Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Media Matters for America, June 19, 2007

CNN's Roberts: "We do definitely know that Mitt Romney is pro-family"

On the June 18 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, while discussing Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, CNN anchor John Roberts said to host Wolf Blitzer: "[A]s the Reverend Jerry Falwell said before his death, 'As long as a candidate is pro-life and pro-family, he's all right with me.' We do definitely know that Mitt Romney is pro-family." Roberts added: "The jury is still out among some conservatives as to whether or not he is in fact pro-life or remains, as he was as governor of Massachusetts, quote, 'effectively pro-choice.' " While Roberts did not elaborate on his characterization of Romney as "pro-family," Media Matters for America has noted numerous instances of media figures equating "conservative" positions with "pro-family" positions. Read more



Hannity cropped Clinton quote to accuse her of "hypocrisy" on Iraq

On the June 17 edition of Fox News' Hannity's America, host Sean Hannity cropped a December 2003 speech by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) before the Council on Foreign Relations to accuse her of "hypocrisy." Hannity claimed that, in that speech, "when most Democrats turned their back on the president's decision to invade Iraq, Hillary maintained her support." As evidence, Hannity aired a part of her speech in which Clinton said, "I was one who supported giving President Bush the authority, if necessary, to use force against Saddam Hussein," but not her subsequent statement two sentences later in which she noted what she said were her "many disputes and disagreements with the administration over how that authority has been used."

Hannity then skipped ahead 14 paragraphs to include this quote from Clinton: "We have no option but to stay involved and committed." Hannity later accused Clinton of "quickly chang[ing] beats" after opposition to the war grew and claimed that, in June 2006, "[a]lmost out of nowhere," Clinton "started to blame the president for misleading Congress." Hannity then pointed to Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) remarks -- as quoted in Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton (Little, Brown & Co., June 2007) by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr. -- that "I didn't see early on or at least for a couple of or three years ... the allegation surface that President Bush had 'misused his authority.' " In fact, as Media Matters for America has previously noted (here and here), Clinton accused Bush of misusing the authority given him in the Authorization For Use Of Military Force Against Iraq long before the June 2006 speech. Read more



Politico's Allen ignored polling data showing Libby pardon to be extremely unpopular

In a June 17 Politico article on the "[p]ressure" Republicans and conservatives are putting on President Bush to pardon former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief political correspondent Mike Allen quoted an anonymous adviser to a 2008 Republican presidential candidate explaining that it would be "politically good" for Bush to pardon Libby because "[t]he very bedrock of believers in conservativism" are "united around" a pardon. At no point in the article, however, did Allen report the most recent polling data on the issue, which indicate that the vast majority of Americans opposes a pardon for Libby. Read more

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