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

Luntz, predicting he'll get "hit by Media Matters," claimed Clinton's voice "turns people off"
On the June 20 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, while discussing Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (NY) recent campaign video, which parodies the series finale of HBO's The Sopranos, co-host Sean Hannity said to his guest, Republican pollster Frank Luntz: "I know this was to soften her image. Her negatives are very high," adding, "She doesn't have a likability factor." After Luntz agreed with both assertions, Hannity aired a video clip of a Clinton April 2003 speech at a Connecticut fundraising dinner, which he described as "[v]ery different than the Hollywood, manufactured, soft, phony smiles on the Sopranos act." Luntz cited the 2003 speech as evidence that Clinton's voice "turns people off" and went on to imitate her voice, saying: "It's all at the same level and ... she gets louder and louder, but her voice doesn't go up or down." After noting, "[W]e're gonna end up getting hit by Media Matters," Luntz cited his own "research" to claim that Clinton's voice "turns people off because they feel like they're being lectured." Luntz did not offer any further details regarding his purported research. Read more

Contrary to Giuliani release, Fox's Brown claimed campaign "fired" indicted SC campaign chairman Ravenel
On the June 20 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News correspondent Steve Brown falsely asserted that Republican presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani had "fired his South Carolina state campaign chairman Thomas Ravenel after his indictment on federal drug charges." But according to a June 19 Giuliani campaign press release, the campaign had "no information about the accusations pending against Mr. Ravenel," and he had "stepped down from his volunteer responsibilities with the campaign." No further statements about Ravenel have appeared on Giuliani's website. Read more

Dowd one of many to run with portrayal of Clinton as violent
In her June 20 column (subscription required), New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote about an online video produced by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) presidential campaign that features Sen. Clinton and former President Bill Clinton spoofing a scene from the series finale of HBO's The Sopranos. Dowd wrote that Sen. Clinton, like Tony Soprano, "is so power-hungry that she can justify any thuggish means to get the prize." While Dowd used the occasion of the Sopranos spoof to make an explicit comparison between Sen. Clinton and a fictional character who has engaged in acts of murder and torture, her column is hardly the first to portray the Clintons and their staff as ruthless and even violent. Dowd herself, as well as numerous other media figures, have characterized them in that way before. Read more

Still no Politico article on Giuliani's brief tenure on and departure from Iraq Study Group
The Politico, which claims to cover "the politics of Capitol Hill and of the presidential campaign ... with enterprise, style, and impact," has continued to ignore reports that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) quit the Iraq Study Group (ISG) in May 2006 after failing to attend a single meeting. Read more

PBS to use "noted pollster" Luntz for presidential forum, despite GOP ties and reported reprimands
According to an April 4 press release, Republican pollster Frank Luntz will participate in the Public Broadcasting Service's coverage of the June 28 Democratic presidential forum, which will be televised live and moderated by PBS host Tavis Smiley: "Immediate public feedback on the performance of the candidates will be conducted by noted pollster Frank Luntz, who will also appear on 'Tavis Smiley' on PBS the following evening to discuss his findings." Fellow pollsters have criticized Luntz, a longtime Republican strategist, for mischaracterizing the results of his research, as Media Matters for America has noted. The PBS press release does not mention Luntz's Republican ties, repeating a pattern in the media identified by Media Matters. Read more

Beck guest said he wanted to see Clintons killed in Sopranos spoof; Beck previously fantasized about killing Michael Moore
During the June 20 edition of his CNN Headline News show, Glenn Beck hosted Michael Graham, a conservative radio talk show host, who said that, while watching a spoof of a scene from the series finale of HBO's The Sopranos filmed by former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), he wanted to see someone "whack" the Clintons. Beck, while smiling, said he "did not want to see that." Graham's comments were not edited out of subsequent airings of the program. Instead, CNN aired the same version of the show -- including Graham's remark about wanting to see "somebody come in ... and just whack" the Clintons -- at 7 and 9 p.m. ET on June 20 and at midnight on June 21. Read more

FoxNews.com claimed Clinton could benefit from "potential loophole" in campaign laws, but ignored Giuliani
In a June 20 FoxNews.com article, reporter Greg Simmons wrote that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) found "a potential 'loophole' " in the law that bans candidates for federal office from taking "political contributions from foreigners" because she has access "to the bankroll of her wealthy husband, former President Bill Clinton ... whose income has been significantly enhanced through speeches made in foreign lands." Simmons went on to uncritically report that Cleta Mitchell -- identified only as a "campaign finance attorney ... who represents Republican clients" -- "said she anticipates an outcry from liberal camps over the source of Republicans' wealth once documents are released later this month," yet "doesn't think the Clintons' situation will make much noise." But while Simmons' article itself "make[s] ... noise" about a Democratic presidential hopeful possibly benefiting from what Simmons calls "a potential 'loophole,' " Simmons did not mention a Republican presidential candidate who could tap into personal income derived from speeches overseas -- former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who grossed at least $2 million from foreign speaking engagements between January 2006 and February 2007. Read more

ABC's The Note concluded from Wash. Post profile that Clinton inner circle is "sometimes vicious"
The Note, ABC News' daily online tip sheet for political news, today described Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (NY) inner circle of senior advisers as "sometimes vicious." The attack was made while highlighting a June 21 Washington Post feature article on the cadre of women who advise Clinton. In linking to the article, The Note described the advisers as "the sometimes vicious, always discreet core of women who form Clinton's campaign brain trust." Read more

Ethics

According to The Politico, Jefferson is "indicted" while DeLay is merely "under investigation"
In a June 21 article on the legal troubles of various members of Congress who have served on appropriations committees, The Politico reported that Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) was "recently indicted on a host of federal corruption charges." By contrast, the article described former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) as simply "under investigation over his ties to [disgraced former lobbyist Jack] Abramoff, as well as for foreign travel and other actions." The article did not mention that DeLay was actually indicted in Texas on money laundering and conspiracy charges relating to a campaign finance probe. Read more

Exonerating Libby of underlying crime, Post's Cohen confused about elements
In a washingtonpost.com discussion, Richard Cohen asserted that Lewis "Scooter" Libby "didn't commit the original crime" in the CIA leak case because he wasn't Robert Novak's source for the column that disclosed Valerie Plame's identity. However, Libby did leak Plame's identity to other reporters. Cohen also falsely claimed that Plame was not "covert." An unclassified summary of Plame's CIA employment established that she was, in fact, a covert CIA employee. Read more

CBS' Attkisson chided Pelosi for refusing interviews about bogus jet allegations
In a June 21 online chat posted on CBSNews.com's Public Eye weblog, CBS News Capitol Hill correspondent Sharyl Attkisson claimed that "Democrats and their staffers appeared surprised if not offended when they took over leadership and we asked them the type of tough, challenging questions that we'd been asking Republicans when the GOP was in the majority." Attkisson went on to note one such "tough, challenging question": "One example was when we asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to explain her alleged desire for a bigger, more expensive jet to fly her to and from California at taxpayer expense. I've probably asked Ms. Pelosi for an on-camera interview 40 times in the past couple of months and she has never granted me one, on the jet topic or any other -- even on matters that are positive for her party." In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted, Pelosi has claimed that she did not request the aircraft, and there is reportedly no evidence to indicate that Pelosi ever made such a request. Moreover, one of the congressional Republicans who led the attack on Pelosi's "alleged desire for a bigger, more expensive jet" admitted that he had no evidence to support his allegations. Read more

Stem Cell Research

Message to media: Bush first to fund stem cell research only because GOP Congress blocked Clinton plan

During the June 20 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, White House correspondent Brett Baier reported that President Bush "pointed out" during a press conference "that he is the first" president "to provide funds for embryonic stem cell research." Later in the program, Washington Post columnist and Special Report "All Star" panel member Charles Krauthammer called Bush "the first president who actually funded embryonic stem-cell research" and asserted that during President Bill Clinton's tenure "there was a ban" on federal funding. Also, two Associated Press articles, one on June 20 and one on June 21, reported, "There were no federal funds available for the work until Bush announced on Aug. 9, 2001, that his administration would spend tax money for research on lines of cells that already were in existence." In fact, a Clinton administration proposal to fund embryonic stem cell research was blocked by a Republican Congress, and revised guidelines for such funding issued under Clinton were suspended by Bush in favor of stricter rules. In explaining his June 20 veto of a bill that would have eased restrictions for stem cell research funding, Bush claimed he was the "first president to make federal funds available for embryonic stem cell research":

In 2001, I announced a policy to advance stem cell research in a way that is ambitious, ethical, and effective. I became the first president to make federal funds available for embryonic stem cell research -- and my policy did this in ways that would not encourage the destruction of embryos.

As Media Matters for America has noted (here and here), after Congress passed a bill in 1993 that included a provision allowing federal funding of human embryo research, the Clinton administration convened a panel that proposed federal funding for obtaining stem cells, which would entail the destruction of spare embryos from fertility clinics. Contrary to Krauthammer's suggestion, it was the Republican-controlled Congress, not Clinton, that in 1995 and subsequent years included a ban on the use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research in appropriations bills, which derailed the Clinton proposals. After researchers achieved the isolation of embryonic stem cells in November 1998, the Clinton administration drafted revised guidelines to fund embryonic stem cell research, but those rules had yet to take effect when Clinton left office. Clinton's rules were suspended by the Bush administration in favor of its own rules. Bush's stricter rules limit funding only for embryonic stem cell lines already in existence at the time he issued his policy in a August 9, 2001, nationally televised speech. As The Washington Post reported on August 10, 2001, "the new policy will replace guidelines issued by the National Institutes of Health a year ago under the Clinton administration that would have allowed the first federal subsidies of human embryo cell research." From the June 20 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

BAIER: Instead, the president issued an executive order promoting research on, but not funding for what are called pluripotent stem-cells that like human embryonic stem-cells hold the potential of regenerating into different types of cells and tissues in the body that can be used to fight disease, but these cells would not endanger human life. The President cited medical research breakthroughs on cells taken from umbilical cord blood and amniotic fluid, as well as new research on adult stem cells. BUSH: [video clip] And our conscious calls us to pursue the possibilities of science in a manner that respects human dignity and upholds our moral values. BAIER: The president pointed out that he is the first president to provide funds for embryonic stem-cell research, making $130 million available for research on stem cell lines from embryos that had already been destroyed before he came to office, and has since spent more than $3 billion funding research on different forms of stem cells. Top Democrats like Presidential candidate [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY] were quick to denounce the President's veto. CLINTON: [video clip] This is just one example of how the president puts ideology before science; politics before the needs of our families. Just one more example of how out of touch with reality he and his party have become. [...] HUME: All right now lets not go in -- go there. Charles, let me let you have a crack at this since this is an issue you care about. KRAUTHAMMER: Look the president is serious about the moral objection he has, and that is that you don't destroy human embryos to produce stem cells. He had not banned all research on it or even federal assistance; he banned only the kind that actively destroys embryos. He allowed all the existing lines that had existed before his policy was announced in April of 2001. So there is a research supported by the federal government. Look, I happen to disagree with the President. I would have allowed what the bill in the House and the Senate would have wanted, which was the use of discarded embryos from fertility clinics. However, I respect the president's position, unlike the Democrats who attack it as if it's -- totally cynical. Mrs. Clinton said today that the -- when I am president, I will lift the ban on stem-cell research -- as you indicated. There is no ban, in fact under her husband, there was a ban. But Bush is the first president who actually funded embryonic stem cell research, but he said only of a type which is morally defensible.

From a June 20 Associated Press article headlined "Bush vetoes embryonic stem cell bill, urges research on other stem cell lines":

Most of the Democratic candidates have urged Bush to expand the research. Scientists were first able to conduct research with embryonic stem cells in 1998, according to the National Institutes of Health. There were no federal funds available for the work until Bush announced on Aug. 9, 2001, that his administration would spend tax money for research on lines of cells that already were in existence. Currently, states and private organizations are permitted to fund embryonic stem cell research, but federal support is limited to cells that existed as of Aug. 9, 2001. The latest bill was aimed at lifting that restriction.

Those paragraphs were repeated in a June 21 Associated Press article headlined "More Measures on Stem Cells Expected."

Taxes

Morning Edition's Inskeep: Bipartisan private-equity firm tax bill "may count as ... soaking the rich"
On the June 21 edition of National Public Radio's (NPR) Morning Edition, host Steve Inskeep introduced a report on a bill to change the tax structure for certain private-equity firms that buy out other companies by saying the measure "may count as one way Congress is thinking about soaking the rich." By contrast, proponents of the bill have cast it as closing a loophole. Read more

Limbaugh guest host Hedgecock: Spanish-language reporters "make their living with the new apartheid"
On the June 20 broadcast of Rush Limbaugh's nationally syndicated radio show, guest host Roger Hedgecock, remarking on California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) comments at a National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention -- that Hispanic immigrants have "got to turn off the Spanish television set" -- stated that "these journalists ... make their living with the new apartheid, speaking Spanish to Spanish speakers and, you know, not going for the assimilation." Hedgecock added that Spanish-language TV network "Univision and all the rest of these people have an absolute right to do what they're doing -- but what Arnold was trying to say, of course, is 100 percent right." Apartheid was a system of laws in place that "allowed the ruling white minority in South Africa to segregate, exploit and terrorize the vast majority." Read more

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