Wolf Blitzer said "I have to assume [Powell] honestly believed" 2003 U.N. speech, ignoring evidence to contrary
On the November 29 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) said of former Secretary of State Colin Powell's February 5, 2003, speech to the United Nations Security Council, in which Powell alleged that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was involved in terrorism: "[T]he suspicion is that he and others may have known that the facts were not true." Host Wolf Blitzer replied: "You're not accusing Colin Powell of deliberately lying to the American people." Blitzer added, "I assume, knowing him as I do for so many years, that he honestly believed when he was told at the CIA that there were weapons of mass destruction stockpiles -- and he said that before the U.N. Security Council -- I have to assume he honestly believed it." Blitzer then asked Rangel, "[D]on't you believe that Colin Powell is a man of integrity that believed what he said?" Read more
MSNBC baselessly characterized Iraq Study Group's call for withdrawal "relatively soon" as "similar" to Bush's position
On the same day that President Bush said, "We're going to stay in Iraq to get the job done," MSNBC correspondent Jeannie Ohm described the reported forthcoming recommendation by the Iraq Study Group for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq as "similar to what the president has been saying." Read more
After previously endorsing Saddam's tactics, O'Reilly advocated running Iraq "much like Musharraf runs Pakistan"
On the November 28 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly said that the Bush administration should "consider allowing the Iraqi military to run the place, much like [President Pervez] Musharraf runs Pakistan." Musharraf, a general in the Pakistani army, took control of the country in a bloodless coup in 1999. After vowing to step down as his country's military leader in 2005, Musharraf reneged and now plans to stay until 2007. Read more
Scarborough labels O'Reilly's attack on NBC over "civil war" decision "insane" and "insulting"
On the November 29 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, host Joe Scarborough said that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's criticism of NBC and MSNBC for deciding to use the phrase "civil war" in describing the situation in Iraq, was "insane," "insulting," "over the top," and "very disturbing." On the November 28 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly said "the American media is not helping anyone by oversimplifying the situation and rooting for the USA to lose in Iraq." After airing the clip, Scarborough said O'Reilly is "suggesting that NBC is rooting for America to lose in Iraq" and asked: "What is going on at Fox News? Why is Bill O'Reilly claiming that my network, NBC News, is rooting for terrorists? That's truly insulting to me." Read more
O'Reilly falsely claimed he warned of the dangers of Iraqi looting "on the night that Saddam's statue fell"
On his radio show, Bill O'Reilly falsely claimed that, "on the night" Saddam Hussein's "statue fell" in Baghdad at the beginning of the war in Iraq, he publicly criticized the Bush administration for not having a postwar reconstruction plan for Iraq. In fact, on that night's edition of The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly made no mention of looting or the difficulty of reconstructing Iraq, though he did ask a guest to comment on plans to "stabilize Baghdad." Read more
Wash. Post headline -- "Bush, Maliki Put off Meeting" -- inconsistent with article saying Iraqis, Jordanians called off talks
The New York Times' November 30 article on the last-minute decision by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and Jordan's King Abdullah II to bow out of the previous day's scheduled summit with President Bush featured the headline: "Iraq's Premier Abruptly Skips a Bush Session." While the Times' headline clearly indicated that Maliki had chosen to "skip" the summit (thereby delaying his meeting with Bush until November 30), The Washington Post proclaimed: "Bush, Maliki Put off Meeting" -- suggesting that the decision to postpone the meeting was mutual. The Los Angeles Times proclaimed that the November 29 summit was "canceled" -- offering no indication that Maliki had backed out of the meeting. Read more
O'Reilly, appearing on 700 Club: Catholic Church "very silent in the culture war"
On the November 30 edition of the Christian Broadcasting Network's (CBN) The 700 Club, during a discussion about Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's views on a purported "culture war," 700 Club host Pat Robertson asked O'Reilly, "[W]hy don't ['traditionalists'] stand up and fight these people ['secular-progressives']?" O'Reilly replied that "I ask that question about my own church. ... The Roman Catholic Church has been very silent in the culture war." Robertson did not respond to O'Reilly's contention about the Catholic Church. Read more
Conservatives attack animated penguin movie as global-warming propaganda
Cultural conservatives, led by CNN's Glenn Beck, Fox News' Neil Cavuto, and syndicated talk-show host Michael Medved, have all criticized Happy Feet, the new Warner Bros. animated movie about Mumble, the tap-dancing penguin, because they say the movie is laced with liberal overtones and tries to "indoctrinate" children. Specifically, conservatives claim the movie is pushing a global-warming agenda. Yet the film makes no references to global warming. Instead, the movie's conservationist subplot revolves around Mumble's attempt to combat man-made pollution and overfishing in his quest to help his fellow penguins. The blockbuster movie, which has already earned more than $100 million in U.S. ticket sales, is silent regarding the issue of global warming. Read more
Savage: "[S]wine" at Media Matters "take me out of context"
On the November 29 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage called Media Matters for America a "group of swine ... who take me out of context," during a segment in which he smeared former President Jimmy Carter. Savage cited no example in which Media Matters took his statements out of context. Read more
Savage: Congressman swearing on Quran represents "the tyranny of the psycho, whacked-out minority"
On the November 28 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show The Savage Nation, host Michael Savage compared reports that incoming Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) "won't swear to uphold the oath of office on the Bible, but on the Quran instead" to "[a] witch get[ting] elected" and saying "she's gonna only be sworn in with her hand over a pentagram." Savage called Ellison's reported decision to be sworn in with a Quran "the tyranny of the psycho, whacked-out minority." Read more
Repeating omission of Wash. Post, NY Times ignored GOP decision to punt on spending bills, "gum up" Democrats' agenda
On November 29, The Washington Post reported that incoming Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged to work with Democrats on parts of their agenda but failed to mention the decision by congressional GOP leaders to put off work on several government spending bills for fiscal year 2007 until Democrats take control of the Congress next year. The day after, in its profile of McConnell, The New York Times followed suit. Read more
Wash. Post identified Harman as "strong-on-defense" Democrat
In a November 29 article about incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) decision to pass over Reps. Jane Harman (D-CA) and Alcee Hasting (D-FL) to chair the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the 110th Congress, The Washington Post identified Harman as a "strong-on-defense 'Blue Dog' Democrat," drawing an implicit distinction with the average, presumably "weak-on-defense" Democrat. The Post's characterization echoes a practice previously noted by Media Matters for America of the media's labeling of those in favor of the Iraq invasion as "pro-military" or supportive of the troops, in implicit contrast with those who opposed it or now support withdrawal as somehow "anti-military" or not supportive of the troops. Read more
No comments:
Post a Comment