O'Reilly again cited Obama's National Journal ranking without noting rankings' subjectivity http://mediamatters.org/items/200807100001 On the July 8 editions of both his radio and television programs, Fox News' 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. On his radio show, O'Reilly said of Obama: "You know, his voting record is very left -- the most left-wing senator in the country, according to the National Journal." Later that day on his Fox News television show, after Fox News contributor Marc Lamont Hill claimed that Obama is "a centrist masquerading as a leftist," O'Reilly asked Hill: "Isn't that deceitful, though? ... If he [Obama] really is a centrist and not a leftist, and his voting record is the most liberal in the Senate?" The next day on his television program, in response to Fox News contributor Dick Morris' claim that Obama will "be forced by Congress to go to the left, just like [President] Bill Clinton was when he was elected in 1992," O'Reilly replied, "[H]e's the most liberal senator anyway. You're not forcing a guy out of his milieu. He's a liberal guy. That's what he is." In no instance did O'Reilly note that the Journal's 2007 Vote Ratings were based not on all votes cast by senators in 2007, but on "99 key Senate votes, selected by NJ reporters and editors, to place every senator on a liberal-to-conservative scale." In contrast to the National Journal rankings, a study by political science professors Keith Poole and Jeff Lewis, using every non-unanimous vote cast in the Senate in 2007 to determine relative ideology, placed Obama in a tie for the ranking of 10th most liberal senator. In a June 16 PolitiFact.com article analyzing the Journal ratings, St. Petersburg Times Washington bureau chief and PolitiFact editor Bill Adair reported that National Journal editor Charles Green "says voters shouldn't rely on a single rating to determine a candidate's ideology" and quoted Green as saying, "There's pluses and minuses to each rating system. If you look at a number of them, I think you have a pretty good picture." American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Norman J. Ornstein has also criticized the National Journal's rating of Obama, calling it "pretty ridiculous." Media Matters for America has repeatedly documented instances (here, here, here, here and here) in which media figures -- including O'Reilly and Fox News contributor Karl Rove during a discussion with O'Reilly on The O'Reilly Factor -- have cited or referred to the National Journal ratings without noting their subjectivity. On the January 31 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly said of Obama: "[H]e's the most liberal senator ... in the country, according to National Journal." On the February 11 O'Reilly Factor, Rove said: "Well, you know, my gut tells me that over the long haul, Obama is -- look, he is inexperienced and does not have what is needed to be the commander in chief. And he's the most liberal member of the United States Senate." From the July 8 edition of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly: O'REILLY: Al Qaeda sent in, Carly, to Iraq, its big jihadist divisions and they were in there and they got -- and are getting -- their butt kicked. They're getting killed and captured and decimating the whole organization. So now you have a fragmented organization that can't basically mount much because their money is under siege everywhere. It's a very intense geopolitical struggle. I think we had a misstep in Iraq -- that we went in way too hard to a country that didn't appreciate it at first -- maybe they do now, I don't know. That it was not worth the blood and treasure, that we could have expended that other places and been more effective. You're right there. But now is now. And Barack Obama's gotta get in the world -- in the real world. He -- and that's what I think he's trying to message is I think to moderates and to people who are still undecided about him. "Look, I'm not some left-wing guy. I understand the danger." I think that's the message he wants to put out. But the fact remains is, are we buying that or not? You know, his voting record is very left -- the most left-wing senator in the country, according to the National Journal. All right, good questions. Thank you, Carly, that was a good discussion. I appreciate you calling. 1-877-9-NO-SPIN. We'll be back with more of your calls and comments in a moment. From the July 8 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor: HILL: But this goes back to the point that I've been making all along. Although I think that Barack Obama is a much better choice than John McCain, I've always said that he's a centrist masquerading as a leftist. And so, all of these positions, whether it's public financing, whether it's Iraqis slowly moved in a different direction, because he's a pragmatist. He -- O'REILLY: Isn't that deceitful, though? If he really is a centrist and not a leftist, and his voting record is the most liberal in the Senate? Isn't that deceitful? HILL: It -- it's like I said to you a few weeks ago after the Father's Day speech. I think that he is a politician. He is not the change agent. To me, Barack Obama is the best of a bunch of political siblings, not entirely new breed of candidate. From the July 9 edition of The O'Reilly Factor: MORRIS: And I believe that he'll govern to the left, whether he likes it or not. You don't have to be a psychoanalyst and put him on the couch and say, who's the real Barack Obama? You just have to look at the Democratic Congress. There will be such an overwhelming Democratic majority in the Congress. In the Senate, I think you're looking at a minimum of 55 Democratic senators, and there could be as many as 62. That and the House will extend the Democratic margin by 20 or 30 points that he's going to be forced by Congress to go to the left, just like Bill Clinton was when he was elected in 1992. O'REILLY: But he doesn't -- I mean, he's the most liberal senator anyway. You're not forcing a guy out of his milieu. He's a liberal guy. That's what he is. MORRIS: Well, he was from a -- he is a liberal, and in Fleeced, we spell out chapter and verse about that. | 
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