Media Matters for America

Clinton criticized over relinquishment of Socks, but reports ignore Romney dog-roofing

Several media outlets seized on an article in The Atlantic that mentioned that former President Bill and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton gave their family cat, Socks, to Betty Currie -- with one outlet questioning whether Currie's adoption of Socks reveals Hillary Clinton to be "cold and calculating." But these media outlets made no mention of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's reported treatment of his own family pet, Seamus, an Irish setter, whom Romney reportedly placed "in a dog carrier" that was "attached ... to the station wagon's roof rack" during the Romney family's "annual 12-hour family trek from Boston to Ontario." read more

Hannity dismissed Fox text-message polls as "just a lot of fun" when results favored Paul, but not when results favored Bush

Noting that a Fox News text-message poll following the October 21 Republican presidential debate put Ron Paul in first place, Sean Hannity said, "Oh, this poll -- you've got all your supporters calling." Paul responded: "What, you mean your own poll isn't any good?" Hannity then said: "No, it's just a lot of fun." But Hannity has previously touted the results of the same type of text-message poll when those results were favorable for President Bush: In January, Hannity noted several times that "85 percent" of viewers who voted by text message said that Bush did an "excellent" job in his State of the Union address. Read more

MSNBC's Watkins described Clinton's Iran letter as "shades of John Kerry"

On the October 22 edition of MSNBC Live, while discussing a letter Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) recently sent to Iowa Democrats explaining her support for an amendment that designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a "foreign terrorist organization," Republican strategist and MSNBC analyst Joe Watkins asserted that "what she did now by sending out this letter was almost sound shades of John Kerry by saying, 'I was actually against it before I voted for it.' That's what she said in the letter." In fact, Clinton stated in the letter that she originally opposed the measure "because it had language that President Bush could have used to justify military action against Iran," and supported it only after "Senate Democrats reached across party lines to remove those sections." Read more

AP reports on Limbaugh's "phony soldiers" comment have failed to correctly explain timeline of controversy

Multiple reports by the Associated Press have failed to accurately lay out the context of Rush Limbaugh's "phony soldiers" remark or his inconsistent explanations for the comment. Indeed, the AP has not only consistently omitted his contradictions on whether he was referring to one or more soldiers, the fact that he edited the audio clip and transcript of his original comments, and that Limbaugh did not mention Jesse MacBeth on his September 26 radio show until one minute and 50 seconds after his remark, but also failed to note in its most recent report the caller's comment to which Limbaugh was responding. Read more

Beck: "[A] handful of people who hate America ... are losing their homes in a forest fire today"

On the October 22 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, host Glenn Beck stated, "I think there is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today." Beck continued: "There are a few people that hate America. But I don't think the Democrats are those. I think there are those posing as Democrats that are like that." Beck's comment came as forest fires ravaged parts of Southern California, leaving one person dead, four firefighters wounded, and forcing about 1,500 people from their homes, according to The New York Times. Read more

Olbermann awarded O'Reilly "bronze" for response to Goldberg criticism of O'Reilly interview with Coulter

During the October 19 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann awarded Fox News' Bill O'Reilly the "bronze" in his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment for, as Media Matters for America documented, O'Reilly's response to criticism from guest Bernie Goldberg for not challenging right-wing pundit Ann Coulter during her October 15 appearance on O'Reilly's program. In his appearance with Coulter, O'Reilly stated, "I don't even care, to tell you the truth," about comments she had made the previous week on CNBC's The Big Idea to host Donny Deutsch that "we" Christians "just want Jews to be perfected." Olbermann stated: "Even the endlessly belligerent Bernard Goldberg noticed that O'Reilly continues to go nuts over perceived slights against Catholics and Christmas, even the slights which only exist inside his own head." Olbermann continued: "But when Coulter-Geist came on, he didn't even suggest from a devil's advocate point of view that talking about perfecting the Jews might have been a bad idea." Olbermann then said: " 'I was waiting,' Goldberg said, 'for you two to French kiss.' Contain your nausea. Bill-O defended himself by saying he wasn't going to debate theology with a non-theologian, whereupon Goldberg said, 'Then don't have her on.' Whereupon Billy's head exploded." Read more