Media Matters for America, July 16, 2007

Again ignoring his role as lobbyist, AP reported Thompson gave up political career on leaving the Senate

A July 16 Associated Press article on former Sen. Fred Thompson's (R-TN) donation of documents to the University of Tennessee from his Senate years reported that "Thompson donated the documents four years ago when he gave up his political career in favor of acting."

But contrary to the AP's claim that "he gave up his political career," Thompson re-registered as a Washington lobbyist after leaving the Senate, as Media Matters for America has documented, and, according to CNN.com, Thompson remained active in Washington as he "helped shepherd Chief Justice John Roberts through the Senate confirmation process and ... raised money for the defense of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff." Read more

Novak's disparate treatment: Reports Dem under FBI investigation, but only that GOP congressman's conduct "raised ethical questions"

In his July 16 syndicated column, after asserting that the legislative earmarks of Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) "have provoked an FBI investigation," Robert D. Novak said of Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) only that his "past earmarking has raised ethical questions."

But according to an April 25 article in The Hill, "The Department of Justice (DoJ) has spent more than a year looking into Lewis's relationship with a lobbying firm and the millions of dollars in contracts its clients received from Congress." The article continued: "Lewis, the ranking member of the spending committee, has outlaid an estimated $900,000 on defense lawyers since the probe began, but the investigation has been quiet in recent months." In other words, Lewis, too, is reportedly under federal investigation. Read more

At Libby hearing, House Republicans repeatedly touted never-corrected March Wash. Post editorial

At a July 11 House Judiciary Committee hearing on presidential clemency powers -- particularly as they apply to President Bush's commutation of former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence -- three Republican committee members touted a March 7 Washington Post editorial about the Libby trial, echoing the editorial's factual distortions on two key issues: Valerie Plame's status as a covert CIA operative at the time her identity was leaked, and Libby's reported role in leaking the information. The Post editorial page has yet to address these distortions. Read more

Savage on "hate group" Media Matters: "The noose will wind up around their neck, not mine"


On the July 13 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, Michael Savage responded to controversy surrounding remarks he made on his July 5 broadcast about a hunger strike by a group of California students that was highlighted in an item by Media Matters for America.

The hunger strike was in support of a federal provision in the recently defeated immigration reform bill (S.1639) called the DREAM Act, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children. After playing an audio clip of a student stating that some of the illegal immigrant students were studying engineering, Savage said, "[L]et them fast until they starve to death" and "Go make a bomb where you came from."

The San Francisco Chronicle reported July 13 that more than 30 demonstrators appeared outside San Jose City Hall and called for local radio stations that air Savage's program to apologize forSavage's comments. Savage responded to the article, which quoted Media Matters Media Relations Director Karl Frisch, by describing Media Matters as "a radical homosexual group that continuously tries to get me fired, and they're never going to succeed. The noose will wind up around their neck, not mine." Read more