On PBS, Cokie Roberts falsely suggested Biden's reference to "Bosniaks" was a gaffe
During coverage of the October 2 vice-presidential debate on PBS' Charlie Rose, Rose asked, "Did either of them make any mistakes that you noticed?" National Public Radio senior news analyst Cokie Roberts responded that Sen. Joe Biden "talked about the Bosniaks." Roberts later said: "[I]f [Gov. Sarah Palin] had said 'Bosniak,' everybody would be making a big deal of it, you know." In fact, Biden correctly referred to certain residents of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Bosniaks. According to the U.S. State Department, as of 2002, the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina consisted of the following ethnic groups: "Bosniak 48.3%, Serb 34.0%, Croat 15.4%, others 2.3%." Read More
Minneapolis radio host Baker: "I don't think homeless people should vote"; "I'm not that excited about women voting"
On his radio show, Chris Baker said, "I don't think homeless people should vote. Frankly. In fact, I have to be very honest. I'm not that excited about women voting, to be honest." Baker later said: "But that's just me. I'm a pig, and that's fine. All right? And we'll see that, I'm sure, on a lame-ass website very soon. But I don't think hobos ought to vote at all. They're nuts. And I think that there needs to be a little more care in who votes." Read More
After railing against gay marriage, Savage said "the spiritual side of the downturn on Wall Street was directly related to the moral downturn"
On his radio show, Michael Savage said: "[Y]ou may say, 'Why should we care about homosexuals trying to destroy families through the mock marriage that they perform in order to mock God, the church, the family, children, the fetus, the DNA of the human species? Why should we care about it while we have a financial meltdown?' Because the spiritual side of the downturn on Wall Street is directly related to the moral downturn in the United States of America." Read More
In interview with Swift, Brian Williams did not note her previous false "lipstick" accusation or backtrack
In an interview with former acting Gov. Jane Swift during NBC's post-debate coverage, Brian Williams did not question Swift about her false assertion that Sen. Barack Obama made "disgraceful comments comparing our vice presidential nominee, Gov. [Sarah] Palin, to a pig" or her subsequent backtrack that she "can't know" whether Obama's comment "was aimed" at Palin. Read More
CBSNews.com, MSNBC.com, FactCheck.org falsely claim McCain never voted against troop funding bill
In reports on the vice presidential debate, CBSNews.com, MSNBC.com, and FactCheck.org all falsely claimed that Sen. Joe Biden's statement that Sen. John McCain "voted against funding the troops" in a 2007 appropriations bill was wrong. In fact, while McCain did not vote on a later version of the appropriations bill, he voted against the measure on March 29, 2007, and said at the time that he was opposing it, in part, because it "would establish a timeline" for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Read More
Dick Morris' take on the VP debate: "The loser tonight in this debate was Hillary Clinton"
On the October 2 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, following the vice presidential debate between Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden, Fox News contributor and syndicated columnist Dick Morris stated: "The loser tonight in this debate was [Sen.] Hillary Clinton because there's a new woman out there who is going to be number one in this country," referring to Palin. Co-host Alan Colmes replied, "Well, she'd have to get elected first." Morris then said: "She already has been, with no assistance from her husband." Colmes responded in part: "You never miss a chance to take a slap at the Clintons. They're not in this race." Read More
LA Times cited Palin's "reject[ion]" of Biden for "blame game" response without noting Ifill's question eliciting it
The Los Angeles Times asserted that, during the vice-presidential debate, Sen. Joe Biden called President Bush's policies toward Israel "an abject failure" and that Gov. Sarah Palin "reject[ed] the way Biden depicted Bush's policies with her line about the 'blame game.' " But the Times did not note that Biden was responding to moderator Gwen Ifill's question specifically asking the candidates to assess the Bush administration: "What has this administration done right or wrong -- this is the great, lingering, unresolved issue, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- what have they done?" Read More
Hannity again misled on Raines' purported role with the Obama campaign
On two recent editions of Hannity & Colmes, Sean Hannity claimed that Franklin Raines is an "economic adviser" to Sen. Barack Obama, in one case citing "The Washington Post" as a source for his claim. However, both Raines and the Obama campaign have denied that Raines advises Obama in any way, and a washingtonpost.com Fact Checker item examined several Post items cited in a McCain ad that makes the same claim and concluded that the ad "exaggerat[ed] wildly" in its claim that Raines "advises" Obama. Read More
Wash. Post's Balz wrote that Palin "did not stumble over names of foreign leaders," but not that she misstated name of top U.S. commander in Afghanistan
In his Washington Post analysis, Dan Balz wrote that, during the vice presidential debate, Gov. Sarah Palin "did not stumble over names of foreign leaders." But Balz did not note that Palin misstated the name of Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, twice referring to him as "McClellan." Read More
Scarborough did not challenge McCain's false claim that Eisenhower wrote a "letter of resignation" before D-Day
On Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough did not challenge Sen. John McCain's false assertion that Gen. Dwight Eisenhower wrote "a letter of resignation from the Army" in case the D-Day invasion failed, a claim that McCain also made during the September 26 presidential debate. Read More
NBC's Yang falsely asserted "Social Security will run out of money by 2041"
NBC correspondent John Yang falsely asserted, "At current rates, analysts say Social Security will run out of money by 2041." Later, Yang uncritically aired a clip of Sen. John McCain claiming, "The Social Security system is going to go broke; it will not be there for present-day men and women who are working." In fact, the Social Security program will not "run out of money" in 2041; after that point, it is projected that without a change in the law, the program will be able to cover 78 percent of scheduled benefits immediately thereafter, according to the 2008 Social Security trustees' report. Read More
Discussing bailout bill, Bill Cunningham falsely claimed Barney Frank "ran a house of prostitution"
On his Cincinnati talk radio show, Bill Cunningham falsely claimed that Rep. Barney Frank "ran a house of prostitution in Washington, D.C., for gay men." In fact, the House Ethics Committee determined that Frank "did not have either prior or concomitant knowledge of prostitution activities involving third parties alleged to have taken place in his apartment," and it also did not conclusively determine that any "prostitution activities" took place there. Read More
Rodgers suggested that just as the O.J. Simpson verdict "was a racial vote," African-Americans support Obama because of "racial brotherhood"
On his KSFO radio show, Lee Rodgers claimed O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder because of a "racial vote" by the jury and said of polls that show "98 percent of black voters voting for" Sen. Barack Obama: "[A]re we to assume they all agree with him on all his principles? Or could there be a hint of racial brotherhood in that vote? Come on, we know the answer to that." Rodgers also declared, "If any white person, for whatever reason -- because they think he consorts with terrorists or communists, or believes in all the things that black racist preacher said for 20 years votes against him for that reason -- no, no, no, no. If you're a white person voting against Obama, you are a racist." Read More
Armstrong Williams -- who received and didn't disclose Bush administration money to promote NCLB -- criticized Ifill for book deal
Conservative radio host Armstrong Williams criticized vice-presidential debate moderator Gwen Ifill over her upcoming book about African-American political leaders, saying she "should have disclosed" it, and that it is "ultimately impossible" for her not to favor Sen. Barack Obama, because she has a "financial stake" in his winning the presidency. However, beginning in 2003, Williams did not disclose that he received $240,000 in Education Department funds to promote No Child Left Behind. The Government Accountability Office found that the Department of Education's actions constituted "covert propaganda" in violation of the law. Read More
Media again quote debate attack that Obama "voted against funding the troops" while omitting Dem response
The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times both reported Gov. Sarah Palin's attack during the vice-presidential debate that Sen. "Barack Obama voted against funding troops" without noting, as Sen. Joe Biden pointed out in response, that "[Sen.] John McCain voted the exact same way. John McCain voted against funding the troops because of an amendment he voted against had a timeline in it to draw down American troops." Read More
Joining Hannity, Cincinnati radio host Cunningham repeatedly misled on Raines' purported role with Obama campaign
On his Cincinnati-based radio program, Bill Cunningham falsely claimed that former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines is an "economic adviser" and "chief financial adviser" to Sen. Barack Obama. A McCain campaign ad claims that Raines "advises" Obama -- a claim that Raines and the Obama campaign have denied -- but even that ad did not claim that Raines is a "chief" adviser. Read More
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