Special Report says "public venting" at health care town halls, ignores conservative efforts to pack events
On Special Report, anchor Bret Baier claimed that at recent congressional town hall meetings, the "public" is "venting" about health care reform, while correspondent Shannon Bream stated that "skeptical Americans across the country are pushing back" against the legislation. But at no point did Special Report note that conservative organizations opposed to the bills are conducting a campaign to turn out their supporters to attend those events, with the support of conservative media figures and outlets such as Rush Limbaugh and The Fox Nation. Read More
Fox's Bream forwards McConnell's double standard on empathy
On August 4, Fox News Supreme Court reporter Shannon Bream reported that "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell renewed his concerns that [Supreme Court nominee Sonia] Sotomayor will govern based on feelings, rather than law," and aired a clip of McConnell saying, "Empathy is only good if you're lucky enough to be the person or group that the judge in question has empathy for. In those cases, it's the judge, not the law, which determines the outcome." But Bream did not mention McConnell's previous votes to confirm Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, who discussed the importance of their personal experience during their confirmation hearings. Read More
Rosen claims reconciliation "used only" to reduce deficit -- but GOP used it for tax cuts
On August 4, Fox News Washington correspondent James Rosen reported that the budget reconciliation process Democrats have "threatened" to use to pass health care reform legislation is an "arcane parliamentary tactic" and that it "is, as a matter of law, used only for budget bills to achieve deficit reduction." In fact, during the Bush administration, the Republican majority frequently used reconciliation to pass major initiatives not aimed at deficit reduction, including then-President Bush's tax cuts. Read More
Matthews misrepresents flawed poll to suggests Dems are similar to birthers
Chris Matthews misrepresented a flawed Rasmussen poll in claiming that most Democrats believed that President Bush had or might have "gotten the inside word" that the 9-11 terrorist attacks were about to happen and that therefore "both parties" are equally at fault for promoting conspiracy theories. But the poll question -- "Did Bush know about the 9/11 attacks in advance?" -- was ambiguous and likely provoked "yes" answers from people who simply believed that Bush failed to heed intelligence information that could have led to the attacks being thwarted. Read More
CBS, Fox reports on town hall disruptions ignore conservative strategy
On August 4, Katie Couric joined repeat offender Bret Baier in reporting on unusually large -- and sometimes disruptive -- crowds turning out to protest health care reform at town halls hosted by members of Congress without noting that conservative organizations opposed to Democrats' proposals -- boosted by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity -- are conducting a campaign to pack those events with their supporters. For the second night in a row, Baier reported on the protests but ignored the conservative strategy to pack town hall events with health care reform opponents. Read More
WSJ editorial vs. WSJ news pages on insurance lobby opposition to reform
In an August 5 editorial, The Wall Street Journal falsely claimed that the health insurance lobbies are "helping Democrats by keeping quiet" during the health care reform debate, adding that if they "were any quieter, they'd be Trappists." In fact, the insurance industry reportedly significantly increased its spending on lobbying this year, and, as the Journal itself reported in a news article, insurers are "wag[ing] an aggressive campaign against Democrats' proposals to create a public health-insurance plan." Read More
Beck nuts about linking groups to ACORN
Illustrating the conservative penchant for using ACORN as a bogeyman, Glenn Beck has in recent weeks devoted segments to tenuous or tangential "connections" between ACORN and the following people and groups: AmeriCorps, AARP, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, PRLDEF, and SEIU. Beck has also fearmongered about ACORN while attacking President Obama and his policies. Read More
Conservative media examine video of town hall disruptions, declare disruptors "real"
Several conservative media figures have recently claimed that the people who have disrupted recent Democratic town halls on health care reform are, in Rush Limbaugh's words, "real" and "genuine" rather than "ginned up" -- a message that echoes Republican claims about the disruptions. In fact, conservative organizations opposed to the Democrats' health care bills are conducting a campaign to turn out their supporters at these events; the subsequent disruptions have been promoted by conservative media figures and outlets. Read More
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