Here are today's news items from Media Matters for America, click on the title or 'read more' to read the entirety of each story.

2008 Elections

Tumulty responds to Olbermann's "worst person" bronze and Media Matters
On the April 12 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann awarded Time magazine national political correspondent Karen Tumulty the "bronze" in his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment for, as Media Matters for America documented, suggesting in a posting on Time's weblog Swampland "that Senator [Hillary Rodham] Clinton's [D-NY] condemnation of Don Imus and support for the Rutgers women's basketball team there on her website was curiously placed," as Olbermann put it. Continuing, he said: "Quoting Tumulty, 'Hmmm, and right next to that respect for Rutgers, "Send a Message" link on her website, is a big red one that says "CONTRIBUTE." Sisterhood is powerful.' " Olbermann added: "Except that the big red contribute button is always in the same spot on that web page and most other presidential candidates have identical big red contribute buttons on their sites too." Read more

Krauthammer misleadingly cited Lieberman re-election to argue 2006 midterms were not mandate for Iraq withdrawal
In his April 13 Washington Post column, discussing the Democrats' effort to enact a timetable for ending the Iraq war, Charles Krauthammer asked: "[I]f the electorate was sending an unconflicted message [in 2006] about withdrawal, how did the most uncompromising supporter of the war, Sen. Joe Lieberman [I-CT], win handily in one of the most liberal states in the country?" In fact, as Media Matters for America has documented, exit polls indicate that Connecticut voters re-elected Lieberman in 2006 despite his support for continuing the war in Iraq. Further, in the weeks leading up to the election, Lieberman took pains to portray himself as a critic of the war. Read more

Washingtonpost.com's Akers suggested Clinton is using Imus controversy to "cultivate email addresses"
On the April 13 edition of MSNBC's The Most, anchor Alison Stewart called attention to an image (which has since been removed) posted on the front page of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) presidential campaign website -- accompanied by the caption "Respect for Rutgers." The photo, of several members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team, linked to a form where visitors can "[s]end a Message of Respect to the Scarlet Knights" in the wake of controversial comments by Don Imus. Stewart "admit[ted]" that the "website kind of caught me off-guard," and she went on to ask her guest, washingtonpost.com national political reporter and blogger Mary Ann Akers, "I'm wondering: Is there a danger here of co-opting this issue ... for political purposes?" Akers replied: "[I]t does a look a bit opportunistic to put a huge picture up and ask people to email in their letters," adding, "Of course, that does give the Clinton campaign the opportunity to cultivate email addresses for the purposes of fundraising," unless the user "check[s] this box." In fact, as Akers herself had noted a day earlier on her washingtonpost.com weblog, The Sleuth, the checkbox on the "Respect for Rutgers" page is to opt-in to receiving campaign updates, not to opt-out as Akers asserted on The Most. Read more

Politico video report: "[M]averick" John McCain "is still going against the grain"
An April 11 Politico video report on Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) speech that day at the Virginia Military Institute asserted that McCain is "still considered a maverick, saying what he believes, whether or not it's popular." Reporter Nicole Collins claimed that "while many politicians adjust to public opinion, John McCain is still going against the grain," adding that McCain said "it is his obligation to encourage Americans to give the new strategy in Iraq a chance." However, Collins' assertion that McCain's support of the Bush administration Iraq policy is "going against the grain" was refuted by an April 11 article written by her colleague Jonathan Martin, Politico senior political writer. Martin noted that Republican activists "agreed that the issue could help the senator in his bid for the GOP nomination" because President Bush "still retains high approval ratings among South Carolina Republicans." Read more

Fox News' Cameron touted McCain's "straightest of straight talk"
On the April 11 edition of Fox News' Special Report, Fox News chief political correspondent Carl Cameron reported that Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) April 11 Iraq war speech at the Virginia Military Institute "was billed as the straightest of straight talk." Cameron, however, left unchallenged McCain's attack on Democrats for "vot[ing] to deny our troops the support necessary to carry out their new mission," as well as McCain's assertion that "[e]very day that passes without the necessary funds appropriated to sustain our troops, our chances of success in Iraq dwindle and our military readiness declines further." Read more

Race/Affirmative Action

Pat Buchanan on Imus: "[T]he court of elite opinion ... pandering to the mob, lynched him"
In an April 13 syndicated column on the controversy surrounding Don Imus' smear of the Rutgers University women's basketball team, MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan wrote: "Imus threw himself on the mercy of the court of elite opinion -- and that court, pandering to the mob, lynched him. Yet, for all his sins, he was a better man than the lot of them rejoicing at the foot of the cottonwood tree." Buchanan's column was published two days after MSNBC announced that it would no longer simulcast Imus' show, and one day after CBS Radio announced it was dropping the show. Read more

Limbaugh: "[M]inorities never do anything for which they have to apologize"
On the April 12 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh criticized Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson for refusing to apologize to three former members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team who were accused of rape in March 2006 -- all charges were dropped on April 11 -- and asserted that "minorities never do anything for which they have to apologize." Presumably referring to the decision by CBS Radio and MSNBC to stop airing Imus in the Morning following controversial comments by host Don Imus, Limbaugh stated: "Everybody's demanding that everybody apologize in this country for simply breathing. It's getting to the point some people are not allowed to breathe or exhale, or make syllables." Limbaugh went on to complain about the protests Sharpton and Jackson led condemning Imus' remarks, saying: "They're members of the minority. Don't ever forget that this is the case. Minorities, victims, members of groups, are allowed to do anything to address their grievances and to get noticed, because ... they're so oppressed." Read more

Kurtz: "Imus made fun of blacks, Jews, gays, politicians. He called them lying weasels. This was part of his charm"
On April 12, during a report on the controversy sparked by Don Imus' remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team, ABC's World News aired comments by Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz, in which he said: "Over the years, Imus made fun of blacks, Jews, gays, politicians. He called them lying weasels. This was part of his charm." Kurtz's quote aired shortly after CBS Radio announced it would discontinue broadcasting Imus in the Morning. Read more

Malkin to Fox News guest: "Oh, geez. Here we go with the 'blame whitey' again"
On the April 12 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, guest host and Fox News analyst Michelle Malkin discussed with black talk-show host Opio Sokoni the decisions by MSNBC and CBS Radio to cancel their broadcasts of Imus in the Morning after host Don Imus referred to the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." Malkin accused the media and civil rights leaders of a "[d]ouble standard" and asked whether Imus' remark wasn't "a drop in the ocean compared to the filth on music and radio and hip-hop stations every day." After Sokoni said that those making money from hip-hop music are "[w]hite people that you coddle to in almost all your articles," Malkin responded: "Oh, geez. Here we go with the 'blame whitey' again. Blame whitey." Malkin added: "Whose mouths are the words coming out of? So, Snoop Dogg doesn't bear any responsibility for spreading this filth? And Young Jeezy, and Crime Mob and all these people, they don't bear responsibility? It's all whitey's fault?" Read more

Propaganda/Noise Machine

Drudge falsely claimed Soros funds Media Matters
Internet gossip Matt Drudge has claimed that Media Matters for America is a "Soros operation." Read more

Discussing Imus, MSNBC's Jansing sugarcoated Coulter quote on converting Muslims
On the April 13 edition of MSNBC News Live, host Chris Jansing gave viewers a truncated version of right-wing pundit Ann Coulter's post-September 11, 2001, comments about Muslims, claiming that Coulter "said they should all be converted to Christianity." In fact, a day after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Coulter wrote in her syndicated column, published on September 13, 2001, in National Review: "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." She was later fired from the right-wing National Review Online as a result of those comments. Furthermore, as Media Matters for America has noted, in her book, How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must): The World According to Ann Coulter (Crown Forum, October 2004), Coulter wrote: "I am often asked if I still think we should invade [Muslim] countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity. The answer is: Now more than ever!" Read more

LA Times claimed Dems "came to count on Imus," but obscured his attacks on Clinton and support for McCain
In an April 13 article about the cancellation of Don Imus' radio show by CBS Radio and its simulcast by MSNBC, the Los Angeles Times reported that "over the years, Democrats such as [former Rep. Harold] Ford [TN] came to count on Imus for the kind of sympathetic treatment that Republicans got from [radio host] Rush Limbaugh or [Fox News host] Sean Hannity." It was not until near the end of the article that the Times noted that not all Democrats could "count on" such "sympathetic treatment" from Imus: The paper informed readers that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), whom Imus vowed never to allow on his show, was "a frequent target of Imus' jokes." Moreover, while the Times noted that Republicans, such as Sen. John McCain (AZ), have also appeared on Imus in the Morning, it did not note that Imus said in January, "I'm going to vote for McCain at this point," or that he subsequently expressed support for former New York City Mayor and Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. Read more

On Fox, Hannity, North, and Hasselbeck claimed Pelosi may go to Iran, despite her denial
On the April 12 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity, Fox News military analyst Oliver North, and ABC's The View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck all repeated the false claim that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) would consider a diplomatic trip to Iran, even though the Associated Press had reported her spokesman's statement the previous day that Pelosi has "no intention of going to Iran." The claims continued despite co-host Alan Colmes' noting that Pelosi "never said she was going to Iran." Later, Colmes noted, "[H]er spokesperson says she has no intention of going to Iran." Read more

War in Iraq

Fox's Goler left out Cheney aspect of Sheehan's explanation for declining "war czar" position
On the April 12 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News White House correspondent Wendell Goler reported that "two retired generals have turned down" the position of war czar and that one had "sa[id] he didn't need the ulcer he would be likely to develop." But that was a small part of what retired Maj. Gen. John J. "Jack" Sheehan reportedly said. Unmentioned in Goler's report was the statement by Sheehan that he refused the job because he would have spent much of his time unsuccessfully fighting Vice President Dick Cheney and his allies who, according to Sheehan, "don't know where the hell they're going" on Iraq. Read more

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