Media Matters for America summary, June 18, 2007
 
Date: Mon, 18 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/200706190002?src=other">CNN's Roberts: "We do definitely know that Mitt Romney is pro-family"</a></b><br />
On the June 18 edition of CNN&#39;s <i>The Situation Room</i>, while discussing Republican
presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, CNN anchor
John Roberts said to host Wolf Blitzer: "[A]s the Reverend Jerry Falwell
said before his death, &#39;As long as a candidate is pro-life and
pro-family, he&#39;s all right with me.&#39; We do definitely know that
Mitt Romney is pro-family." Roberts added: "The jury is still out
among some conservatives as to whether or not he is in fact pro-life or
remains, as he was as governor of Massachusetts,
quote, &#39;effectively pro-choice.&#39; " While Roberts did not
elaborate on his characterization of Romney as "pro-family," <i>Media Matters for America</i> has noted
numerous instances of media figures equating "conservative"
positions with "pro-family" positions.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706190002?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706180007?src=other">Hannity cropped Clinton quote to accuse her of "hypocrisy" on Iraq</a></b><br />
On the June 17 edition of Fox News&#39; <i>Hannity&#39;s America</i>, host Sean Hannity
cropped a December 2003 speech by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) before the
Council on Foreign Relations to accuse her of "hypocrisy." Hannity
claimed that, in that speech, "when
most Democrats turned their back on the president&#39;s decision to invade Iraq, Hillary
maintained her support." As evidence, Hannity aired a part of her speech
in which Clinton said, "I was one who
supported giving President Bush the authority, if necessary, to use force
against Saddam Hussein," but not her subsequent statement two sentences
later in which she noted what she said were her "many disputes and
disagreements with the administration over how that authority has been
used." Hannity then skipped
ahead 14 paragraphs to include this quote from Clinton: "We have no option but to stay
involved and committed." Hannity later accused Clinton of "quickly
chang[ing] beats" after opposition to the war grew and claimed that, in
June 2006, "[a]lmost out of nowhere," Clinton "started to
blame the president for misleading Congress." Hannity then pointed to
Sen. John McCain&#39;s (R-AZ) remarks -- as quoted in <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. --
that "I didn&#39;t see early on or at least for a couple of or three
years ... the
allegation surface that President Bush had &#39;misused his authority.&#39; " In fact, as <i>Media
Matters for America</i> has previously noted (<a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200706010005?offset=20&amp;show=1">here</a>
and <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200705300003?offset=20&amp;show=1">here</a>),
Clinton accused Bush of misusing the
authority given him in the <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_cong_public_laws&amp;docid=f:publ243.107">Authorization
For Use Of Military Force Against Iraq</a> long before the June 2006 speech. 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706180007?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/immigration?src=other">Immigration</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706180006?src=other">Boortz: "I don't care if Mexicans pile up against that fence ... [J]ust run a couple of taco trucks up and down the line"</a></b><br />
On the June 18 broadcast of his
nationally syndicated radio show, Neal Boortz advocated building a
"double fence along the Mexican border, and stop the damn
invasion." Boortz continued: "I don&#39;t care if Mexicans pile
up against that fence like tumbleweeds in the Santa Ana
winds in Southern California. Let &#39;em.
You know, then just run a couple of taco trucks up and down the line, and somebody&#39;s
gonna be a millionaire out of that."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706180006?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706190001?src=other">Dobbs' "amnesty" captions appear below three more CNN correspondents' reports</a></b><br />
On <em>Lou Dobbs This Week</em>, the politically charged
word "amnesty" appeared in captions beneath news reports by CNN correspondents who have noted in previous reporting that
"amnesty" is a characterization favored by opponents of the
immigration bill, continuing a pattern on Dobbs' programs of adding
editorial commentary to what are ostensibly CNN news reports.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706190001?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/200706180005?src=other">Savage on same-sex marriage vote: "[G]ay mafia bought the votes ... like cheap tricks in a gay bathhouse"</a></b><br />
On the June 15 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio
show, <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/michaelsavage?src=other">Michael
Savage</a> attacked the Massachusetts state legislature for defeating a
proposal that would have called for a referendum on an amendment to the state
constitution banning same-sex marriage, saying of the legislators who voted
against putting the amendment on the ballot for 2008: "The gang that
answers to the gay mafia controls the state." Savage characterized
opponents of the amendment, including Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D), as
"criminals" who told voters to "drop dead." He added:
"Gay marriage was to go before the people in an even vote ... [b]ut
at the last minute, the gay mafia bought the votes of state representatives up
and down the line -- bought them lock, stock, and barrel, like cheap tricks in
a gay bathhouse." He also called same-sex marriage "an affront to
all of civilization."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706180005?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/200706180003?src=other"><em>Politico</em>'s Allen ignored polling data showing Libby pardon to be extremely unpopular</a></b><br />
In a June 17 <i>Politico</i>
<a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=3B43AC34-3048-5C12-00A65B56C9449D60">article</a> on the
"[p]ressure" Republicans
and conservatives are putting on President Bush to pardon former vice
presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief
political correspondent Mike Allen quoted an anonymous adviser to a 2008
Republican presidential candidate explaining that it would be
"politically good" for Bush to pardon Libby because "[t]he
very bedrock of believers in conservativism" are "united
around" a pardon. At no point in the article, however, did Allen report the most recent polling
data on the issue, which
indicate that the vast majority of Americans opposes a pardon for Libby.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706180003?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/200706180004?src=other">NY <em>Daily News</em>: "[M]averick" McCain "immediately accepted" adopted daughter</a></b><br />
In a June 18 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/2007/06/18/2007-06-18_campaign_trail_will_be_nothin_for_cindy.html">article</a>
profiling Sen. John McCain&#39;s (R-AZ) wife, Cindy,
 New York <i>Daily News</i> reporter Rich Schapiro referred
to the GOP presidential candidate as a "maverick" in the context of
his willingness to accept an adopted daughter into his family. Schapiro wrote
that after Cindy McCain adopted a baby in Bangladesh without informing her
husband, "the maverick senator immediately accepted his new daughter,
Cindy McCain said."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200706180004?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>




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