Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Media Matters Daily Summary 04-22-08

Stephanopoulos failed to confront McCain with controversial Coburn remark that Obama cited when questioned about Ayers
On This Week, Sen. John McCain asserted that Sen. Barack Obama's reference to Sen. Tom Coburn when Obama was asked about William Ayers was an "incredible statement" that "borders on outrageous." However, at no point during the exchange did George Stephanopoulos point out the actual comments Coburn made that elicited Obama's reference to Coburn, much less confront McCain with the issue of whether he agreed with Coburn's comments. Read More

MSNBC's First Read misrepresented McCain's false attack on Obama over Carter-Hamas meeting
In a post on MSNBC.com's First Read blog about Sen. Barack Obama's position on former President Jimmy Carter's meeting with Hamas, Aswini Anburajan reported that Obama has been "attacked by [Sen. John] McCain for not condemning Carter's visit more sternly." But McCain has not merely "attacked" Obama "for not condemning Carter's visit more sternly"; he has actually misrepresented Obama's position on Carter's meeting with Hamas, falsely suggesting that Obama "approve[d]" of the meeting. Read More

Colmes rebutted Morris' false and contradictory attacks against Clinton
On Hannity & Colmes, Dick Morris repeated his false assertion that Sen. Hillary Clinton "sat on the board of the New World Foundation that gave a grant to the Palestine Liberation Organization, headed by [Yassir] Arafat, which, back then, was identified as a terrorist group." However, as co-host Alan Colmes pointed out, in 1999, the Jewish daily Forward reported that the New World Foundation "granted funds to Grassroots International, which in turn funneled the money to two PLO-affiliated groups." Colmes stated: "If money was diverted, she didn't know anything about it. ... You're drawing a parallel line here which does not exist." Read More

Stephanopoulos left unchallenged McCain's assertion that "every time you have cut capital gains taxes, revenues have increased"
This Week's George Stephanopoulos did not challenge Sen. John McCain's assertion that "history shows every time you have cut capital gains taxes, revenues have increased -- going back to Jack Kennedy." Stephanopoulos did not note that, notwithstanding a potential short-term revenue increase, many economists have challenged the claim that revenue goes up over the long term as a result of capital gains tax rates being cut. Read More

Matthews still falsely suggesting Clinton did not become Yankees fan until Senate run
Chris Matthews stated of Sen. Hillary Clinton, "When she went to New York, she quickly became a New Yorker with the Yankees hat and the upstate listening tour." Matthews has repeatedly suggested that Clinton's assertion during her first Senate campaign that she has "always been" a Yankees fan is false, despite photographic and other evidence showing that her allegiance to the Yankees long precedes her Senate run. Read More

Despite McCain's numerous falsehoods, CNN's Blitzer and Borger repeat "maverick" and "straight-talker" characterizations of McCain
On Late Edition, Wolf Blitzer stated that Sen. John McCain uses "his reputation out there as an independent, sometimes described as a maverick" to woo voters. In response, Gloria Borger said: "I think he's going to do it by saying that 'I'm a straight-talker; I tell the truth. You may not agree with me, but you ought to believe what I say.' " But as Media Matters has documented, contrary to his media-promoted image as a "straight-talker," McCain has promulgated numerous falsehoods in his campaign. Read More

MSNBC's Shuster, Carlson discuss purported "cackle," laugh over "Hillary laughing pen"
On MSNBC Live, David Shuster presented to Tucker Carlson "a Hillary laughing pen" -- a pen shaped in the likeness of Hillary Clinton's head with a mouth that moves as the pen makes a laughing noise. In response, Carlson stated: "I can't tell you, David, how much I appreciate this, how much I appreciate your going through Chris' mail while he's gone and how much I'm really going to miss that cackle. I hope it goes on forever. It's brought light to my life." Read More

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