Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Media Matters Daily Summary 06-18-08

Wash. Post falsely claimed Obama's plan for combating terrorism includes "the possibility of invading Pakistan"
The Washington Post reported that Sen. Barack Obama's plan for combating terrorism "mixes law enforcement, intelligence and military tools, including the possibility of invading Pakistan to pursue al-Qaeda if the Pakistani government does not cooperate." In fact, Obama did not say he would "invade" Pakistan; he said: "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and [Pakistani] President [Pervez] Musharraf won't act, we will." Read More

Wash. Times' Pruden falsely claimed that "the earth has been measurably cooling for the last decade"
In a Washington Times column, Wesley Pruden falsely claimed that "the earth has been measurably cooling for the last decade, despite everything [former Vice President] Al [Gore] and his followers have done about it." In fact, the United Kingdom's Met (Meteorological) Office lists as a "fact" that "[t]emperatures are continuing to rise" and states that "temperature change over the latest decade (1998-2007) alone shows a continued warming of 0.1° C per decade." Read More

MSNBC hosted "McCain supporter" Frank Donatelli to discuss offshore oil drilling, did not mention his former post as energy lobbyist
On MSNBC Live, Andrea Mitchell discussed Sen. John McCain's call to end the moratorium on offshore oil drilling with RNC deputy chairman Frank Donatelli, but did not mention that Donatelli was a registered lobbyist for energy sector clients ExxonMobil and Dominion Resources before joining the RNC. Read More

Savage: "The children's minds are being raped by the homosexual mafia"
Responding to a caller who said, "I had to explain to my young son why these two men were holding hands the other day," Michael Savage stated, "You've got to explain to the children ... why God told people this was wrong." He went on to say, "You have to explain this to them in this time of mental rape that's going on. The children's minds are being raped by the homosexual mafia, that's my position. They're raping our children's minds." Read More

Chicago Tribune's Zuckman repeated McCain's suggestion that Obama had no bipartisan record -- but McCain has previously thanked Obama for bipartisanship
In a blog post, the Chicago Tribune's Jill Zuckman wrote: "Asked by one of his supporters to provide a few examples where [Sen. Barack] Obama has reached across the aisle, [Sen. John] McCain -- not surprisingly -- was unable to come up with anything." But Zuckman did not note that McCain has previously thanked Obama for his bipartisan work on a bill with several Republicans, including McCain, and McCain's Senate office reportedly contacted Obama's office to cosponsor an update of that bill. Read More

Beck inflated estimated ANWR oil production by nearly 7,000 percent
Glenn Beck falsely claimed that "drilling in ANWR alone would yield 100 million barrels a day." In fact, according to Energy Department researchers, if the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is opened for drilling for oil in 2008, the estimated peak production would yield, at most, 1.45 million barrels a day in 2028. Read More

Hume falsely claimed Obama's half brother told The Jerusalem Post that Obama had a "Muslim background"
On Special Report, Brit Hume stated that Malik Obama, Sen. Barack Obama's half brother, "tells The Jerusalem Post that 'if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background.' " In fact, the article to which Hume was apparently referring indicated that Malik Obama did not speak directly with the Post but, rather, gave an interview to Israel's Army Radio. Moreover, nowhere in audio of the interview that ABC's Jake Tapper posted did Malik Obama assert that Obama "will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background." Read More

KSFO's Sussman invited guest to talk about his claim that "gay and lesbian radicals actively recruit through our schools and the media"
Discussing gay marriage, San Francisco radio host Brian Sussman said to guest Charlie Self: "On your website -- it's interesting you're addressing this very topic, Dr. Self, and you talk about how gay and lesbian radicals actively recruit through our schools and the media in order to swell their ranks. Talk to us about that for a moment." Self asserted that there has been "a rash of [TV] programs in the last 10 years" that are "normalizing this particular chosen lifestyle." Self added, "The only way that you are going to grow the ranks of this kind of movement is this kind of onslaught because it is simply not part of the nature of things as designed or as evolved or as historically recorded for thousands of years." Read More

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