Friday, April 25, 2008

Media Matters Daily Summary 04-25-08

Matthews' obsession with Obama's ability to "walk[] into a dinette [sic]" continues
A week after claiming that Sen. Barack Obama "can't walk into a dinette [sic] with five or six guys there, white guys, in some cases. He can't just shake hands and hang out," Chris Matthews asserted, "[Obama] doesn't seem to have the knack for walking into a dinette [sic] with regular people in it and just having fun, just connecting." Read More

Networks reportedly refused to appear on PBS' NewsHour to respond to NY Times' military analysts story; several continue blackout
In an April 24 PBS NewsHour report about a New York Times article that revealed "the role of military analysts on TV and in the Pentagon," Judy Woodruff stated:"[W]e invited Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and NBC to participate, but they declined our offer or did not respond." Further, according to a search of programs in Nexis, several of these outlets have yet to report on the revelations in the April 20 Times article. Read More

Noonan suggests what Obama "think[s] of America" is a mystery -- but he wrote a whole book on the topic
In her column, Peggy Noonan asked of Barack Obama: "What does he think of America ... Who would have taught him to love it, and what did he learn was loveable, and what does he think about it all?" But Obama's latest book -- The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream -- is all about "[w]hat ... he think[s] of America." Read More

O'Reilly claimed "McCain has no power at all" in NC to stop state GOP from running ad attacking Obama
Referring to a controversial ad by the North Carolina Republican Party attacking Sen. Barack Obama, Bill O'Reilly said: "[T]he reality -- and we've researched this -- is that Senator McCain has no power at all in North Carolina, all right? ... And that's the truth." But several people identified as having leadership positions in the North Carolina Republican Party also have "official" roles in the McCain campaign. Additionally, neither McCain nor the Republican National Committee, which has also denounced the ad, has suggested that the North Carolina GOP will face any repercussions for its refusal to pull the ad. Read More

Today, Early Show covered Wright interview, but didn't ask McCain about Hagee
NBC's Today and CBS' The Early Show both aired interviews with Sen. John McCain while the candidate was in New Orleans, but in neither case asked McCain about controversial comments that one of his endorsers, Pastor John Hagee, recently made about Hurricane Katrina, though both programs discussed controversial comments made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Read More

Wash. Post's Broder joins Cohen in ignoring numerous falsehoods, asserts McCain "is not assumed to be willing to sacrifice personal credibility to prevail"
The Washington Post's David Broder wrote that Sen. John McCain "is the rare exception who is not assumed to be willing to sacrifice personal credibility to prevail in any contest," while Sen. Hillary Clinton "ha[s] added to her reputation for opportunism" with "[t]he negative attacks she has launched against [Sen. Barack] Obama." It was the second time this week that a Post columnist has explicitly contrasted McCain's and Clinton's credibility and perceived integrity, suggesting that the former is motivated by principle, and the latter, by a desire to win, ignoring McCain's numerous falsehoods committed during his presidential campaign. Read More

NewsBusters attacked Pelosi as "more of a shallow politician than a devout Christian" for calling the Dalai Lama "His Holiness" -- as Bush has repeatedly done
Tim Graham, the Media Research Center's director of media analysis, wrote in a NewsBusters blog post that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "show[ed] she's more of a shallow politician than a devout Christian" for calling the Dalai Lama "His Holiness." However, Graham did not mention another prominent politician who has referred to the Dalai Lama as "His Holiness": President George W. Bush. Read More

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