NPR reporter Mara Liasson pronounced Giuliani "authentic," "comfortable in his own skin"
On Special Report, discussing the October 9 Republican presidential debate, Mara Liasson stated: "[O]ne thing about [Rudy] Giuliani, if this is the year for authenticity, I would say that so far, Giuliani has been the authentic candidate in the race. He's very much himself, he's in your face, he seems to be comfortable in his own skin." She also said Giuliani is "strong and tough, and he has this incredible experience behind him." Read more
Olbermann awarded Barnes "best rationalization" for criticism of Obama for bucking conventional wisdom on Iraq
On the October 9 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, during his nightly "Goofballs and Good Guys" segment, host Keith Olbermann honored Fox News host and Weekly Standard executive editor Fred Barnes with the "best rationalization" award for his claim -- documented by Media Matters for America -- that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is not "strong on national security" because he opposed, in 2002, the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq "when the entire world believed Saddam Hussein ... had weapons of mass destruction." Olbermann stated: "[B]est rationalization -- Fred Barnes of 'Fixed News' claiming Senator Obama's position on Iraq is not as strong as Obama thinks it is. That his ... 2002 speech came, quote, 'in a time when the entire world believed Saddam Hussein in Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. ... I don't think that shows that he is very strong on national security, which he needs to be,' unquote." Olbermann concluded: "So, he is not strong on national security because he was right and you, Fred Barnes, were totally damned wrong." Read more
Matthews again claimed "Republicans are known as the party of national security and of moral values"
Moderator Chris Matthews asserted during the October 9 Republican presidential debate, "Polls show that Republicans are known as the party of national security and of moral values." But recent polling shows Democrats either tied or at a slight advantage against Republicans on the issue of national security, as well as holding an advantage in sharing voters' moral values.
Read more
Wash. Post reported Giuliani's false claim that Clinton did not answer Iran question
The Washington Post reported that Rudy Giuliani "accused" Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of "being weak because she did not answer a question at a Democratic debate about the use of military action to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear capability." In fact, when asked during the September 26 Democratic presidential debate whether she would "make a promise as a potential commander in chief that you will not allow Iran to become a nuclear power and will use any means to stop it," Clinton said: "Well, what I have said is that I will do everything I can to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power." Read more
On CNBC's The Big Idea, Coulter said that "we" Christians "just want Jews to be perfected"
During the October 8 edition of CNBC's The Big Idea, host Donny Deutsch asked right-wing pundit Ann Coulter: "If you had your way ... and your dreams, which are genuine, came true ... what would this country look like?" Coulter responded, "It would look like New York City during the [2004] Republican National Convention. In fact, that's what I think heaven is going to look like." She described the convention as follows: "People were happy. They're Christian. They're tolerant.
They defend America." Deutsch then asked, "It would be better if we were all Christian?" to which Coulter responded, "Yes." Later in the discussion, Deutsch said to her: "[Y]ou said we should throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians," and Coulter again replied, "Yes." When pressed by Deutsch regarding whether she wanted to be like "the head of Iran" and "wipe Israel off the Earth," Coulter stated: "No, we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say. ... That's what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express. You have to obey laws." Read more
Ignoring controversy over previous remarks, O'Reilly now says kidnapping victims "have been through enough"
On The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly reported that Michael Devlin had "pleaded guilty today to kidnapping and sexually brutalizing two young boys in Missouri. One of them he had held captive for four years." O'Reilly later said, "I'm not going to name the boys, because the boys have been through enough." However, O'Reilly did not address the statement he made regarding the boy who was "held for four years," Shawn Hornbeck, on the January 15 edition of The O'Reilly Factor: "[T]here was an element here that this kid liked about his circumstances."
Read more
NY Times uncritically reported that Senate GOP leadership "has not issued a press release criticizing the Frosts" over SCHIP
On September 29, 12-year-old Graeme Frost, who relied on the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to pay for treatment for brain injuries suffered in an automobile accident, delivered a Democratic radio address criticizing President Bush's veto of a bill to expand the program. In an October 10 article, The New York Times reported that "[i]n recent days, Graeme and his family have been attacked by conservative bloggers and other critics of the Democrats' plan to expand" SCHIP. The article further reported: "Republicans on Capitol Hill, who were gearing up to use Graeme as evidence that Democrats have overexpanded the health program to include families wealthy enough to afford private insurance, have backed off." As evidence, the Times reported that "[a]n aide to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, expressed relief that his office had not issued a press release criticizing the Frosts."
But according to an October 8 post on ABC News' "Political Radar" blog by senior political correspondent Rick Klein, McConnell's spokesman "declined to comment" on the charge "that GOP aides were complicit in spreading disparaging information about [the] Frosts"; specifically, Klein reported a claim by Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), that a Senate GOP "leadership aide" had sent an email to reporters "summing up recent blog traffic about the boy's family." The Times article did not mention Manley's reported claim, nor the spokesman's reported refusal to comment. Read more
Fox News asks: Is Air America engaged in a "War on God?"
During the 9 a.m. ET hour of the October 9 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, co-anchor Bill Hemmer teased a segment about Air America Radio's decision to broadcast the atheist program, FreeThought Radio, by asking, "Is this the new war on religion?" His question was accompanied by an image of former Air America hosts Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo with the on-screen text reading: "War on God?" Read more
Beck falsely asserted that Libby "went to jail" for obstructing Plame investigation
On his CNN Headline News show, Glenn Beck stated: "I said that Scooter Libby should go to jail and he should pay the price for lying to prosecutors. ... He lied to prosecutors. The guy went to jail." In fact, just after a court rejected Libby's request to remain free while he appealed his conviction, President Bush commuted all of Libby's 30-month prison sentence. Read more
No comments:
Post a Comment