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

Blitzer did not challenge Lieberman's assertion that U.S. forces in Iraq are fighting "Al Qaeda"
During an interview with Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) on the July 10 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer did not challenge Lieberman's numerous assertions that the U.S. military in Iraq is fighting "Al Qaeda," thus allowing Lieberman to conflate, as the Bush administration has done, the Sunni insurgent group "Al Qaeda in Iraq" with the group responsible for the 9-11 attacks. Blitzer could have pointed out that such assertions have been "rejected" by "U.S. military and intelligence officials," according to McClatchy Newspapers. A June 28 McClatchy article reported that these officials "say that Iraqis with ties to al Qaida are only a small fraction of the threat to American troops" and that "[t]he group known as al Qaida in Iraq didn't exist before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, didn't pledge its loyalty to al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden until October 2004 and isn't controlled by bin Laden or his top aides." Moreover, Blitzer failed to note that Lieberman's description of the enemy in Iraq as "Al Qaeda" echoes a rhetorical strategy that New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt documented in his July 8 column: "As domestic support for the war in Iraq continues to melt away, President Bush and the United States military in Baghdad are increasingly pointing to a single villain on the battlefield: Al Qaeda." Hoyt wrote that this strategy has "political advantages" because the group "is an enemy Americans understand." Read more

Olbermann named O'Reilly "Worst Person" for attacks on NBC, NY Times; Limbaugh placed second
On the July 10 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly the "winner" of his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment for what Olbermann called "the stupid and very possibly libelous claim" that NBC and The New York Times "don't want Iraq to become successful as a nation or to somehow become a wall against terrorism." Olbermann observed, as Media Matters for America documented, that during the July 9 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly asserted: "I'm still praying for a miracle, as a stable Iraq makes the world a safer place. I believe that prayer is not being shared in some precincts here in America." Olbermann asked: "Precincts? Like the one in which the guy who said this lives: The United States ought to, quote, 'Hand over everything to the Iraqis as fast as humanly possible. There are so many nuts in the country -- so many crazies -- that we can't control them'? Who said that? Bill O'Reilly, February 20, 2006." Read more

CNN aired McCain's floor statement on Iraq, but no one else's
During the 11 a.m. ET hour of the July 10 edition of CNN Newsroom, anchor Tony Harris went live to Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) floor statement on the Iraq war and aired it uninterrupted for more than 11 minutes. During the speech, McCain asserted that "the progress our military has made should encourage us" in Iraq. CNN did not air excerpts of statements by any Democrats or other lawmakers critical of the war. In fact, a Media Matters for America survey of CNN's July 10 programming found that the network did not air any other live floor statement all day, despite speeches from Democratic Sens. Carl Levin (MI), Joseph R. Biden Jr. (DE), and Jim Webb (VA). Read more

Media uncritically cite flawed USA Today/Gallup poll question on Iraq
A July 6-8 USA Today/Gallup poll asked: "Which comes closer to your view about U.S. policy toward the situation in Iraq? Congress should act now to develop a new policy on Iraq. OR, Congress should not develop a new policy on Iraq until September when General Petraeus reports on the progress of the U.S. troop surge in Iraq." According to the poll, 40 percent responded "act now," while 55 percent responded "wait until September," and 5 percent were "unsure." But while presenting respondents with a reason for waiting until September, the poll question offered no reason for acting now, a position that many Democrats and an increasing number of Republicans advocate. Indeed, CNN's John Roberts noted that the results of that question "would seem to go against everything that's going on in Congress right now." In addition, the question did not take note of a separate, preliminary report on the Iraqi government's progress that is scheduled to be delivered to Congress by July 15, which might have suggested another possible time frame for respondents. Read more

2008 Elections

After saying Obama seems like "kind of a wuss" Carlson called Obama "rhetoric" "kind of wimpy"
On the July 10 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, host Tucker Carlson continued his pattern of attacking Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), this time calling his "rhetoric" "kind of wimpy" after playing a video clip of a July 10 campaign speech in Des Moines, Iowa. In the clip shown by Carlson, Obama says, "I believe then and I still believe that being a leader means that you had better do what is right and leave the politics aside, because there are no do-overs on an issue as important as war." Read more

Des Moines Register suggested Clinton stole Vilsack anecdote
In a July 11 article headlined "Hillary uses story Vilsack had told," The Des Moines Register reported that "Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has borrowed an anecdote about the war in Iraq from former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. Clinton told an audience of more than 300 people in Des Moines Tuesday [July 10] about Bruce Smith, the West Liberty man killed in Iraq in 2003 when his helicopter was shot down." The headline suggests that Clinton tried to pass off Vilsack's story as her own. Absent that suggestion, which is false, there is presumably no story. In the fifth paragraph, the Register reported that "Clinton said Vilsack had told her the story." However, the article did not make explicit that Clinton's acknowledgement of Vilsack as the source of the story actually came during her July 10 speech in Des Moines. Read more

Chris Matthews: Covering McCain campaign's problems is the "worst part of my job"
On the July 10 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, discussing that day's shake-up in Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign -- in which several high-profile aides left the campaign -- host Chris Matthews said, "Let me -- let me be -- let's get into the really worst part of my job, which is to talk about what happens if he does continue to sink." Read more

Ethics

NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News both ignored Vitter's connection to DC Madam
During their July 10 broadcasts, neither NBC's Nightly News nor CBS' Evening News with Katie Couric reported on the disclosure that Sen. David Vitter's (R-LA) phone number was among the phone records of alleged "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey. As Media Matters for America has previously noted, Palfrey was indicted on racketeering charges stemming from allegations that she ran a prostitution ring, and is reportedly planning on calling Vitter as a witness to her defense. By contrast, during the July 10 edition of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson, ABC News senior political correspondent Jake Tapper reported on the story, noting that Vitter "is a self-proclaimed defender of family values," and was a "conservative rising star, and led a charge against same-sex marriage." Tapper reported that Vitter recently sent a "letter to senators, urging them to support abstinence education, to teach teenagers, quote, 'that saving sex until marriage and remaining faithful afterwards is the best choice for health and happiness.' " Tapper further noted that presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) recently tapped Vitter "to be his campaign's regional Southern chairman." Read more

USA Today's Page claimed Vitter's actions matter more to conservatives
On the July 10 edition of MSNBC Live, USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page suggested that Sen. David Vitter's (R-LA) connection to the alleged "D.C. Madam," Deborah Jeane Palfrey, might not matter "[i]f you're running for mayor of New York City," but it matters to "a rather conservative state like -- like Louisiana. ... And especially to Republican voters who tend to be more conservative on social values." Page's comment suggests that the only relevant issue in the Vitter matter is possible sexual misconduct. But in addition to the question of possible illegality in Vitter's conduct, as CBS Public Eye editor Brian Montopoli noted -- citing posts on the weblogs The Carpetbagger Report and The New Republic's The Plank -- Vitter "said last year that the gay marriage ban was the most important issue out there" and campaigned on a theme of "stand[ing] up for Louisiana values, not Massachusetts's values." Montopoli concluded: "[T]his story has hit such a nerve with some folks" because "[i]t's the hypocrisy, stupid." Read more

Propaganda/Noise Machine

Savage claimed "gay Mafioso" at Media Matters "made up" his attack on Sen. Clinton
On the July 10 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, Michael Savage lashed out at Media Matters for America and falsely claimed that Media Matters "made up" the fact that he referred to a speech by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as "Hitler dialogue." In fact, Media Matters documented with transcript and audio that on April 23, Savage responded to a speech delivered by Clinton at Rutgers University by saying, "That's Hitler dialogue. [Nazi information minister Joseph] Goebbels would be proud of you, Hillary Clinton." Read more

In Sicko "fact check," CNN's Gupta falsely claimed his source's "only affiliation is with Vanderbilt University"
After Sicko director Michael Moore said that CNN's Sicko fact-check "healthcare expert" Paul Keckley is "a person from a think tank group who is a big Republican contributor," CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta asserted that Keckley's "only affiliation" is with Vanderbilt University. Gupta continued, "We checked it, Michael. We checked his conflict of interest. We do ask those questions." In fact, as a caption accompanying Gupta's original report stated, Keckley is a "Deloitte Healthcare Expert." Read more

This mail was sent by Media Matters for America to 'news@energy-net.org'. Please visit us at http://mediamatters.org

You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.

To change your email subscription preferences, visit http://mediamatters.org/users/prefs.html

If you'd like to unsubscribe from all Media Matters for America emails, you can just click on http://mediamatters.org/users/unsub/_TFiSm6WIkiaci7iLu6ZtH8gu6JaPh8t_vLvpt4dfhY.

To contact us directly, reply to this mail or visit http://mediamatters.org/contact_us