Wash. Post's claim that McCain has policy of "blanket opposition to earmarked spending" contradicted in same article
The Washington Post's Paul Kane claimed that Sen. John McCain is "using his blanket opposition to earmarked spending as a regular line of attack" against Sen. Hillary Clinton. But in the same article, Kane contradicted his claim that McCain has a policy of "blanket opposition to earmarked spending," reporting: "McCain, who has helped lead efforts to strip some earmarks from Senate bills, has not focused on the money headed to his home state. Other Arizona lawmakers secured more than $214 million in pet projects in fiscal 2008 spending bills." Read More
Bound to repeat it: Conservative media cited National Journal "most liberal" rating in 2004, now touting 2007 rating
In an email to readers encouraging recipients to read the National Journal article on the magazine's 2007 vote ratings, the National Journal Group wrote: "In 2004, President Bush invoked Senator John Kerry's liberal Vote Ratings score repeatedly on the campaign trail and at their head-to-head debates. We anticipate similar attention for our Vote Ratings across the 2008 election cycle." Numerous media did follow suit and tout the Journal's 2003 rating of Kerry. And once again, the media are giving the 2007 ratings the "similar attention" the National Journal Group anticipated -- despite the Journal's acknowledgment that the methodology it used to rate Kerry was flawed. Read More
Fox's Goler falsely claimed FISA will expire February 15
On Special Report, Wendell Goler falsely asserted that "the president is trying ... to get the House to pass a permanent extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA]" and that "[t]he president threw down the gauntlet, said he's not going to accept any more extensions, that this act must be permanently renewed before it expires in two days." In fact, FISA is not set to expire February 15; the Protect America Act's revisions to FISA are set to expire. Read More
CNN, NY Times quote McCain attacking Obama over vote ratings, but don't report that McCain missed too many votes to draw score
CNN's Kiran Chetry aired and The New York Times quoted Sen. John McCain's statement that "[i]t's not an accident [Sen. Barack Obama] has, I think, according to the National Journal, the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate. I have one of the most conservative," but neither mentioned that the Journal's ratings did not include McCain because he "did not vote frequently enough in 2007 to draw a composite score."
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Ignoring own reporting, Wash. Times headline claimed "McCain refuses to pander"
A Washington Times headline claimed in reference to Sen. John McCain: "McCain refuses to pander." In fact, The Washington Times itself has reported on McCain's efforts to satisfy conservative Republicans by changing his positions on issues such as taxes and immigration. Read More
Politico's Simon falsely claimed Al Gore "raised the issue" of Willie Horton
Citing the case of Willie Horton, a black man whose image as a criminal who committed crimes while on a weekend furlough from prison was used against 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, Politico's Roger Simon wrote that Al Gore "raised the issue in a New York primary debate against Dukakis." In fact, while Gore questioned Dukakis about "weekend passes for convicted criminals," Gore did not mention Horton's name, his crimes, or his race. Read More
Coulter on Obama: "It's shocking that ... he's probably going to be our next president, President Hussein"
On Fox News' Your World, Ann Coulter repeatedly referred to Sen. Barack Obama as "B. Hussein Obama," and said, "It's shocking that ... he's probably going to be our next president, President Hussein." Less than a week ago, Coulter also referred to Obama as "B. Hussein Obama," and asserted: "[H]is first big accomplishment" was "being born half-black. ... He wouldn't be running for president if he weren't half-black." Read More
MSNBC, Fox News repeated false assertion that without congressional action, FISA will expire
Fox News host Martha MacCallum and MSNBC host Monica Novotny repeated the false assertion that if Congress does not reauthorize the Protect America Act (PAA), the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 would expire. In fact, what is set to expire are the PAA's revisions to FISA, which, among other things, expanded the government's authority to eavesdrop on Americans' domestic-to-foreign communications without a warrant. Read More
NBC's Todd touted McCain as a "moderate," but McCain's own words and record tell a different story
On Morning Joe, NBC News' Chuck Todd asserted that "all of this angst on the right has only served to remind moderates that [Sen.] John McCain's a moderate." But McCain does not call himself a moderate, claiming that he is "proud to be a conservative." Moreover, he has changed, and even reversed, his position on several issues, including immigration and taxes, to align himself with the base of the Republican Party. Read More
CNN's Bash uncritically aired McCain's false attacks on Democrats on taxes and health care
CNN's Dana Bash uncritically aired a video clip from Republican Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) making a comparison between "the Democrats who want to raise your taxes, or me, I want to lower your taxes. Whether it will be a health care system run by the federal government, or whether families in America will make their choices about health care." In fact, neither Sen. Hillary Clinton nor Sen. Barack Obama has proposed "a health care system run by the federal government," and both have proposed tax cuts for the poor and the middle class. Read More
Ignoring change after Kerry rating, FactCheck.org claimed National Journal has used same "rigorous process ... since 1981"
In an "analysis" of Sen. Barack Obama's response to a question about being rated the "most liberal senator" of 2007 by National Journal, FactCheck.org deputy director Viveca Novak claimed that "[t]he nonpartisan public policy magazine's analysis of the votes and the designation of 'liberal' and 'conservative' positions was done according to a rather rigorous process the publication has been using since 1981." In fact, National Journal editor Charles Green has admitted that the publication changed the methodology it had used in its 2003 ratings after it determined that the methodology that resulted in a "most liberal" senator ranking for 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry had been flawed. Read More
MSNBC's Brewer defended McCain's reversals on tax cuts and immigration with falsehoods
MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer falsely claimed of Sen. John McCain's reversal on tax cuts that McCain "didn't want to vote for it because he didn't see cuts in spending and he wants to see a fiscally responsible government," and she also falsely suggested that McCain did not change his position on the issue of immigration. Read More
Wash. Post, WSJ call McCain's reversal on immigration a "shift[]" in "emphasis"
A Wall Street Journal article asserted that "[w]hile Sen. [John] McCain has shifted his emphasis, talking more now about 'securing the border first,' he remains committed to the broad strokes of his original approach [on immigration reform]." And the Washington Post editorial board wrote that McCain has made "what amounts to only a mild shift in emphasis in his longstanding position." However, McCain's current position -- that the borders must be secured before other reforms can be addressed -- is a reversal of his prior position; McCain previously argued that border security could not be disaggregated from other aspects of comprehensive immigration reform without being rendered ineffective. Moreover, he now says that he would not support his own legislation if it came up for a vote in the Senate. Read More
MSNBC hosted Coulter and highlighted, without challenge, her assertion that Obama "wouldn't be running ... if he weren't half-black"
MSNBC hosted right-wing pundit Ann Coulter to discuss the 2008 presidential race less than 24 hours after she repeatedly referred to Sen. Barack Obama as "B. Hussein Obama" and "President Hussein." Read More
Sullivan denies having made comparison between Obama and Hitler
On the February 14 broadcast of Fox News Radio's Tom Sullivan Show, host Tom Sullivan addressed the controversy over his February 11 airing of what he called at the time "a little side-by-side comparison" of speeches by Adolf Hitler and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL). On his February 14 show, Sullivan said: "I wasn't trying to make a comparison. There isn't any comparison. There was none yesterday, there was none Monday, there will not be any in the future. It's nonsense." Sullivan also said that "[s]ome people picked up on what we said on the show on Monday and suggested that I was in some way equating Barack Obama and Adolf Hitler, and there was nothing of the sort that came up. Nothing like that happened." Read More
During Imus' "Radio Theater" segment, character "Billy Clayton" asks "Kelsey" to campaign for "New York Senator Hailey Clayton" and "have sex with" delegates
On the February 13 edition of Imus in the Morning, during a segment referred to as the second episode of "Imus in the Morning Radio Theater on the Air," regular guest, comedian, and impersonator Rob Bartlett played the character of "former president Billy Clayton" and left a message for "Kelsey Clayton," his daughter. During the message, Billy Clayton referred to "this pineapple-eatin' [Borat] Ohana" and asked Kelsey Clayton to "campaign for" her mother -- Hailey Clayton, a "New York Senator" and "onetime front-runner for the Democratic nomination" -- and "have sex with" delegates. Read More
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