Media Matters for America summary, May 25, 2007
 
Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 22:03:04 -0400


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<p>Here are today's news items from <i>Media Matters for America</i>, 
click on the title or 'read more' to read the entirety of each story.</p>
<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/2008_elections?src=other">2008 Elections</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705250006?src=other">NBC's Reid reported McCain's blast of Dems for "no" vote on troop funding, but not McCain's prior "no" vote</a></b><br />
On the May 25 edition of <i>MSNBC
Live</i>, NBC News congressional
correspondent Chip Reid uncritically read a <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/Read.aspx?guid=e0a4bdde-4631-4ea4-acec-0717f0021d1c">statement</a> from
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) attacking Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Hillary Clinton
(D-NY) for their May 24 votes against a war funding bill that did not include a
binding timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.
troops from Iraq.
In the statement, McCain said he was
"disappointed to see" Obama and Clinton "embrace the policy
of surrender by voting against funds to support our brave men and women
fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan."
McCain continued:
"This vote may win favor with MoveOn[.org] and liberal primary voters, but it&#39;s
the equivalent of waving a white flag to Al Qaeda." Yet Reid did not
mention that McCain himself has recently voted, in McCain&#39;s words,
"against funds to support our brave men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan." On March 29,
McCain <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&amp;session=1&amp;vote=00126">voted against</a> a
war spending bill that funded the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 51-47 and was then merged with a
similar House version. Bush ultimately <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/01/congress.iraq/index.html">vetoed</a> it on May
2, citing the inclusion of a withdrawal timetable. 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705250006?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705250008?src=other">Hannity suggested Edwards' "primping" is evidence that he does not "understand[] the nature of the battle in the war that's being waged against us"</a></b><br />
On the May 24 broadcast of Fox News&#39; <i>Hannity &amp; Colmes</i>, co-host <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/seanhannity?src=other">Sean Hannity</a>
asserted that Democratic presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards
(NC) -- whom he referred to as the "$400 haircut man" -- is
"not really viewed as somebody that is up to the task of understanding
the nature in the battle in the war that&#39;s being waged against us."
As evidence, Hannity pointed to a video of Edwards fixing his hair prior to a
televised interview and the fact that Edwards recently spent $400 on a haircut.
Hannity then asked executive director of Young Voter PAC Jane Fleming:
"You don&#39;t see inherent weaknesses here in this campaign?"
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705250008?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705250002?src=other">First news report about new Clinton book undermines "preposterous" story about "secret pact of ambition"</a></b><br />
On May 24, <i>Media Matters for America</i> offered a <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200705250001?src=other">brief overview of criticism of previous reporting by
Jeff Gerth</a>, the co-author of a soon-to-be-released
book about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) titled <i>Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton</i> (Little,
Brown).
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705250002?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705250005?src=other">Fineman "can't blame" McCain for angry outbursts because "his courage forever is being tested by his bad luck"  <br /></a></b><br />
In his May 23 online <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18829055/site/newsweek/page/0/" title="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18829055/site/newsweek/page/0/">column</a>, "The Upside of
Anger," <i>Newsweek</i> chief
political correspondent Howard Fineman wrote that he
"can&#39;t blame" Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for his propensity toward angry outbursts
because "his courage forever is being tested by his bad luck." Fineman lauded the 24-year
Capitol Hill veteran as an "outsider" and furthered the <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200703290001?src=other" title="http://mediamatters.org/items/200703290001">baseless media narrative</a>
that McCain is a different type of candidate, writing that McCain "seems
uncomfortable" pandering or
"overcompensates by being too enthusiastic."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705250005?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705260002?src=other">Media flacks for McCain's false "flak" attack on Obama's spelling</a></b><br />
Radio host <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/rushlimbaugh?src=other" title="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/people/rushlimbaugh">Rush Limbaugh</a>,
<i>Politico</i> senior political writer
Jonathan Martin, and other media figures uncritically repeated Sen. John.
McCain&#39;s (R-AZ) attack on Sen. Barack Obama&#39;s (D-IL) spelling of
"flack jacket" with a "c" in "flack,"
without noting -- as MSNBC congressional correspondent Mike Viqueira did --
that "flack" is an "alternative to the spelling of
&#39;flak.&#39; " Indeed, the phrase "flack jacket" with
a "c" appears on dozens of military websites.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705260002?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705260001?src=other"><em>Wash. Post </em>wrongly cast familiar portraits in new Clinton bios as "fresh"</a></b><br />
In a May 25 <i>Washington
Post</i> article, "<a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/24/AR2007052402479.html?hpid=topnews">Books
Paint Critical Portraits of Clinton</a>," staff writers Peter Baker and
John Solomon asserted that "[t]wo new books on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
of New York" -- <i><a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375407666">A
Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton</a></i>, by
Carl Bernstein (Knopf, June 2007) and <i><a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/books/51/0316017426/index.html">Her
Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton</a></i>,
by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr. (Little, Brown, and Co., June 2007) --
"offer fresh and often critical portraits of the Democratic presidential
candidate." The article continued: "The books portray her as
alternately brilliant and controlling, ambitious and victimized," and as
a woman, who "pursued her policy and political goals with methodical
drive." Far from being "fresh," the "portraits"
the two books paint of Clinton -- as captured by the descriptors Baker and
Solomon used, "brilliant and controlling, ambitious and
victimized," demonstrating "methodical drive" -- have been
used repeatedly in the past to describe Clinton.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705260001?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705250004?src=other">Carlson on Sen. Clinton: "Could you actually live in this country for eight years having to listen to her voice?"</a></b><br />
On the May 24 edition of MSNBC&#39;s <i>Tucker</i>, commenting on Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton&#39;s (D-NY) <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.hillaryclinton.com/action/spotlight/?sc=8">decision</a> to have the public choose the
theme song for her presidential campaign, host Tucker Carlson said: "But
this does nothing to make me like her. And it raises the question: Could you
actually live in this country for eight years having to listen to her
voice?" When former New York Gov. George Pataki (R) responded that
"of course" he could live in the United
 States with Clinton
as president, Carlson responded: "You&#39;re a man of steel." As <i>Media Matters for America</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200703270002?src=other" title="http://mediamatters.org/items/200703270002">documented</a>, media figures have repeatedly
attacked Clinton
for the tone and volume of her voice, including MSNBC hosts Chris Matthews
and Joe Scarborough, and <i>Time</i>&#39;s
Ana Marie Cox.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705250004?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/ethics?src=other">Ethics</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705250007?src=other"><em>Wash. Post, NY Times</em> left out key issue raised by Goodling testimony about talk with Gonzales</a></b><br />
<em>The Washington
Post</em> and <em>The New York Times</em>
reported the Justice Department's assertion that during a conversation in
March, Alberto Gonzales was not trying to influence Monica
Goodling's memory of the circumstances surrounding the U.S. attorney
firings. But neither
the <em>Post</em> nor the <em>Times</em> noted that the occurrence of the
conversation itself appears to contradict Gonzales' congressional
testimony that he had not spoken about the firings with anyone involved.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705250007?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>




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