Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Media Matters Daily Summary 01-30-08

Scarborough to Brzezinski on Morning Joe: "[D]on't make me backhand you"
On the January 30 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough said to co-host Mika Brzezinski, "Mika, don't make me backhand you." Scarborough made the comment after telling CNBC chief political correspondent John Harwood: "I, actually -- I don't endorse anybody because, as you know, I'm a journalist," prompting Brzezinski to laugh. Brzezinski responded to Scarborough's "backhand" remark: "Oh, lord." Read More

CNN reporter on issue of driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants: "It literally drives some off the deep end, like Lou Dobbs"
Discussing driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, CNN correspondent Carol Costello remarked on The Situation Room that the issue "literally drives some off the deep end, like Lou Dobbs." Read More

CBS characterized "attack" as "unusual position" for McCain -- but it's not, even as he has denounced negative campaigning
Reporting on Republican presidential candidates' final days of campaigning before the Florida primary, Kelly Cobiella of CBS and John Berman of ABC both noted that John McCain criticized Mitt Romney for attacking opponents who "are moving up and succeeding." Neither, however, reported that McCain has been airing attack ads against Romney even while denouncing negative campaigning. Read More

CNN's King, WSJ reported McCain has shifted "emphasis," "subtly alter[ed]" position on immigration -- but he has reversed himself on it
Discussing immigration reform, CNN's John King stated that Sen. John McCain "has changed his emphasis -- he still says a guest-worker program, still says treat those here illegally humanely." The Wall Street Journal similarly reported that McCain "subtly alter[ed] his position without actually reversing it," adding that "[t]he lesson he drew from the debate last year ... is that Americans 'want the border secured first, and I would do that.' " In fact, McCain's current support for securing the border before implementing a guest-worker program is flatly inconsistent with his previous assertion that, unless other changes to immigration laws are also passed, "people will risk their lives to cross our borders -- no matter how formidable the barriers -- and most will be successful." Read More

Scarborough on Giuliani: "America's Mayor ... will endorse John McCain"
On Morning Joe and MSNBC Live, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski referred to Rudy Giuliani as "America's Mayor," in the context of Giuliani's departure from the presidential race and reported endorsement of Sen. John McCain. Media figures have repeatedly touted Giuliani's reputation as "America's Mayor" since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, despite criticism over his actions before and after the attacks. Read More

Ignoring response at debate, Matthews praised McCain's "candor" and "honest[y]" on economic knowledge
On Hardball, Chris Matthews praised Sen. John McCain's "candor" and "honest[y]" for, in Matthews' words, "admitting that his strong suit is not the economy." However, Matthews ignored McCain's comment during a recent debate, in which he suggested that he had not said he knows "a lot less about economics" than "military and foreign policy issues." Read More

Imus on President Clinton: "This is a fat, low-rent hillbilly"
On the January 30 edition of ABC Radio Networks' Imus in the Morning, while discussing the results of the January 29 Florida presidential primary, host Don Imus described former President Bill Clinton as "a fat, low-rent hillbilly who was getting BJs from an intern in the Oval Office in the White House who was about the age of his daughter." After Bernard McGuirk, the show's executive producer, said, "He's been accused of rape," Imus continued, calling Clinton "a dirtbag." Read More

Byron York's admittedly "wildly inappropriate" comparison: Giuliani's Florida concession speech and slain Italian hostage's final words
In a column about Rudy Giuliani's speech following his "resounding defeat in the Florida primary," National Review White House correspondent Byron York wrote: "[I]t is hard not to think of Fabrizio Quattrocchi, the courageous Genoan who, taken hostage by Islamic terrorists in Iraq in 2004 cried out, 'Now I will show you how an Italian dies!' just before he was shot." Read More

NY Times' Nagourney says Romney vulnerable to charges of inconsistency ... but McCain isn't?
In a January 30 New York Times news analysis of Sen. John McCain's victory over Mitt Romney in the Florida primary, Adam Nagourney wrote that while McCain "presents himself as a man of principle ... who is willing to suffer the political consequences for breaking with party orthodoxy," Romney "is in line with all the proper positions for a Republican conservative, but he underwent a series of transformations to get there, leaving him vulnerable to the charges of inconsistency Mr. McCain has hurled." Yet on immigration and abortion, McCain too has displayed "evolution" and "inconsistency," a fact nowhere to be found in the Times report. Read More

Once again, NBC's Myers ignored Obama's specific response countering suggestion that Rezko "may have essentially subsidized" Obama's home purchase
NBC's Lisa Myers reported that critics, whom she did not name, say that "in paying full price for" the vacant lot adjoining Sen. Barack Obama's Chicago home, indicted Chicago businessman Antoin Rezko "may have essentially subsidized Obama's purchase" of the property in 2005. While noting that Obama "strongly disputes" the charge, Myers did not report Obama's specific statements countering the suggestion. Read More

After touting his presidential prospects, Matthews said Giuliani "never really offered a big idea as to why he would be a great president"
During MSNBC's coverage of the Florida primary, Chris Matthews said of Rudy Giuliani: "I began to watch his campaign soon after he entered it last year, and the one thing missing was a big idea as to why he should be president," adding, "It was all, it seemed to me ... about the past. It was about 9-11." But Matthews has repeatedly cited Giuliani's experience on September 11 as one of his greatest perceived strengths in the presidential race. Read More

No comments: