Sunday, September 14, 2008

Media Matters Daily Summary 09-14-08

Wall Street Journal uncritically quoted McCain ad without noting its distortions
A Wall Street Journal article uncritically quoted an ad by Sen. John McCain's campaign that accuses Sen. Barack Obama's campaign of being "disrespectful" to Gov. Sarah Palin without noting that the ad contains several distortions. The article also uncritically quoted an unnamed "McCain spokesman" as saying, "Barack Obama has no record of bipartisan legislative accomplishment, no history of bucking his party and no chance of bringing change," without noting that Obama has played key roles in the passage of bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Senate. Read More

Discussing "Lipstickgate," Kurtz asked: "Why, exactly, did the mainstream media go hog-wild over a manufactured story that was pushed by the right?"
Howard Kurtz described the "lipstick controversy," regarding a comment made by Sen. Barack Obama, as "ridiculous, trumped-up, phony" and asked, "Why, exactly, did the mainstream media go hog-wild over a manufactured story that was pushed by the right?" Kurtz asserted, "Just about everyone knows it was essentially pushed along and made up by Drudge, Sean Hannity, and the New York Post. ... Surely the media wouldn't fall for this," adding, "And even as they [the media] were saying, 'Well, you know, this isn't quite the way it happened,' it didn't matter. They'd still do segment after segment on it." Read More

Rove advances falsehoods about Obama's "lipstick" remark
Karl Rove falsely asserted that Sen. Barack Obama's statement that "you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig" "was a deliberate slap at Governor [Sarah] Palin." In fact, Obama did not mention or refer to Palin in the comments immediately preceding his "lipstick" comment. Rove also falsely asserted, "The only time this word has intruded in recent months in the campaign was in her [Palin's] you know, self-deprecating remark at the convention"; in fact, McCain himself used the phrase "putting lipstick on a pig" in a public appearance on May 2. Read More

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