Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Media Matters Daily Summary 10-01-08

Wash. Post uncritically reported false McCain claim that Obama "would raise taxes"
The Washington Post uncritically reported Sen. John McCain's false claim that Sen. Barack Obama "would raise taxes." In fact, the Tax Policy Center concluded that, compared with McCain, "Obama would give larger tax cuts to low- and moderate-income households and pay some of the cost by raising taxes on high-income taxpayers" -- those households earning more than $250,000 per year. Read More

Brzezinski on Palin: "[I]t would be great if she could hit it out of the ballpark tomorrow night"
On the October 1 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, discussing the upcoming vice presidential debate, co-host Mika Brzezinski said of Gov. Sarah Palin: "[I]t would be great if she could hit it out of the ballpark tomorrow night and that people may really like what they're hearing. They just -- we just haven't heard anything more than the fact that she's very likable and very technically competent. Am I being fair?" Earlier in the segment, Brzezinski also said of Palin: "The big issue, though, as [NBC News political director] Chuck [Todd] was talking about earlier, is whether or not she's even gotten to the acceptability bar. And I'm just going to just say, as a woman and a working mother, I would love to see her do well. I'm just not seeing anything in these interviews that are leading me to believe that she's got a deep world view. I'm just -- I'm asking, but I really want to hear more, and I want to be surprised at this point." Read More

LA Times reported Vets for Freedom ad attacking Obama over troop funding vote, but ignored Obama's response and McCain's own record
The Los Angeles Times quoted a new Vets for Freedom ad that claims, "Barack Obama skipped 45% of Senate votes but did manage to show up to vote against emergency funding for our troops," but the Times failed to note that Sen. John McCain has voted against legislation to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- a point Obama made during the first presidential debate when McCain accused him of voting against troop funding. Read More

Claiming "I'm not making any comparison here," O'Reilly asserted that like Pelosi, Hitler also "practiced for hours before making a speech"
On The O'Reilly Factor, after guest Tonya Reiman claimed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's body language during a recent speech suggested she "practices the speech too much," Bill O'Reilly responded: "You know who used to do that, who practiced for hours before making a speech? And I'm not making any comparison here. So, don't -- you crazy left-wing websites out there, it's not a comparison. Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler practiced for hours, all of his ... gestures and everything else before he went out there." Read More

Even after GOP leaders backed off accusation, Parker claims Pelosi's speech on bailout bill was responsible for losing GOP votes
Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker asserted that Republicans "responded" to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's speech before the vote on the financial bailout plan "by voting against the bill," even after House Minority Whip Roy Blunt backed off a claim that a dozen Republicans who might have supported the bill were alienated by Pelosi's speech and several Republicans denied that Pelosi's speech swayed any votes. Read More

Fox News' Kelly falsely suggested Ifill's book about Obama was made "public" only after she was announced as debate moderator
On Fox News' America's Newsroom, Megyn Kelly falsely suggested it was publicly revealed that PBS' Gwen Ifill was the author of the forthcoming book, The Breakthrough, only after it was announced she would moderate the upcoming vice presidential debate. In fact, media outlets, including the Associated Press, reported that Ifill was the book's author well before the announcement. Read More

Time poll rehashed smears of Obama: an unpatriotic "elitist" who lies about his faith
A Time/SRBI poll asked likely voters with an "unfavorable opinion" of Sen. Barack Obama to respond to various "reasons that voters give us for having an unfavorable opinion of Barack Obama," which included: "He's really a Muslim and not a Christian"; "He's an elitist who doesn't understand the needs of ordinary people"; and, "He's not as patriotic as he should be." Read More

Special Report falsely suggested Fannie and Freddie chief perpetrators of "financial mess," Rep. Frank opposed stricter oversight
Fox News host Brit Hume and correspondent Bret Baier suggested that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were heavily involved in the subprime mortgage market "years ago," and falsely suggested that Rep. Barney Frank has opposed stricter regulation of Fannie and Freddie. Neither Hume nor Baier noted that Fannie and Freddie were not active in the subprime market in 2003, or that Frank has supported and authored bills to strengthen oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Read More

Media have repeatedly asserted Palin faces "low" or "lowered" expectations in debate, despite praise of her debate skills
Several media figures have asserted that Gov. Sarah Palin faces "low" or "lowered" expectations in the upcoming vice-presidential debate and that she therefore faces a lower bar for victory than Sen. Joe Biden. They have made these assertions despite criticism by at least one member of the media over the media's setting of a lower bar for Palin and despite praise of her performance in the Alaska gubernatorial debate by others in the media and by McCain campaign surrogate Mitt Romney. Read More

Hewitt did not challenge Palin falsehood about Obama's "extreme position" on abortion
On his radio show, Hugh Hewitt did not challenge Gov. Sarah Palin's claim that the "extreme position" on abortion Sen. Barack Obama took in the Illinois state Senate included "not even supporting a measure that would during a -- after a botched abortion and that baby's born alive -- allowing medical care to cease and allowing that baby to die." But Obama and other opponents said that the legislation to which Palin referred posed a threat to abortion rights and was unnecessary because Illinois law already prohibited the conduct being addressed by the bill. Read More

Time's Carney falsely suggested Clinton "pin[ned] the blame for the mortgage crisis on Democrats"
In a blog post, Jay Carney claimed that Sen. John McCain's "campaign has released a 60-second ad that uses Bill Clinton's words to pin the blame for the mortgage crisis on Democrats" without noting that in the interview clipped in the ad, Clinton actually said that "the biggest mistake" was the SEC's repealing of a regulation on short selling, when President Bush was in office. Read More

Media figures falsely accuse Democrats of attempting to direct millions of dollars to ACORN
Media figures have recently accused Democrats of attempting to direct millions of dollars in government money to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) in the financial bailout bill. The accusation is false. Neither the draft proposal nor the version of the bill that was voted down in the House contained any language mentioning ACORN. Those making the false claim were misrepresenting a provision -- since removed -- that would have directed 20 percent of any profits realized on troubled assets purchased under the plan into the National Housing Trust Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund. Read More

Politico's Libit repeated Gingrich's false claim days after Politico reported such claims were inaccurate
In a September 30 blog post, Daniel Libit uncritically repeated Newt Gingrich's false claim that Democrats wanted "provisions to provide money to" ACORN in the financial bailout bill, despite the Politico's having noted two days earlier that ACORN "was not specifically directed any funds in the ... proposal." Read More

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