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

MSNBC's O'Donnell suggested Sen. Clinton is "stiff" rather than "stately"
On the April 26 edition of MSNBC Live, when Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons said that Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has a "very sort of stately demeanor," anchor Norah O'Donnell interrupted: "Did you say 'stately' or did you say 'stiff?' " Simmons replied: "You said 'stiff,' I said 'stately.' " Republican strategist Phil Musser agreed, saying: "I'd say 'stiff.' " Read more

NBC's Mitchell cherry-picked quote in support of claim that Obama is "long on charisma but short on substance"
On the April 26 edition of NBC's Today, during a segment highlighting Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) recent "surge" in the polls, chief foreign correspondent Andrea Mitchell said: "Experts say so far Obama has been long on charisma but short on substance." Mitchell then showed clips from two recent appearances by Obama, including an April 23 speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in which he declared, "I still believe that America is the last, best hope on Earth." Following the clips of Obama's statements, a clip of NBC News political director Chuck Todd aired in which Todd asserted: "The public's going to be expecting him to start filling in the blanks, start being for specifics. So far, he's been for an idea of a candidate, but he hasn't been for specific things." However, Mitchell selectively quoted from that April 23 speech to make the claim that Obama's words were "vague" when, in fact, his remarks included many specifics regarding his proposals. Read more

Cafferty cropped Clinton quote in claiming she "compar[ed]" herself to Tubman
On the April 24 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN correspondent Jack Cafferty claimed that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) was "comparing" herself to Harriet Tubman when she invoked what she said was Tubman's urging that "no matter what happens, keep going." Situation Room host Wolf Blitzer then repeated Cafferty's claim that Clinton was comparing herself to Tubman. But in airing the video of Clinton invoking Tubman, Cafferty left out a key part of her statement: She prefaced her remarks about Tubman by saying that she is "one of my favorite heroines." If he had included video of that part of Clinton's remarks -- or noted that in her autobiography, Living History, Clinton refers to Tubman as an "inspiration to Americans of all races" -- viewers might have concluded that Clinton was indeed citing Tubman as an inspiration, not comparing herself to Tubman. Read more

MSNBC discussed Giuliani's attack on Democrats over terrorism, did not question Giuliani's own record on terrorism
On the April 25 edition of MSNBC Live, hosts Norah O'Donnell and Chris Jansing discussed an April 24 speech by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) in which he asserted that if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, "[W]e are going on defense" in combating terrorism. Giuliani further stated, "If we are on defense, we will have more losses and it will go on longer." But in discussing the strategy behind Giuliani's argument, neither O'Donnell and Jansing nor their respective guests -- McClatchy Washington Bureau chief political correspondent Steven Thomma and U.S. News & World Report chief White House correspondent Kenneth Walsh -- noted questions surrounding Giuliani's record on the issues of terrorism and national security, which Media Matters for America has repeatedly documented. Indeed, in a speech televised on MSNBC less than an hour before O'Donnell's segment, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appeared to make reference to Giuliani's questionable record on those issues. Read more

War in Iraq

Hume cherry-picked Constitution to attack Murtha's view of congressional role in war debate
On the April 24 edition of Fox News' Special Report, Fox News Washington managing editor Brit Hume selectively cited the U.S. Constitution to suggest that, in an April 24 CNN interview, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA) incorrectly stated that Congress has a role in determining the future of U.S. Iraq policy. Read more

NY Post contributor falsely claims "Reid's new position" means "even a Democratic president" can't ensure victory in Iraq
In an April 26 New York Post column, contributor Amir Taheri claimed that the "new position" by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) -- who said at an April 19 press conference that "this war is lost" -- "means that even a Democratic president wouldn't be able to ensure a U.S. victory in Iraq." But Taheri's claim is contradicted by Reid's further assertion during the same press conference that the war "can only be won diplomatically, politically, economically." In addition, during the same press conference, in which he argued that a new "direction in Iraq" is needed, including a redeployment of troops to focus on "counterterrorism, force protection and training," Reid said: "It's time for us to change direction in Iraq. ... Redeploy the droops. Does that mean pull them out? No, it doesn't. But it does mean the troops that are there should focus on counterterrorism, force protection, and training the Iraqis." As Media Matters for America noted, Reid added during the question and answer session of the press conference: "I believe the war at this stage can only be won diplomatically, politically, and economically." Read more

Roll Call uncritically quoted Cheney's false claim that Reid is "adamantly opposed to any funding for the troops"
An April 26 Roll Call article (subscription only) on the Iraq war debate uncritically quoted Vice President Dick Cheney's false claim, made on the April 15 edition of CBS' Face the Nation, that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) "has said he's adamantly opposed to any funding for the troops." In fact, as Media Matters for America noted, Reid voted for the emergency supplemental funding bill that the Senate passed on March 29 and voted for the conference report on the bill, which the Senate passed during the afternoon of April 26. The conference report -- a reconciliation of House and Senate bills -- provides $124 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan 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. Read more

Beck repeated misleading claim that "Pelosi didn't even meet with Petraeus"
On the April 25 edition of his CNN Headline News program, Glenn Beck asserted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) "didn't even meet with" Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, during his April 25 visit to Capitol Hill. In response, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), whom Beck was interviewing, said that Pelosi is "too busy over there talking to the Syrians and wanting to have her own personal State Department." Huckabee added: "So I guess she was just too busy to go and meet with the very person that she has been so willing to criticize in public." In fact, as Media Matters for America noted, ABC News senior national correspondent Jake Tapper reported in an April 24 ABCNews.com article that Pelosi would "not attend" Petraeus' April 25 briefing for lawmakers, but noted that a "Pelosi aide said the speaker on Tuesday requested a one-on-one meeting with Petraeus but that could not be worked out," and that Pelosi and Petraeus had instead spoken on the phone for 30 minutes. Read more

Propaganda/Noise Machine

MSNBC host Jansing did not challenge GOP chairman assertion that Reid was "giving aid and comfort to the enemies"
On the April 26 edition of MSNBC Live, during a discussion with host Chris Jansing and South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Joe Erwin, South Carolina GOP chairman Katon Dawson asked: "Which one of the Democrat [sic] contenders are going to take [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid [D-NV] to task about giving aid and comfort to the enemies by claiming the global war on terror is lost?" Jansing did not challenge Erwin's assertion, which amounted to an accusation that Reid has committed treason. Dawson also asserted during the segment that "Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi as leaders of the Democrat [sic] Party on Capitol Hill" are "gloating" over "this defeatist legislation that just passed" -- referring to the Iraq war supplemental funding bill that passed the Senate on April 26, which would require American troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq by October 1. Read more

Politico runs correction of DeLay claim that Soros funds Media Matters
As Media Matters for America noted, on April 23, the same day that Fox News' Bill O'Reilly went on the attack against Media Matters -- purporting to diagram what he presented as a web of conspiracy involving progressive donors, nonprofits, and the media, with Media Matters at the center -- The Politico ran an op-ed by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), in which DeLay alleged that "George Soros, upset with the slight inroads conservatives have made recently, has funded an organization called Media Matters for America, led by liberal muckraker David Brock." In fact, as Media Matters has repeatedly noted, Soros has never given money to Media Matters, either directly or through another organization. Read more

Wash. Post's Broder downplayed Gonzales' actions, misled on Reid
In his April 26 nationally syndicated Washington Post column, titled "The Democrats' Gonzales," David Broder equated Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales' handling of the controversial dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) recent statement "that the war in Iraq 'is lost' " to opine that Reid, like Gonzales, is "a continuing embarrassment thanks to his amateurish performance." Yet, in making this comparison, Broder glossed over much of the controversy surrounding Gonzales' role in the U.S. attorney scandal, boiling it down to Gonzales' "serial obfuscation," having "at various times ... taken complete responsibility for the firing of eight U.S. attorneys and professed complete ignorance of the reasons for their dismissal." In fact, beyond "obfuscation," Gonzales has made statements in congressional testimony and elsewhere that conflict with other claims he has made as well as with statements by his staffers. Read more

Olbermann: O'Reilly's "real anger and real fear rests in the dread that someone is quoting him correctly"
During the April 25 broadcast of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann noted that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly attacked Media Matters for America during the April 23 edition of his television show. Olbermann stated: "Bill O'Reilly has issued another fatwa -- this time against the journalism watchdog website, Media Matters, proving, without the slightest fear of contradiction, that he has a flow chart and the access to the color red." Olbermann observed: "Nothing Media Matters has ever posted about Bill O'Reilly has failed to withstand independent vetting -- not a missing comma, not a missing context." He added: "In an age in which we rightly fear being inaccurately quoted or misinterpreted, it would seem that Bill-O's real anger and real fear rests in the dread that someone is quoting him correctly." Read more

Polling

Broder's history of "wildly off target" claims and faulty predictions
On April 26, The Washington Post published a baseless attack on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) by columnist David Broder --- with the headline "The Democrats' Gonzales" -- in which Broder characterized Reid as an "embarrassment" for recently stating that the war in Iraq "is lost." The column inspired Media Matters for America to review Broder's recent columns and offer examples of Broder's unfounded attacks on Democrats, glaring misstatements of fact, unwarranted praise of President Bush and congressional Republicans, off-the-mark political predictions, and in at least one case, what was, by his own admission, a cringe-worthy embarrassment: Read more

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