Monday, March 24, 2008

Media Matters Daily Summary

Cameron asserted as fact that "[m]any Europeans mistakenly believe that if elected, McCain will mimic all Bush policies"
In a Fox News report, Carl Cameron asserted as fact that "[m]any Europeans mistakenly believe that if elected, [Sen. John] McCain will mimic all Bush policies," citing as evidence of their purported "mistake[]" that "McCain was a leading critic of the early Bush Iraq strategy, and has disagreed on various issues ranging from how aggressively to combat climate change to wanting to close Guantánamo Bay." However, Cameron did not note that McCain has entirely embraced President Bush's current Iraq policy. Read More

During discussion of McCain "showing off his foreign policy credentials," Matthews panel ignored McCain's Al Qaeda-Iran gaffes
While discussing whether Sen. John McCain is "smart to make national security the centerpiece of his campaign," Chris Matthews highlighted McCain's recent Middle East trip and said McCain was "showing off his foreign policy credentials." But at no point did Matthews, or any of his guests, point out that, during his trip, McCain made the admittedly false claim that "Al Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran." Read More

Citing his experience, This Week, Fox News Sunday panelists excuse McCain Al Qaeda-Iran gaffe
The Washington Post's George Will asserted that Sen. John McCain's admittedly false claim that Iran is training Al Qaeda is "[n]ot damaging at all" to McCain, "because people say it's a given that this man knows what he's talking about." Similarly, The Chicago Tribune's Jill Zuckman asserted that "I don't think many people believe" "the argument that McCain doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to foreign policy." But neither Will nor Zuckman noted that McCain has made that error more than once. Read More

On Fox News Sunday, Kristol claimed Hagee and Parsley are "just individuals who've endorsed" McCain
On Fox News Sunday, when Bill Kristol was asked whether "it's fair" to compare "[Sen. John] McCain's, quote, 'ministers,' " John Hagee and Rod Parsley, "to [Sen. Barack] Obama's pastor," Kristol replied: "No, because these are just individuals who've endorsed Senator McCain." However, McCain stated in a joint appearance with Hagee that he was "very proud to have Pastor Hagee's support" and reportedly called Parsley a "spiritual guide." Read More

No comments: