Media Matters for America summary, June 07, 2007
 
Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2007 22:03:07 -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/200706070012?src=other"><em><em>Hardball</em></em> panelist Murdock revived "invented the Internet" falsehood to smear Gore</a></b><br />
On the June 5 edition of MSNBC&#39;s
<i><i>Hardball</i></i>,
during a discussion of <i><i>New York Times</i></i> columnist Bob
Herbert&#39;s June 5 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://select.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/opinion/05herbert.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fBob%20Herbert" target="_new" title="This
external link will open in a new window">column</a> (subscription
required) about former Vice President Al Gore, <i><i>National Review</i></i> columnist Deroy Murdock asserted, "I wonder if he&#39;s gotten over the
big drawback that I think essentially kept him out of the White House in 2000,
which is sort of the stiffness, the woodenness, and also his, sort of, playing
fast and loose with the truth, you know, saying that he was the inventor of the
Internet and that sort of thing." But
Gore never claimed to be "the inventor of the Internet." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070012?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070010?src=other">NewsMax is offering <em>Her Way</em> free with a one-year subscription</a></b><br />
Right-wing
news website <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.newsmax.com/">NewsMax</a> is <a href="http://mediamatters.org/https://www.newsmaxstore.com/nm_mag/herway.cfm?src=other">offering</a> potential subscribers a copy of <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> (Little, Brown &amp; Co.,
June 2007), by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr. in addition to the
"<a href="http://mediamatters.org/https://www.newsmaxstore.com/nm_mag/hillarydeck.cfm?src=other">Deck of Hillary</a>" -- a combination the
website claims is "worth $38" -- for free with a one-year
subscription or renewal to its magazine. NewsMax describes the "Deck of Hillary" -- a set of playing
cards -- as "the perfect antidote to the liberal media&#39;s Hillary
love fest." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070010?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070003?src=other">Carlson, Limbaugh baselessly accused Obama of justifying and inciting riots</a></b><br />
On the June 5 edition of MSNBC&#39;s <i>Tucker</i>, after playing a short excerpt of
Sen. Barack Obama&#39;s (D-IL) June 5 speech in which Obama discussed what he
called "quiet riots" of despair and hopelessness in poor
communities, host Tucker Carlson accused Obama of "giving a political
justification to totally unacceptable, never justifiable behavior." He also
stated, "[I]t seems to me that when people burn down stores, kill people because they&#39;re Korean, or beat people in
the head with cinder blocks because of their race, like Reginald Denny [a white
man who was injured in the 1992 Los Angeles riots], that&#39;s not a
political statement." But
contrary to Carlson&#39;s suggestion, Obama, referring to the 1992 riots, explicitly denounced violence in
the <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2007/06/sweet_blog_special_obama_warns.html">speech</a>, including some
of the specific acts Carlson listed: "This is not to excuse the violence
of bashing in a man&#39;s head or destroying someone&#39;s store and their life&#39;s work.
That kind of violence is inexcusable and self-defeating." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070003?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070011?src=other">Kondracke: McCain is "truth-teller" on Iraq war</a></b><br />
During the "All-Star Panel"
segment on the June 6 edition of Fox News <i>Special
Report with Brit Hume</i>, <i>Roll Call</i>
executive editor Morton Kondracke asserted that during the GOP presidential
debates, Sen. John McCain "was the truth-teller about the war in Iraq."
Yet during the debates, McCain stated more than once that "they" --
Al Qaeda or other terrorists -- "will follow us home" if the United States withdraws from Iraq, an assertion that is widely
challenged by security and terrorism experts. Outside the debates, McCain
recently claimed that Americans "could walk through" some
neighborhoods in Baghdad, to which CNN and <i>Time</i> magazine Baghdad
correspondents responded, respectively, that the claim that "an American
can walk freely [in Baghdad]
is beyond ludicrous" and that McCain "needs a reality check." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070011?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/war_in_iraq?src=other">War in Iraq</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070004?src=other">In Broder's world, only Dem -- not GOP -- "nays" on funding bills are votes "to cut off support for troops"</a></b><br />
In his June 7 <i>Washington Post</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/06/AR2007060602291.html">column</a>, David Broder
wrote that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) have
"abandoned their cautious advocacy of a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces
and now are defending votes to cut off support for troops fighting insurgents
in Iraq." Broder was referring to their May 24 <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=00181">votes against</a> the U.S.
Troop Readiness, Veterans&#39; Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability
Appropriations Act. He also claimed, "They are able to escape the charge of
abandoning U.S.
combat troops only because they knew when they voted that their Republican
colleagues in Congress, joined by a few Democrats, would keep the funds flowing
at least for a few more months." Broder did not address how President
Bush -- who <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070501-6.html">vetoed</a> an earlier Iraq
supplemental funding bill -- or Republican members of Congress -- most of whom
supported the president&#39;s veto and have themselves <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=00147">voted</a> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll265.xml">against</a> a supplemental -- "are able
to escape the charge of abandoning U.S. combat troops."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070004?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070001?src=other">O'Reilly lamented "personal attack[s]" on Cindy Sheehan, ignoring his own role in smearing her</a></b><br />
During the June 5 edition of Fox News&#39; <i>The O&#39;Reilly Factor</i>, host <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/billoreilly?src=other">Bill
O&#39;Reilly</a> said of anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan: "I don&#39;t like to
see any American suffer the way I think Ms. Sheehan has suffered from losing
her son to being personally attacked. And we wish her well." However, in sympathizing
with Sheehan&#39;s "suffer[ing]," O&#39;Reilly ignored his own history
of smearing Sheehan, as <i>Media Matters for
America</i> has documented:
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070001?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/gender_discrimination_equality?src=other">Gender Discrimination/Equality</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070002?src=other">Olbermann gave Rodgers "bronze" in "Worst Person" segment for likening Rice to S&amp;M hostess</a></b><br />
On the June 6 edition of MSNBC&#39;s <i>Countdown</i>, host Keith Olbermann honored Lee
Rodgers, co-host of KSFO&#39;s <i>The Lee Rodgers
&amp; Melanie Morgan Program</i>, with the "bronze" in his
"Worst Person in the World" segment for asserting on KSFO the
previous night that, "in those spike-heeled boots of hers,"
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice " looks like the hostess at an S&amp;M
parlor," as <i>Media Matters for America</i>
<a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200706050005?f=h_latest">documented</a>.
On <i>Countdown</i>, Olbermann quoted
Rodgers -- who, Olbermann said, is "best known as the flunky for the infamous
San Francisco
right-wing water carrier Melanie Morgan" -- and concluded, "[A] right-wing host is trashing a
right-wing secretary of State." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070002?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/iran?src=other">Iran</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070005?src=other">Hume reported House GOP denunciation of covert ops leak to ABC, but not CIA and White House's lack of objection</a></b><br />
On the June 6 edition of Fox News&#39; <i>Special Report</i>, Fox News Washington
managing editor <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/brithume?src=other">Brit Hume</a> reported that "[a] group of House Republicans is calling for an investigation into
leaks" to ABC News that led to ABC&#39;s May 22 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/05/bush_authorizes.html">report</a> that "the
CIA is conducting covert actions in Iran" with President Bush&#39;s approval. Those Republicans, Hume stated, "complain that such leaks
about covert operations, quote, &#39;tip our hand to help our enemies.&#39;
" But Hume did not report that, according to a statement by ABC News, the
White House and the CIA offered no objections to the ABC report. 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070005?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/lgbt_issues?src=other">LGBT Issues</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070007?src=other">Dobson endorsed sermon blaming "lesbian sex" for God's "abandonment" of America, justifying destruction of a U.S. city by God</a></b><br />
On the June 4 edition of his
<i>Focus on the Family</i> radio show,
Focus on the Family founder and chairman James C. Dobson broadcast a sermon by <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.gracechurch.org/home/ministrystaff.asp?ministry_id=1">John MacArthur</a>, pastor
of <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.gracechurch.org/home/">Grace Community Church</a> in Sun Valley,
California, titled "A Nation Abandoned by God." In the sermon,
MacArthur said America
had forsaken God and engendered the "wrath of abandonment" as a
result. MacArthur declared: "You know a society has been abandoned by God
when it celebrates lesbian sex." MacArthur
further argued that as a result of America&#39;s
abandonment, the destruction of a major U.S. city "could happen"
and that "God would be just in any calamity he brought upon us." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070007?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/global_warming?src=other">Global Warming</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070013?src=other">Hume reported on NASA chief Griffin's apology, but not NASA global warming cutbacks</a></b><br />
On the June 6 edition of Fox News&#39; <i>Special Report</i>, Fox News Washington managing editor <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/brithume?src=other">Brit Hume</a> reported that NASA
Administrator Michael Griffin "said it is NASA&#39;s job to provide
scientific evidence about global warming, and leave the discussions about what to
do with it up to policymakers." Hume did not report, however, that the
Bush administration has scaled back NASA&#39;s efforts to provide this
evidence, as the <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19030744/">Associated Press</a>
reported just two days earlier.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070013?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/propaganda_noise_machine?src=other">Propaganda/Noise Machine</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070006?src=other">Washington Post Radio considers hiring Glenn Beck</a></b><br />
In a June 7 <i>Washington
Post</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/06/AR2007060602665.html">article</a>,
staff writer Paul Farhi wrote: "Faced with continuing financial losses
and stubbornly low ratings for Washington Post Radio," WTWP owner
Bonneville International Corp.
is "considering" picking up "a show hosted by conservative
Glenn Beck." Farhi added: "However, both Bonneville and The Post
must agree on all programming decisions." As <i>Media Matters for America</i> has repeatedly <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/glennbeck?src=other">noted</a>, Beck -- who hosts a nationally
syndicated radio show and a nightly program on CNN Headline News, and <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200701090010?src=other">joined</a> ABC&#39;s <i><a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=2781423">Good
Morning America</a></i> as a regular contributor in January 2007 -- has <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200704120010?src=other">repeatedly spouted</a>
inflammatory comments about Muslims, Arabs, Mexicans, and female guests on his
radio and television programs, a tendency that went unmentioned by Farhi.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070006?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070008?src=other"><em>Politico </em>article baselessly suggested "culture of corruption" is bipartisan</a></b><br />
In a June 5 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0607/4351.html">article</a>
on the political implications of the June 4 corruption-related indictment of Rep.
William Jefferson (D-LA), <i>The Politico</i> asserted
that freshmen House Democrats who "campaigned against a &#39;Republican
culture of corruption&#39; and promised to clean up Congress once
elected" must now "dispel the notion that little has changed in
Washington." Yet, in suggesting that due to the Jefferson indictment, the
"culture of corruption" is a bipartisan problem, <i>The Politico</i> failed to report the extent
to which current and former Republican members of Congress have been convicted
or indicted or are reportedly under investigation, or the fact that the House under
Democratic control has passed several ethics reforms.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706070008?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>




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