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.

War in Iraq

Spinonymous Sources: Wash. Post quoted "senior administration official" on White House's "comfort" with Libby decision
In a July 3 Washington Post article on President Bush's decision to commute former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's 30-month prison sentence, staff writer Michael Abramowitz reported that a "senior administration official ... said there is 'comfort' at the White House that the decision will not hurt [Bush] politically despite the Democratic outcry." According to Abramowitz, his source "spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk freely about the president's thinking." Abramowitz offered no indication as to why his source deserved anonymity to assert the White House's "comfort" with the decision. Read more

Media still repeating false claim that Armitage role in Plame leak exonerates Libby
Following President Bush's decision to commute the prison sentence for former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, media figures have continued to repeat the false claim that former deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage's role as columnist Robert D. Novak's original source for Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA operative proves Libby was not involved in the leak of her identity. However, as Media Matters for America has previously noted, the fact that Armitage was the original source for Novak's column revealing Plame's identity is not inconsistent with Libby's disclosure of Plame's identity -- specifically, to then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller -- before the publication of Novak's column. Read more

Kondracke asserted that Libby's 30-month sentence was "over the maximum for perjury"
On the "All-Star Panel" segment of the July 2 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, Roll Call executive editor Morton M. Kondracke argued that while he "thought that [former vice presidential chief of staff] Scooter Libby should serve some jail time," the 30-month sentence Libby received "was excessive" and "over the maximum for committing perjury." In fact, each of the two counts of perjury (18 U.S.C. 1623) for which Libby was convicted carries a five-year (or 60-month) maximum. Libby was also convicted of one count of obstruction of justice (18 U.S.C. 1503) and one count of making false statements (18 U.S.C. 1001), for which the statutory maximums are 10 years and five years, respectively. Read more

Wash. Times' Pruden again claimed Plame "was not really a covert agent"
In a July 3 column praising President Bush's decision to commute the prison sentence for former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Washington Times editor-in-chief Wesley Pruden claimed that former CIA operative Valerie Plame "was not really a covert agent, anyway, and even if she had been the law protecting covert agents did not actually apply to her." In a May 25 court filing, however, special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald explicitly stated that Plame "qualified" as covert under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. Moreover, Fitzgerald attached to a separate filing a summary of Plame's CIA employment, which stated that, at the time her identity was disclosed in the media, Plame was chief of a component in the agency's Counterproliferation Division "with responsibility for weapons proliferation issues related to Iraq." The summary further described Plame as having traveled overseas in an undercover capacity "at least seven times to more than ten times" since January 2002. Read more

Wash. Post editorial equated Libby with Clinton
A July 3 Washington Post editorial, headlined "Too Much Mercy," about President Bush's decision to commute the sentence for former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby claimed: "Advocates for clemency point to President Bill Clinton, who lied under oath but was not removed from office or put in jail, and to Mr. Clinton's former national security adviser, Samuel R. 'Sandy' Berger, who lied to investigators about sneaking documents from the National Archives but who also received no jail time." But unlike Libby, who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice and later sentenced to 30 months in a federal prison, Clinton was acquitted by the Senate and was not indicted on criminal charges by independent counsel Robert Ray or his predecessor Kenneth Starr. Read more

On Hardball, O'Donnell suggested that commutation of Libby sentence shows he is not "above the law"
On the July 2 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, reporting that President Bush had commuted the 30-month prison sentence of former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, NBC News White House correspondent Kelly O'Donnell claimed that "[p]olitically," the commutation "allows the president to split the difference." O'Donnell then said, "A full pardon could have been viewed by critics as really allowing someone who worked for the president to be above the law." O'Donnell did not explain why "critics" would not view the commutation itself as "allowing someone who worked for the president to be above the law." Read more

Nightline, GMA, Today report Thompson's reaction to commutation, but not his ties to Libby defense fund
In reports on President Bush's decision to commute the sentence of former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, several network news programs have quoted from or cited potential presidential candidate Fred Thompson's statement approving of Bush's decision without noting Thompson's connections to the Libby Legal Defense Trust. Thompson is a member of the trust's "Advisory Committee" and has reportedly held at least one fundraiser to help pay for Libby's legal fees. Read more

2008 Elections

MSNBC's Carlson on Obama: "He seems like kind of a wuss"
On the July 2 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, host Tucker Carlson said of presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL): "He seems like kind of a wuss." Carlson made this comment after claiming that in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, "Someone's going to give the middle finger to the man," adding: "And the man in this case is a chick!" -- referring to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY). Read more

On Fox News, Conway suggested Clinton will take "revenge" on Obama donors
On the July 2 edition of Fox News' The Big Story, Kellyanne Conway -- the CEO and president of the polling company inc., who, according to the biography posted on her company's website, "has provided commentary on over 1,000 ... television shows" -- suggested that Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) would take "revenge" against the more than 250,000 people who have donated to Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) presidential campaign. Conway said: "[T]hese are 250,000-plus people who are willing to publicly go against the Clintons. That's remarkable to me because, you know, Hillary Clinton ... puts a lot of energy into revenge." Read more

Race/Affirmative Action

Limbaugh again falsely described Media Matters as part of "Clinton Inc."
On the July 2 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh again falsely accused Media Matters for America of being part of a network of "Hillary [Clinton] fundraising groups, or front groups." Limbaugh was arguing that recent news reports regarding Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) fundraising success did not take into account "so many institutions -- Media Matters for America and all these other little organizations -- that are just extensions of the Clinton that don't count when you start raising money. But how much are they worth when all this free publicity and attacks that they dole out on any opponent of Hillary Clinton? So, yeah, if you just look at the money, in one sense, you would conclude that Barack's, you know, doing very well and Hillary isn't. But he doesn't have near the organization that she does." In fact, as Media Matters has previously noted in response to Limbaugh's claims, Media Matters is not affiliated with any political party or candidate. Read more

Religious Broadcasting

Savage said he sees women who wear burqas as "hateful Nazi[s]" who want to "kill your children"
On the July 2 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, discussing the recent terror-related arrests in Britain, radio host Michael Savage said, "[W]hen I see a woman walking around with a burqa, I see a Nazi," adding, "That's what I see -- how do you like that? -- a hateful Nazi who would like to cut your throat and kill your children." Savage also said that when a Muslim woman wears a burqa, "She's doing it to spit in your face. She's saying, 'You white moron, you, I'm going to kill you if I can.' " Read more

National Security/Foreign Policy

CBS, NBC uncritically reported Bush claim that Libby's sentence was "excessive"
While reporting on President Bush's decision to commute the prison sentence of former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, both NBC's Nightly News and the CBS Evening News uncritically reported Bush's claim that he "concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive." Neither newscast noted that special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald argued that the sentencing guidelines called for a 30- to 37-month sentence, a range within which U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton's sentence fell. Read more

Polling

NY Times asserted Libby case "polarized public opinion" -- polls show otherwise
A July 3 New York Times article reporting on President Bush's commutation of the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, asserted that "[t]he criminal case" involving Libby "polarized public opinion almost as much as the [Iraq] war itself." The article added that "[c]onservative backers of Mr. Bush contended that because no one was charged with leaking" the identity of former CIA agent Valerie Plame, "the investigation should have been dropped altogether," while "[o]thers said that lying to a grand jury was a serious offense." In fact, public opinion polls have consistently found a strong majority agreeing with the jury's verdict and the court's sentence. Additionally, opinion polls taken prior to Bush's commutation of Libby's sentence found that a strong majority believed Bush should not pardon Libby. Read more

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