Olbermann only MSNBC prime-time anchor absent from special election coverage
A Media Matters for America review of MSNBC's daytime Battleground America coverage found that while prime-time anchors Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough, and Tucker Carlson have all participated in MSNBC's special midterm election coverage, Keith Olbermann has been absent. Read more
Network evening newscasts selectively cited polls to claim GOP is "closing the gap"
On November 6, all three major network evening news broadcasts pointed to "new polling" to assert that the midterm elections are "tightening." In doing so, these outlets ignored several polls released during the same period that indicate the gap between Democrats and Republicans is stable or widening. Read more
Media repeat GOP attacks on Pelosi as "extreme," "out of touch," ignoring House Dems' widely supported legislative agenda
For months, Republicans and conservative media figures have attacked House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA) by claiming that Pelosi, who would likely be elected speaker should Democrats gain control of the House of Representatives after the November 7 elections, is "extreme," "out of touch," and outside the "mainstream." These attacks have often been repeated uncritically in the media, despite the actual legislative agenda Pelosi has offered in the event that Democrats take the House, which boasts initiatives that draw broad support from the American public. Read more
MSNBC's Carlson compared allegations of abuse against Republicans Gibbons, Sherwood to Clinton's Lewinsky affair
On MSNBC's Battleground America, discussing races in which the Republican candidate has been accused of physical abuse, Tucker Carlson stated, "I thought, post-Clinton, your personal sexual conduct was not supposed to be relevant to anything unless you broke the law," adding: "[I]t's very odd all of a sudden to see Democrats attacking Republicans for their weird sex lives -- basically." Read more
Falwell: "[T]here's some great and godly men and women in the Congress, but for every one of them, there's a Hillary Clinton ... [and] a Nancy Pelosi"
During his November 5 televised sermon about apostates, Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder and chairman of the Moral Majority Coalition, stated, "[Y]ou go to Washington -- there's some great and godly men and women in the Congress, but for every one of them, there's a Hillary Clinton. For every one of them, there's a Nancy Pelosi." Falwell added: "Imagine 'San Francisco Pelosi' speaker of the House." Read more
On NPR, WSJ's Wessel claimed Democrats can either "govern" or conduct oversight, suggesting the two are different and mutually exclusive
The Wall Street Journal's David Wessel baselessly asserted that if the Democrats "actually want to accomplish anything," should they gain control of one or both houses of Congress on November 7, they will "have to decide what they want to do." "Do they what they want to spend the next two years investigating and overseeing the Bush administration? Or do they want to govern and try to show that they can get something done?" He stated that "it is an either/or" question. Read more
Tucker Carlson: "Kean has made it pretty clear that Senator Menendez is a dues-paying member of the Mafia"
On the November 5 edition of MSNBC's Decision 2006: Battleground America, host Tucker Carlson said that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) is leading Republican challenger Tom Kean Jr. in the polls because "[President] Bush is, I guess, less popular than the Mafia in New Jersey" and asserted that "Kean has made it pretty clear that Senator Menendez is a dues-paying member of the Mafia." Carlson also repeated Kean's charge that Menendez is "under federal criminal investigation," even though, as Media Matters for America has noted, CBS News reported on October 26 that "it is unclear whether the allegation is true." He was responding to a report by MSNBC correspondent JJ Ramberg in which she described the campaign as "Kean saying, 'Hey, a vote for Menendez is a vote for dirty politics,' and Menendez saying, 'Listen, a vote for Kean is just a vote for George Bush.' " Ramberg also noted that "Menendez says none of those accusations [made by Kean] are substantiated." Read more
Fox & Friends crew ignored Cheney, Bush unpopularity as reasons they're not appearing with candidates
On Fox & Friends First, Kelly Wright suggested that Vice President Dick Cheney's decision to spend Election Day "in Wyoming," rather than on the campaign trail, could be a "sign" that Cheney "isn't worried or nervous at all about the outcome of tomorrow's election." Other anchors also uncritically stated that the reason Florida gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist is not appearing with President Bush at a campaign rally is "so he can hit other cities." None of the anchors mentioned the fact that both have low approval ratings -- Cheney nationally and Bush in Florida. Read more
MSNBC's Mitchell cherry-picked polls to claim "GOP gaining ground"; CNN's O'Brien ignored own polling to claim race is "tightening"
On the November 6 edition of MSNBC's election special, Decision 2006: Battleground America, host and NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell asserted that new national polls "show Republicans gaining ground." She went on to cite three recent surveys -- from the Pew Research Center, Washington Post/ABC News, and USA Today/Gallup -- that found Republicans within four, six, and seven percentage points, respectively, of Democrats on the generic congressional ballot. But as Bloomberg Washington managing editor Al Hunt noted in response, there are several other recent polls that show Democrats with leads in excess of 15 percentage points, including those from Time, CNN, and even MSNBC's news partner, Newsweek. Read more
CNN correspondent claimed Burns "highly respected in the state of Montana," ignored polls showing most voters disapprove of him
On the November 6 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN/U.S. correspondent Christopher Lawrence baselessly asserted that Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) is "highly respected in the state of Montana," but that "he is vulnerable because of his ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff." As reported by the Associated Press on November 24, 2005, Burns is "tie[d]" to Abramoff, having "collected nearly $150,000 in Abramoff-related donations between 2001 and 2004." However, Lawrence did not note that recent polling indicates that most people in Montana disapprove of Burns and nearly half view him unfavorably, or that Burns's "ties" to Abramoff are not his sole political liability. Additionally, Lawrence said that Burns's Democratic opponent, Jon Tester, is "not your typical Democrat," because he is a "third-generation farmer" and "runs a butcher shop," suggesting that few Democrats hold similar occupations. Read more
On Today, Matthews touted market as "up around 13,000," misleadingly suggested Bush is popular in most Western states
Appearing on NBC's Today, Chris Matthews claimed the economy is "fabulous" based on his false assertion that the "market's up around 13,000." In fact, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 11,986.04 on November 3. Matthews also misleadingly suggested President Bush is popular in most Western states and that the Iraq war "isn't terrifically hated" in Missouri. Read more
MSNBC's O'Donnell cherry-picked polls that favor GOP
During an interview with Howard Dean, Norah O'Donnell selectively cited polls to suggest that the Democratic advantage in the generic congressional ballot has been considerably reduced. However, several other recent polls show Democrats with leads in excess of 15 percentage points. Read more
Fox News correspondent on his on-air "waterboarding": "a pretty efficient mechanism to get someone to talk and then still have them alive and healthy within minutes"
Fox News' Steve Harrigan underwent what he described as three "phase[s]" of the controversial interrogation technique known as "waterboarding," on camera, concluding that the technique is "a pretty efficient mechanism to get someone to talk and then still have them alive and healthy within minutes." Psychologists have asserted that "such forms of near-asphyxiation" can lead to long-term psychological damage. Read more
Print media fail to note that Saddam verdict released two days before U.S. elections despite unfinished judgment
In their coverage of Saddam Hussein's November 5 guilty verdict, several print news outlets reported U.S. officials' assertions that the announcement had not been timed to coincide with the midterm elections but ignored reporting that conflicts with these denials -- in particular, the fact that the full verdict in Saddam's trial is not set to be released until November 9. Read more
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