Media Matters Daily Summary 05-29-09

McClatchy misrepresented Panetta response to Pelosi
A McClatchy article mischaracterized Leon Panetta's response to Nancy Pelosi's allegation that during a secret briefing in 2002, the CIA had misled her about its use of waterboarding. Read More

NY Times ignored facts belying claim that Sotomayor had an "agenda" in Ricci case
The New York Times uncritically quoted Curt Levey's claim that Sonia Sotomayor's position in Ricci v. DeStefano showed she had an "agenda." But the Times did not note that Sotomayor was one of four 2nd Circuit judges who joined an opinion by one of her colleagues stating that precedent compelled the decision in the case.
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WSJ's Strassel falsely claimed Obama "decreed" that Sotomayor debate feature "biography" over "qualifications"
Kimberley Strassel falsely claimed President Obama "decreed" that debate over Sonia Sotomayor "be a discussion primarily about Judge Sotomayor's biography, not her qualifications." In fact, in his speech announcing Sotomayor's nomination, Obama spoke extensively about her qualifications. Read More

Suddenly it's OK to call a judicial nominee a racist
When the nation learned in 2005 that Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito had belonged to a Princeton University alumni organization that advocated a cap on the number of women and minorities allowed at Princeton, the news media quickly circled the wagons to protect the Bush nominee. Read More

Scarborough ignores Obama's fiscal case for health care reform
Joe Scarborough suggested that President Obama's remark that "we are out of money" was at odds with Obama's health care reform proposal. However, Obama has argued that health care reform is essential to the long-term economic health of the country. Read More

Wash. Times article allows unnamed critics to smear Sotomayor as "terror on the bench"
A Washington Times article reported criticisms of Sonia Sotomayor's judicial temperament, but none of those criticisms came from an on-the-record source who knew Sotomayor. Read More

Media allow JCN's Long to criticize Sotomayor's reversal rate, ignoring group's credibility problem
Media outlets have allowed Judicial Confirmation Network's Wendy Long to criticize Sonia Sotomayor's reversal rate without noting that JCN ran an ad falsely claiming that Sotomayor has a "100% reversal rate" -- calling JCN's credibility into question. Read More

Media imagine scorn "white male" would receive for equivalent of Sotomayor's "wise Latina" remarks
Some media figures have postulated that if a white male or a conservative had made the equivalent of Sonia Sotomayor's "wise Latina" remark, they would be branded a racist, "run out of town," "properly banished from polite society," or "railroaded off the [judicial] bench." Read More

Have Sotomayor's critics actually read her Berkeley speech?
Numerous media figures have pointed to a sentence from a 2001 speech by Sonia Sotomayor to characterize her or her comments as being "racist" while ignoring the point of Sotomayor's speech, which undercuts their criticisms. Read More