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

NY Times excerpt of Her Way falsely claimed Clinton "first" accused Bush of misusing Iraq authorization in 2006
On May 29, The New York Times published an excerpt of Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr.'s upcoming book Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton (Little, Brown & Co., June 2007). The excerpt asserted that Sen. Clinton's June 21, 2006, floor statement marked "the first time in her public speeches" in which she offered "a new interpretation" -- or "revised account" -- of her 2002 vote to authorize the use of force against Iraq: "The authority Congress given [sic] the president and his administration four years earlier, Clinton explained, had been 'misused' because they acted 'without allowing the inspectors to finish the job in order to rush to war.' " In fact, Clinton has been claiming that President Bush misused the Authorization For Use Of Military Force Against Iraq since at least October 2003. Read more

On Hannity & Colmes, Morris falsely claimed Gerth book says Media Matters was "set up by Hillary's staff"
On the May 29 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Fox News contributor and syndicated columnist Dick Morris falsely claimed that in Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr.'s Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton (Little, Brown and Co., June 2007), the authors "point[] out that Media Matters ... was actually set up by Hillary's staff, and she had a large amount to do with setting it up." In fact, Her Way does not state that Media Matters for America was "set up by Hillary's staff," nor does it claim that Clinton "had a large amount to do with setting it up." Rather, the book notes that Media Matters is "independent" and "had among its earliest supporters and advisers long-standing allies of Hillary and the Democratic Party." Read more

Gerth and Van Natta misrepresented Clinton's account of Foster's last month
In their new book, Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton (Little, Brown and Co.), Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr. claim that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) blamed deputy White House counsel and longtime friend Vincent Foster for failing to find time to spend with her in the month leading up to Foster's July 20, 1993, suicide. They write: "Hillary's painful reconstruction of their last month of silence focused not on her inability to meet with him, but his own failure to find the time to reach out to her." As their source, the authors cite Clinton's autobiography, Living History (Simon and Schuster, June 2003). But in her autobiography, Clinton wrote that both she and Foster were busy; she had spent that month "working to keep health care reform on the congressional agenda" and had been "preoccupied with preparing for my first trip out of the country as First Lady." She also wrote on page 174 of Living History: "I will go to my grave wishing I had spent more time with him and had somehow seen the signs of his despair." Read more

Russert cited "business and CEO experience" in claiming Romney "looks presidential"
On the May 30 edition of NBC's Today, co-host Matt Lauer said of former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA): "And while showing some strength at the polls ... many say he even looks presidential." Minutes later, NBC News Washington bureau chief Tim Russert told Lauer: "Matt, I think your interview and your analysis is exactly on target. Mitt Romney is seen as someone who looks presidential with the business and CEO experience." As Media Matters for America has documented, numerous other media figures have praised Romney's appearance or said he looks like a president, including Republican pollster Frank Luntz, Newsweek senior writer and political correspondent Jonathan Darman and assistant managing editor Evan Thomas, MSNBC host Chris Matthews, Politico chief political columnist Roger Simon, and former Time magazine White House correspondent (now chief political correspondent for The Politico) Mike Allen. Read more

War in Iraq

For Wallace, Dems -- but not Republicans -- who vote "no" on Iraq funding bill are willing to "let the money run out for the troops"
On the May 27 edition of Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asserted that, in voting against the emergency supplemental funding bill for the Iraq war last week, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) "was voting to actually let the money run out for the troops on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan." However, while Wallace has repeatedly suggested Democrats voting against a supplemental are putting American troops in harm's way, he has never held President Bush -- who vetoed an Iraq supplemental -- or Republican members of Congress -- many of whom either supported the president's veto or have themselves voted against a supplemental funding bill -- to the same standard. Read more

Propaganda/Noise Machine

Web version of NY Times Gerth article left uncorrected 13 years after publication
Thirteen years after the publication of a New York Times article that made a false claim regarding President Bill Clinton's tenure as Arkansas governor, the online and Nexis versions of that article still do not include the correction. Read more

Media

Olbermann named Hannity "Worst Person," with Bay Buchanan as runner-up
On the May 29 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Fox News host Sean Hannity the "winner" in his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment for stating that Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is " 'not really viewed as somebody that is up to the task of understanding the nature in the battle in the war that's being waged against us' because he got a $400 haircut," as Olbermann put it. As Media Matters for America noted, Hannity made the remark on the May 24 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes. 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, and then asked Jane Fleming, executive director of Young Voter PAC, "You don't see inherent weaknesses here in this campaign?" Read more

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