Olbermann gave Morris "Worst Person" "bronze" for still pushing Obama-Clinton smear
On the January 30 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann gave Fox News political analyst Dick Morris the "bronze" in his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment because Morris "said he believes somebody close to the [Sen. Hillary Rodham] Clinton [D-NY] war room indeed planted the made-up story" that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) attended a madrassa, as Media Matters for America documented. Olbermann criticized Morris for saying this after Fox News "decided it had corrected its crappy reporting on the phony story about Senator Obama and an Islamic training school, and its crappy reporting on the phony story that Senator Clinton's people had spread the other phony story." The previous day, Olbermann named Fox News senior vice president of programming Bill Shine the "runner-up" in the "Worst Person" segment for "offering a sort-of apology" on the Obama-Clinton smear. Olbermann said that Shine "[l]eft out" "the fact that while clarifying the story Fox also reported that Senator Clinton had, quote, 'reportedly outed Obama's madrassa past.' " Read more
Matthews claimed Clinton and Democrats "will be saluting" war with Iran
On the January 30 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, during an interview with Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), host Chris Matthews claimed that he is "afraid we're going to get up some morning, we're going to be at war with Iran, [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY] will be saluting, the rest of the Democrats will be saluting, and the American people will never have had any role in this." As Media Matters for America noted, Matthews has previously claimed that Clinton would be "saluting the president" if President Bush ordered an attack on Iran, despite Clinton's stated position advocating diplomacy regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions. Read more
O'Reilly: "Hillary just looks like a zombie" during SOTU
On the January 30 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, during the weekly "Body Language" segment with Fox News body language expert Tonya Reiman, host Bill O'Reilly stated that "[Sen.] Hillary [Rodham Clinton (D-NY)] just look[ed] like a zombie" during part of President Bush's State of the Union address. Reiman then analyzed Clinton's body language during a January 28 speech in Davenport, Iowa, in which Clinton responded to a question by asking: "What, in my background, equips me to deal with evil and bad men?" While watching video of Clinton making the joke, Reiman said: "Watch how she sways back and forth. It's almost childlike, the way she moves back and forth." Reiman then claimed that Clinton was in a "little-girl posture." O'Reilly responded: "Right. 'I'm bad, I'm bad.' " Read more
Chris Matthews on "trick[iness]" for Giuliani of "land[ing] a punch against a woman" in a debate
On the January 29 edition of Hardball, host Chris Matthews asked Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci (R), who has endorsed former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) for president, how Giuliani could "go into a debate with [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY] and land a punch against a woman." Matthews continued: "Isn't that going to be tricky for somebody like Rudy, who knows how to land a punch, to go up ... against a woman?" Matthews later told Cellucci, "I love being in the corner -- as a corner man with you." Read more
Major print media ignored Fallon's professed ignorance of Iraq plans
Several major print outlets ignored statements by President Bush's nominee to lead Central Command that indicated he has "not gotten into the detail" of Bush's plan to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq and does "not know the details of how he [Bush] plans to use" the additional troops. Read more
On Washington Post Radio, the Post's Richard Cohen falsely claimed that Joseph Wilson, in his New York Times op-ed, wrote that Dick Cheney sent him to Niger. In fact, Wilson wrote that "agency officials" from the CIA "asked if I would travel to Niger" and "check out" a "particular intelligence report" that "Cheney's office had questions about," so that CIA officials "could provide a response to the vice president's office." Read more
O'Reilly wouldn't call Penn "anti-American" minutes after Factor referred to Penn as "anti-American"
On the January 29 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, blogger and Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin claimed that "Jane Fonda's anti-American position has never changed over the last several decades." Host Bill O'Reilly responded: "[Y]ou say it's anti-American. You know that the Fondas and [Sean] Penns are going to say, 'Listen, I'm as American as you are, Michelle Malkin. I just see things differently.' And I'm willing to give them the benefit of that doubt. I don't want to say that they're anti-American." However, just minutes earlier during the "Talking Points Memo" segment, onscreen text had referred to Penn as "anti-American actor Sean Penn." While that text was on the screen, O'Reilly referred to Penn as "far-left actor Sean Penn." Read more
Media uncritically reported Bush's statement touting Iraqi success in Najaf
Numerous media outlets reported -- as President Bush claimed in an interview on National Public Radio -- that Iraqi troops took the lead in the battle near Najaf against religious militia the Soldiers of Heaven, without noting that the Iraqis were reportedly "overwhelmed" until U.S. forces joined them. Read more
Limbaugh: Would Muslims threaten hijacking if airplane toilet was not properly aligned with Mecca?
On the January 30 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh responded to a story reported by the British tabloid The Sun, and repeated on the Fox News website, about a British prison changing the direction of its toilets to accommodate religious Muslim inmates who are forbidden to face or turn their backs on their direction of prayer while using the bathroom. Limbaugh asked: "What do they do on an airplane? Go to the cockpit and say, 'I got some box cutters, and if you don't turn this airplane 45 degrees for the next two minutes, I'm going to hijack you'?" Read more
AP omitted Bush's track record in use of "Democrat" smear
A January 30 Associated Press article by Ben Feller reported President Bush's claim during an interview that his use of the word "Democrat" as an adjective during his January 23 State of the Union address, when he congratulated the new "Democrat majority," was an "oversight." But like a January 30 New York Times article on the same subject noted by Media Matters for America, the AP ignored Bush's frequent use of the word "Democrat" as an adjective -- an oft-used Republican slur. Read more
Savage on Media Matters: "I'm not even going to read its name anymore"
On the January 30 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage responded to a Media Matters for America item that quoted Savage as saying he "doubt[ed]" Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) "would take our side after a catastrophic attack on America" but instead would "march thousands of us into the hands of the enemy." In his response, Savage said, "There's not a word of this statement that I would like to take back," and claimed that he "stand[s] by those words." Savage also claimed that "there are people in this country who hate me more than those who would kill them," and proceeded to describe Media Matters as a "little website," saying, "I'm not even going to read its name anymore; it has become almost a parody amongst myself and the production staff here at The Savage Nation." Read more
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