Monday, February 01, 2010

Media Matters Daily Summary 02-01-10

Fox & Friends falsely claims government says stimulus "has only created the 600,000 jobs"
Fox & Friends hosts Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade, and Alisyn Camerota seized on a recent Recovery.gov jobs report to falsely claim that the stimulus funded 600,000 jobs, which Fox & Friends then attacked as being inconsistent with other Obama administration officials' estimates of jobs having been saved due to the stimulus. But that 600,000 jobs figure is reportedly only for the jobs funded by the stimulus in the fourth quarter of 2009; the White House still estimates that the stimulus' overall impact has been about 2 million jobs funded, and that number is in line with other economists' estimates. Read More

Right-wing media revive "bow-gate" with photograph of Obama greeting Tampa mayor
The right-wing media are attempting to revive "bow-gate" by highlighting a picture that shows President Obama bending at the waist while greeting Mayor Pam Iorio of Tampa, Florida, during Obama's recent trip to Florida. The photograph is the latest in the right-wing media's obsession with Obama's purported "bowing," which began following his greeting of Saudi King Abdullah and Japanese Emperor Akihito. Read More

Fox Nation joins Levin in smearing Leahy as "drunk on Senate Floor"
The Fox Nation joined conservative radio host Mark Levin in smearing Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) as being "drunk" when he delivered a January 28 speech on the Senate floor. Fox Nation's suggestion follows right-wing attacks, which were made "without evidence," that Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) was drunk when he delivered a Senate speech in early January. Read More

Politico helps GOP "revive" misleading attacks on Obama's terrorism policy
In an article headlined "Republicans revive 'soft on terror' charge," Politico uncritically repeated several GOP attacks on the Obama administration's response to the attempted Christmas Day bombing which are undermined by the similarity of that reaction to the Bush administration's response to Richard Reid's 2001 attempted shoe bombing. The attacks included that President Obama was "slow to speak to the public" after the attempted Christmas Day bombing, and that the Justice Department was wrong to read the bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab his Miranda rights and decide to try him in a civilian court; moreover, Politico pushed the misleading GOP attack that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano "said 'the system worked' because passengers on the plane jumped on" Abdulmutallab. Read More

Laffable: Fox News gives platform for former Reagan adviser to push dubious claims*
Previewing President Obama's announcement of his fiscal year 2011 budget plan, Fox News provided a platform to Art Laffer, a member of President Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board,* to offer dubious claims about tax cuts. Laffer claimed that in fiscal 2011, "all of the Bush tax cuts expire," ignoring that President Obama's budget plan allows those cuts to expire only for those making more than $250,000 per year, and asserted that the recession in the early 1980s occurred because President Reagan delayed the implementation of his tax cuts and ended due to those cuts, a claim disputed by many economists who instead cite changes to interest rates. Read More

Fox's Kelly claims polls don't "look good for Obama" on terrorism, but her own evidence and Fox poll disagree
On the February 1, inaugural edition of Fox News' America Live, host Megyn Kelly claimed that "polls don't really look good for Obama on" terrorism, specifically citing a mid-January Pew Research poll. However, the Pew poll concluded that "terrorism stands out as a strong suit" for President Obama; further, Kelly ignored numerous other polls -- including one from Fox News -- finding that a majority of the public approves of the Obama administration's handling of terrorism issues. Read More

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