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

Matthews repeated false claim that Clinton called for "permanent" U.S. presence in Iraq
On the April 23 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews acknowledged that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) "doesn't use the term 'permanent bases' " to describe her support for a continuing U.S. military presence in Iraq, but nevertheless repeated his false claim that Clinton has called for keeping troops in Iraq "permanently." Matthews asked: "Why is she so sensitive every time I say she wants to keep a permanent base there? What's the difference between keeping forces there permanently ... and having a permanent base? Is there a distinction without a difference here?" Matthews also falsely claimed that a March 15 New York Times article supported his account of Clinton's position. Read more

Ignoring recent speeches, MSNBC's Alexander claimed Obama "hasn't really been all that specific about policy"
In discussing the upcoming Democratic presidential debate on the April 24 edition of MSNBC Live, anchor Peter Alexander claimed that "the conventional wisdom on Barack Obama is that he's a great speaker, a terrific orator, but hasn't really been all that specific about policy," and asked Washington Post staff writer Chris Cillizza: "Is his performance likely to be the most scrutinized? Does he have the most to win or lose, perhaps?" Neither Alexander nor Cillizza noted that Obama gave a detailed foreign policy speech the previous day and offered an energy policy proposal on April 20. Read more

Citing Bush's dismal approval ratings, Pinkerton claimed he is "hanging in there" and not in "such bad shape"
In his April 17 column, Newsday columnist James P. Pinkerton asked: "If [President] Bush is falling apart so dramatically that he is in danger of simply vanishing, how come he's hanging in there in the polls?" Pinkerton noted that "Bush's average approval rating" in April 2007 is 34.6 percent and was 35.6 percent in April 2006. He then added: "Neither number is impressive, but what's clear is that Bush is hanging in there, approval-wise." But in characterizing Bush as "hanging in there," Pinkerton -- exhibiting a tendency on the part of many in the media, repeatedly documented by Media Matters for America, of presenting Bush's low poll numbers in as positive a light as possible -- ignored Bush's polling status relative to that of other recent presidents. Read more

MSNBC's O'Donnell failed to challenge false claim that Clinton haircut held up LAX
On the April 24 edition of MSNBC Live, anchor Norah O'Donnell failed to challenge Republican strategist Alex Johnson's false claim that former President Bill Clinton "h[e]ld up the tarmac at LAX [Los Angeles International Airport] for four hours" while getting a haircut. As Media Matters for America noted, a June 30, 1993, Newsday article reported that the reports of delays at the airport "were wrong," adding that the haircut "caused no significant delays of regularly scheduled passenger flights -- no circling planes, no traffic jams on the runways." Read more

Social Security

Blitzer falsely claimed Social Security will "run[] out of money" in 2041
On the April 23 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer falsely claimed that, according to the April 23 Social Security trustees' report, Social Security will "run[] out of money in 2041." As Media Matters for America has repeatedly explained (see here, here, here, here, and here), Blitzer's description is false: Social Security will not "run[] out of money" when its trust fund becomes depleted, as the trustees' report makes clear. Read more

War in Iraq

MSNBC's Culhane uncritically reported GOP claim that Democrats are not funding the troops in Iraq
On the April 24 edition of MSNBC Live, during a report on the standoff between President Bush and Congress over emergency spending for the war in Iraq, MSNBC correspondent Patty Culhane uncritically reported that Republicans say "that the Democrats are putting the troops in danger because they're not giving them the funding." In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted, both houses of Congress have passed legislation providing funding for the troops in the field. Moreover, the House and Senate are set to vote on a compromise bill that provides $124 billion in funding and requires that the Pentagon begin withdrawing troops from Iraq by October 2007, with the goal of having most U.S. forces redeployed six months later. However, Bush has promised to veto the bill if it includes a withdrawal timeline. So while Congress has demonstrated a clear intention to fund the troops, Bush has said he will veto the bill -- thereby denying funding to the troops -- if it doesn't meet his conditions. Read more

Propaganda/Noise Machine

O'Reilly purported to chart an intricate web leading to "vile propaganda outfit" Media Matters
On his Fox News program, Bill O'Reilly claimed that George Soros has built a "complicated political operation" in which "Soros and a few other wealthy radicals who help him are funneling money into the political process" by funding Media Matters, which "feeds its propaganda to some mainstream media people." In fact, Soros has never given money to Media Matters, either directly or through another organization. Read more

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