Friday, June 27, 2008

Media Matters Daily Summary 06-27-08

Savage: Israelis speculated shooting was attack on Olmert because "he is leading them to the gas chamber"
Following a shooting incident that occurred as French President Nicolas Sarkozy was preparing to depart Israel, Michael Savage claimed: "There is speculation that there was an attempt to kill [Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert because he has sold the country down the river, and he is selling the people to their death -- he is leading them to the gas chamber. He is a -- the equivalent of those who led the Jews into the gas chambers in World War II, according to many Israelis who see the handwriting on the wall." Read More

Charlie Rose did not challenge Scalia's false claim that "the press unanimously" agreed that Bush won Florida in 2000
On his PBS program, Charlie Rose did not challenge Antonin Scalia's false assertion that "the press unanimously" found that, in Rose's words, George W. Bush "won that election in Florida." In fact, according to The Washington Post, data from a study conducted by the National Opinion Research Center found that under several different criteria for assessing a voter's intent, Al Gore would have received more votes than Bush after a statewide recount of all ballots "that were initially rejected by voting machines." Read More

Blitzer lets Graham off hook on how McCain would "pay for $300 billion in new tax cuts"
On The Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer asked Sen. Lindsey Graham how Sen. John McCain would "pay for $300 billion in new tax cuts" and said, "But there's no waste -- with all due respect, Senator ... you're going to find $300 billion in waste, are you?" But when Graham replied, "No, no, $35 billion from earmarks, but there are other programs up here that can be reined in, including the Department of Defense," Blitzer did not press Graham to identify which specific "programs" McCain would "rein[] in" to "pay for $300 billion in new tax cuts." Read More

Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee falsely claimed "not one drop of oil was spilled" during Hurricane Katrina
On Fox & Friends, Mike Huckabee falsely asserted, "When Katrina, a Cat-5 hurricane, hit the Gulf Coast, not one drop of oil was spilled off of those rigs out in the Gulf of Mexico." In fact, according to a report prepared for the federal government by an international consulting firm, damages related to Hurricane Katrina resulted in 70 spills from outer continental shelf structures with a total volume of approximately 11,104 barrels of oil and petroleum products. Read More

Blitzer on McCain: "I know he's a straight-talker"
Discussing Sen. John McCain's statement that "if the election were tomorrow ... Republicans would lose seats in both the House and the Senate," Wolf Blitzer asserted of McCain, "Should he be saying that right now? I know he's a straight-talker, but what do you think?" Blitzer has, on several previous occasions, pronounced McCain a straight-talker. Read More

Crowley falsely claimed Obama "stole" Ahmadinejad's campaign slogan
On The Laura Ingraham Show, Monica Crowley claimed that Sen. Barack Obama "lifted his campaign line 'Yes, we can' from the recent presidential campaign of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad." Crowley claimed that Ahmadinejad used the slogan "We can." In fact, Obama reportedly used the phrase "Yes, we can" during his 2004 Senate campaign -- a full year before Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005. Read More

IBD cited McCain's " 'maverick' positions" on taxes and immigration, failed to note his reversal on those issues
An Investor's Business Daily article claimed that the Supreme Court ruling that overturned a handgun ban in the District of Columbia "is a potential lifeline for [Sen. John] McCain, who has failed so far to unite conservative voters behind him," many of whom "still resent his 'maverick' positions on taxes and immigration." But the article did not mention that McCain has reversed his positions on taxes and immigration, adopting positions more closely conforming to the views of the GOP base on both issues. Read More

Media figures continue to cite National Journal ranking of Obama as "most liberal" senator in '07 without noting subjectivity
NPR's Renée Montagne, MSNBC's Pat Buchanan, and CNN's Bill Bennett all referred to the National Journal's 2007 Vote Ratings, which ranked Sen. Barack Obama the most liberal senator that year, without noting the subjectivity of the ratings. The National Journal based its rankings not on all votes cast by senators in 2007, but on "99 key Senate votes, selected by NJ reporters and editors, to place every senator on a liberal-to-conservative scale." Read More

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