Thursday, May 14, 2009

Media Matters Daily Summary 05-14-09

Fox News now giving publicity to Republican Governors' "Tea Party 2.0"
Following Fox News' aggressive promotion of the April 15 "tea party" protests, Greta Van Susteren did a segment on the forthcoming "Tea Party 2.0," and stated, "If you wanted to go to a tea party on April 15 but could not make it ... tomorrow's your big chance." Read More

Politico dubiously suggests Republicans' opposition to Hayes is about Hayes
The Politico dubiously suggested that Republicans rejected David Hayes' confirmation as deputy Interior secretary because of his purported "proposals to yank oil drilling leases on public lands." In fact, Republicans have reportedly said, "This is not about Hayes." Read More

ABC report on interrogation hearing left out testimony on non-harsh methods' success
Reporting on the testimony of a former FBI agent who "told Congress today that he witnessed CIA interrogation methods on terror suspects that were, in his words, 'borderline torture' " and "called the methods 'ineffective,' 'unreliable,' and 'harmful,' " ABC's Charles Gibson did not mention that the agent also testified about the success of non-harsh interrogation methods. Read More

Moore falsely accused Frank of "involvement in giving a blank check to Fannie and Freddie"
The Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore falsely accused Rep. Barney Frank of "involvement in giving a blank check to Fannie and Freddie," echoing the oft-repeated myth that Frank fought efforts to strengthen congressional oversight over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Read More

Wash. Post buries lede, entire story in report on Soufan testimony
After running a story on its front page about what congressional Democrats had been told about enhanced interrogation, The Washington Post buried a much shorter report on testimony by former FBI agent Ali Soufan. Read More

Rove falsely smears Pelosi as "an accomplice" to torture
In his Wall Street Journal column, Karl Rove claimed that because Nancy Pelosi was allegedly "informed" of the Bush administration's use of enhanced interrogation techniques, her non-action made her "an accomplice to 'torture.' " The claim is inconsistent with the definition of "accomplice," as well as with the reality of Pelosi's ability to affect the Bush administration's actions in any way. Read More

Without Obama, Barnicle and Scarborough baselessly claim, Dems "are weaker" than Republicans
Mike Barnicle and Joe Scarborough said that -- if, inexplicably, one doesn't consider President Obama -- Democrats are "weaker than the Republicans." In fact, recent polling on favorable/approval ratings of members of Congress show congressional Democrats with higher favorable/approval ratings than congressional Republicans. Read More

Scarborough ignores experts who say torture undermines national security
Joe Scarborough suggested that those who oppose the use of harsh interrogation techniques are "willing to sacrifice on national security." However, military and FBI interrogators have testified that those techniques are ineffective and detrimental to U.S. security. Read More

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