Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Media Matters Daily Summary 12-16-09

Quick Fact: Morris revives Al Gore "invented the Internet" and Love Story smears
On Fox & Friends, Dick Morris again falsely suggested that Al Gore said he "invented the Internet" and that "he's the guy after whom [Erich Segal's 1970 romance novel] Love Story was written." Contrary to Morris' suggestion, Gore never said he "invented the Internet" or claimed that Love Story was written about him. Read More

Columnist Shapiro falsely smears Obama nominee as "alleged former spy for Fidel Castro"
In a smear piece attacking the National Council of La Raza, columnist Ben Shapiro falsely described Mari Del Carmen Aponte, a former board member of the group whom President Obama nominated to be U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, as "an alleged former spy for Fidel Castro." In fact, the FBI reportedly cleared Aponte of allegations that she had been recruited as a Cuban spy. Read More

Health Care Misinformer of the Year: Betsy McCaughey
Media Matters for America presents its first-ever Health Care Misinformer of the Year award to Betsy McCaughey.
Read More

Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh run with dubious rumor that White House is threatening Nelson with Air Force base
In a December 15 post, Weekly Standard blogger Michael Goldfarb reported the claims of an unnamed "Senate aide" who allegedly said that the White House is "threatening to close" Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base "to extort" Sen. Ben Nelson's vote on health care reform. The rumor has since been denied by both Nelson's office and the White House, but Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh have nonetheless seized on Goldfarb's blog post and advanced the dubious allegation. Read More

Rewriting history, Limbaugh described both Bush presidencies as "eight years of prosperity"
On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh described both George W Bush and George H.W. Bush's presidencies as being "eight years of prosperity." In fact, economic recessions occurred during both Bush administrations. Read More

Shapiro's column filled with false, misleading attacks on NCLR
Syndicated columnist Ben Shapiro made numerous false and misleading attacks on the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), which he called "a radical and in some cases quasi-criminal group." He falsely smeared former NCLR board member Mari Del Carmen Aponte as "an alleged former spy for Fidel Castro"; falsely claimed that a statement urging Hispanics to "[reclaim] the land of their birth" was a "founding document" of NCLR; baselessly asserted that a proposed federal education funding increase was part of an effort "to funnel money quickly and furiously into NCLR coffers"; and ignored evidence contradicting claims of a "kickback scheme" involving an NCLR affiliate. Read More

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