCain aired on ABC's World News, Charles Gibson asked McCain whether he "see[s]" Sen. Barack Obama "shifting positions." Gibson also asked McCain, "You're not ready, yet, to call him a flip-flopper?" But at no during the interview World News aired did Gibson ask McCain about the multiple instances in which McCain has "flip-floppe[d]." Read More Liddy: Obama wants your child to "speak fluent illegal alien"
On the July 9 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, while discussing a July 8 speech in which Sen. Barack Obama discussed the importance of learning a second language, G. Gordon Liddy claimed that Obama "wants you to be sure your child can speak fluent illegal alien." He added: "Sadly, with every legal and cultural step we take to make our life more immediately convenient for non-English-speaking illegal aliens, we merely feed the beast." Liddy later stated: " 'Round here, let's see, I speak some French, some German as well as English. Franklin [Liddy's producer] speaks fluent French, fluent Italian, as well as English. But none of us here, so far as I know, speak illegal alien." Read More Washingtonpost.com's Cillizza mischaracterized Kerry's statement about McCain's Swift Boat connection
Washingtonpost.com's Chris Cillizza falsely suggested that Sen. John Kerry's call for Sen. John McCain to "cut ties" with retired Col. George "Bud" Day stemmed from Day's defense of McCain's military service in Vietnam. In fact, Kerry's statement called for McCain to sever ties with Day after Day described the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacks on Kerry in 2004 -- attacks Cillizza noted McCain denounced at the time -- as "revelation of the truth." Read More CNN aired McCain's false suggestion that Obama opposed designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group
CNN anchors Kyra Phillips and Campbell Brown each uncritically aired Sen. John McCain's false suggestion that Sen. Barack Obama opposed designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. In fact, Obama co-sponsored a bill in 2007 that would have designated the group a terrorist organization. Read More O'Reilly claimed "when Katrina hit, none of the oil rigs spilled in Louisiana," but didn't note that 5,552 barrels spilled into Gulf
On his radio program, Bill O'Reilly stated, "Remember when Katrina hit, none of the oil rigs spilled in Louisiana." However, O'Reilly did not note that according to a report prepared for the federal government by an international consulting firm, Hurricane Katrina resulted in 70 spills from outer continental shelf structures with a total volume of approximately 5,552 barrels of oil and petroleum products, including 27 spills from platforms and rigs that resulted in the spilling of approximately 2,843 barrels of petroleum. Read More Wash. Post's Balz reported that Obama's advisers find the National Journal's ratings "faulty," but didn't explain why
In a Washington Post analysis of Sen. Barack Obama, Dan Balz wrote that "[t]he National Journal rated [Obama] the most liberal member of the Senate last year," but that "[h]is advisers say the rating system is faulty." Balz did not explain why the Obama campaign has described the ratings as "faulty," or note that it is not just people associated with the Obama campaign who have criticized the Journal's ratings. Read More Angle uncritically reported Hatch's remarks downplaying reach of government's warrantless eavesdropping program
On Special Report, Jim Angle reported that during debate on the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, "Senator Orrin Hatch dismissed the idea that the intelligence agencies were trying to listen to anyone other than those with terrorist connections" and aired a clip of Hatch stating, "I don't want to bruise anyone's ego, but if Al Qaeda is not on your speed dial, the government is probably not interested in you." Angle did not note that several news articles have reported that surveillance under the government's warrantless eavesdropping program was not limited to those with "Al Qaeda on [their] speed dial," but also included thousands of Americans with no ties to any terrorist group. Read More ABC anchors asked Obama and McCain about Obama's alleged "shifting positions," but not McCain's
On the July 9 edition of Good Morning America, Diane Sawyer introduced a question to Sen. Barack Obama about Iraq by stating, "[S]ome of your core supporters have been saying that they sense that you are shifting positions, and you've gotten quite a drubbing on a couple of fronts." However, Sawyer did not ask Obama about any of Sen. John McCain's "shifting positions." In an interview that aired later that day on World News, Charles Gibson asked McCain about McCain's criticism of Obama for what Gibson characterized as "changing position on a number of ... issues" and whether McCain is "ready, yet, to call him [Obama] a flip-flopper," but did not ask McCain about McCain's reversals. Read More Dobbs referred to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom as a "little darling," a "precious darling," and a "precious fraud"
On his CNN program, Lou Dobbs referred to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom as a "little darling" three times and as a "precious darling" and a "precious fraud" while criticizing him over San Francisco's policy regarding undocumented immigrants. Read More |
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