On the November 11 edition of CNN's This Week at War, during a discussion with CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash, host and CNN senior national correspondent John Roberts asserted that the Democrats' desire to study the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group was tantamount to "hoping that somebody else might do the work for them." Roberts made his comments during a discussion on whether the Democrats have "a viable plan for Iraq" because, according to Roberts, "they really went into this election with no cohesive plan." Read more
A New York Times article on Sen. John McCain's proposal to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq ignored a key question: whether the strategy is even feasible, given that McCain has asserted that the fate of the U.S. effort in Iraq will be decided in a matter of months and yet acknowledged that sending 20,000 more soldiers into the region would require increasing active forces by 100,000. CNN's Wolf Blitzer similarly ignored the question of whether the plan is achievable. Read more
Russert failed to challenge McCain's Iraq, ethanol claims
Meet the Press host Tim Russert failed to challenge Sen. John McCain on the feasibility of his call for sending more U.S. troops to Iraq and his statement that "[w]e're either going to lose this thing or win this thing within the next several months." Russert also failed to note that at the time McCain made a 2005 statement that ethanol mandates are "harmful" and "will result in higher gasoline costs for states," the price of oil had risen past the threshold at which McCain had previously claimed that ethanol mandates "make sense." Read more
A November 13 Washington Times editorial touted a November 10 London Times article that asserted -- without citing support -- that "the frontline soldiers in Iraq" are dismayed by Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation as defense secretary, primarily because they are concerned it would lead to a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. In fact, as blogger Greg Sargent noted, the London Times quoted no soldiers actually saying they "fear[ed] Rumsfeld's exit will end their Iraq mission" and cited "a grand total of two soldiers [who] praised Rumsfeld," one of whom called his impending departure a "blow to the military." Sargent commented: "How's that for scientific research?" Read more
CNN's T.J. Holmes identified guest Jenny Backus as a "Democratic strategist" but introduced fellow guest Amy Holmes only as a "political analyst," ignoring her Republican ties. T.J. Holmes also failed to challenge Amy Holmes's assertion that "many of the Democrats who were just elected, especially to the House," are socially conservative" and "pro-life"; in fact, only five of the newly elected Democrats who defeated Republican incumbents or have been elected to open seats previously held by Republicans have identified themselves as "pro-life." Read more
Blitzer baselessly promoted McCain, Graham as "a little bit of mavericks"
CNN's Wolf Blitzer said of Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, "many would regard them [as] a little bit of mavericks." Despite McCain's widely held reputation for being willing to diverge from President Bush, Media Matters has repeatedly documented instances in which McCain has supported President Bush or changed his position to support Bush; the same is true of Graham. Read more
On November 12, Reuters reported that Chad Castagana had been arrested in California for "mailing threatening letters containing a suspicious white powder to celebrities and U.S. politicians," including House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), talk show host David Letterman, Comedy Central's Daily Show host Jon Stewart, and MSNBC's Countdown host Keith Olbermann. The day after, the weblog Sadly, No! noted that Castagana was a contributor to the conservative website FreeRepublic.com and provided a link that it said was to Castagana's biography. However, the link leads to a FreeRepublic.com page that says, "This account has been banned or suspended." But despite the Associated Press' reporting on November 13 that Castagana faced "a two-count complaint of sending threats and ... hoaxes by mail," only six media outlets noted Castagana's arrest: Reuters, the AP, the Los Angeles Times, Roll Call (subscription required), USA Today, and Countdown. Moreover, in reporting on Castagana's arrest, only the AP, Roll Call and Countdown noted that, as the AP reported, "FBI agent Mary Hogan said in the affidavit that Castagana 'described himself as a compulsive voter who votes Republican, and he said that he sent the letters to specific individuals because he did not like their liberal politics.' " Neither Reuters, the Times, nor USA Today mentioned any possible motivation for Castagana's actions and none of the media reports mentioned Castagana's reported ties to FreeRepublic.com. All reports noted that the white powder was tested and found to be nonhazardous. Read more
Kurtz continuing pattern of using questions to advance GOP talking points and suggest "liberal media bias"
On Reliable Sources, Howard Kurtz continued his pattern of raising the issue of media bias by repeating conservative claims in the form of questions when he asked on November 12 if "journalists [are] quietly rejoicing over the Democratic takeover of Congress." He then wondered: "[W]ill they cover Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid as aggressively as they once scrutinized Newt Gingrich?" Read more
Matthews asked if Pelosi is "going to castrate Steny Hoyer" if he becomes majority leader
On the November 13 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews asked New York Daily News columnist Mike Barnicle if Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the presumptive speaker-elect of the House of Representatives, was "going to castrate [Rep.] Steny Hoyer [D-MD]" if Hoyer is elected House majority leader in the 110th Congress. Read more
Michael Reagan: Rather than allow Bush to get "credit for ending the war in Iraq," Dems prefer to leave Iraq "in play at least through the 2008 election cycle so that they can use it as a wedge issue"
Introducing an interview with conservative radio host Michael Reagan on the November 13 edition of Fox News' Your World, host Neil Cavuto claimed that President Bush is "reaching out to congressional Democrats for ideas on how to handle Iraq," but that according to Reagan, "Democrats really don't want to see the problem solved because they do not want the president to get the credit." Indeed, Reagan asserted that Democrats "don't want this president to get the credit for ending the war in Iraq at all," adding that Democrats would prefer to "make Iraq stay in play at least through the 2008 election cycle so that they can use it as a wedge issue to, in fact, win the presidency in 2008." Read more
A November 13 New York Post editorial argued that Democrats "have an obligation to demonstrate conclusively to America's enemies that they don't have allies on Capitol Hill," but have "sent precisely the opposite signal" by indicating they will block John Bolton's nomination as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The editorial approvingly noted Sen. George Voinovich's (R-OH) "warning" that he could not "imagine a worse message to send to the terrorists and to other nations deciding whether to engage in [fighting terrorism] than to . . . replace" Bolton. The editorial then asserted that this was not an "idle warning," citing recent statements by Iran, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Al Qaeda in Iraq, and "former Gitmo [Guantánamo Bay] detainees [who] moved to bring criminal charges in Germany against top Bush administration officials." The statements, the editorial argued, represented not only a "postelection pile-on against" President Bush, but "may also represent a genuine belief that the Democrats ... will go soft in the War on Terror." Read more
NBC's Reid, MSNBC's Carlson focused on Democratic "divisions" over leadership elections, ignored this year's second GOP leadership battle
In reporting and commenting on the Democratic leadership elections for the upcoming session of Congress, specifically the contest between Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and John P. Murtha (D-PA) for House majority leader, NBC News congressional correspondent Chip Reid and MSNBC host Tucker Carslon portrayed these elections as evidence that the Democrats are lacking "unity" and are "divided." Reid and Carlson ignored, however, the "divisions" caused by the Republicans' reshuffling of their leadership in Congress. Read more
Nationally syndicated Savage to listeners: "The radical homosexual agenda ... threaten[s] your very survival"
On the November 13 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage declared that "[t]he radical homosexual agenda will not stop until religion is outlawed in this county," adding that gay people "threaten your very survival." Savage also stated that homosexuals are "all not nice decorators" and warned: "Gay marriage is just the tip of the iceberg. They want full and total subjugation of this society to their agenda." Read more
NY Times' Nagourney, Fox News' Angle reported on new RNC chair Martinez, ignored Schiavo memo and controversial campaign tactics
In their reports on Sen. Mel Martinez's decision to take over as chairman of the Republican National Committee, The New York Times' Adam Nagourney and Fox News' Jim Angle made no reference to Martinez's admission that his office authored a controversial memo in the Terri Schiavo case and also did not mention the controversy surrounding Martinez's campaign tactics in 2004. Read more
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