Media Matters for America summary, August 13, 2007
 
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2007 22:03:04 -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/200708130004?src=other">Media repeated Rove's assessment of 2008 election without noting he was wrong in 2006</a></b><br />
In reports about Karl Rove's announcement that he
is resigning as White House deputy chief of staff, numerous news reports
uncritically repeated Rove's assessments that President Bush "will move back up
in the polls" and that Republicans have "a very good chance" of winning the
White House in 2008. However, these outlets did not mention Rove's recent track
record: Before the November 2006 midterm elections, he predicted that
Republicans would "keep" their majorities in the U.S. House and Senate.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708130004?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708130002?src=other">CNN's Schneider, <em>Tribune</em> columnist falsely claimed Obama talked about "invad[ing]" Pakistan</a></b><br />
On the August 12 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0708/12/le.01.html">edition</a> of CNN&#39;s <i>Late Edition</i>, CNN senior political analyst
Bill Schneider claimed that during an August 1
foreign policy <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.barackobama.com/2007/08/01/remarks_of_senator_obama_the_w_1.php">speech</a>, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) "said that he
might invade Pakistan
if we could target Osama bin Laden and other known terrorists." In an August 13
<i>Chicago Tribune</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0813byrneaug13,0,4782000.story">op-ed</a>, columnist Dennis
Byrne went a step further, claiming that Obama "promise[d] that he would
unilaterally invade Pakistan."
In fact, Obama did not say he would "invade" Pakistan, nor did he "promise" any sort of
military action in Pakistan.
Rather, Obama said: "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value
terrorist targets and [Pakistan] President [Pervez] Musharraf won&#39;t act, we will." Obama has since <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/08/07/news/top/8d9e96c628c098008625732f008341f5.txt">pointed out</a> that he
"never called for an invasion of Pakistan."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708130002?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/200708130008?src=other">Matthews on Rove:  "It looks to me like he walked out like a  gentleman"</a></b><br />
During the August 13 edition of 
<i>MSNBC Live</i>, while discussing Karl Rove&#39;s 
announcement that he is resigning as White House deputy chief of staff, MSNBC 
host Chris Matthews noted that Rove had disclosed then-CIA operative Valerie 
Plame&#39;s identity "to two different reporters," while NBC News Justice Department 
correspondent Pete Williams said that Plame&#39;s husband, former Ambassador Joseph 
C. Wilson IV, "issued a statement today, saying ... this will forever be a black 
mark on the Bush presidency. That not only was Karl Rove never summarily 
dismissed -- which Joe Wilson thinks he should have been -- but that he&#39;s been 
able to leave on his own terms to praise from the president." Matthews added, 
"That&#39;s true. Joe Wilson has said something that cannot be debated at this 
point. I think right, left, and center will agree that Karl Rove is leaving on 
his own two feet." Matthews continued: "[I]t looks to me like he walked out like 
a gentleman, with the full embrace of our president." But while reporting that 
Wilson "thinks" Rove should have been fired, neither Williams nor Matthews 
pointed out that the White House itself had previously pledged to fire anyone 
involved in the leak of Plame&#39;s identity. 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708130008?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708130005?src=other">Media  ignore Rove's leak, White House falsehoods, Bush's promise to fire  leaker</a></b><br />
Media outlets reporting on Karl Rove's resignation omitted key facts in their discussion 
of Rove's involvement in the leak of Valerie Plame's identity -- that Rove in fact 
leaked Plame's 
identity to columnist Robert Novak and another reporter, that then-White House 
spokesman Scott McClellan initially denied that Rove was involved in the leak, 
and that Rove would not have been able to leave "on his own terms" had the White 
House fulfilled a pledge to fire anyone "involved" in the Plame 
leak.

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708130005?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/200708130006?src=other">Limbaugh  claimed <em>Media Matters'</em> "purpose"  is to "take things out of context"</a></b><br />
On the August 10 
broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/rushlimbaugh?src=other" title="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/people/rushlimbaugh">Rush Limbaugh</a> claimed that the "purpose" 
of <i>Media Matters for America</i> is 
to "take things out of context here and misreport and cast aspersions." The remark came after 
a caller accused "professional reporters" of taking Limbaugh "out of 
context." Limbaugh described 
<i>Media Matters</i> as where the 
mainstream media -- which he calls the 
"drive-by media" -- "go to find out what 
was happening on this program, what was said." Limbaugh continued: 
"The drive-by media chooses a website to find out what I said, but it&#39;s not 
mine. ... It defies explanation other than they don&#39;t want me to be reported upon 
accurately because they are trying to harm my credibility. They cannot beat 
people like me in the arena of ideas." After the caller responded, "[T]hey can&#39;t 
do that with somebody like me who&#39;s a regular listener," Limbaugh said, "Well, 
I&#39;m not saying they succeed at it, but they&#39;ve been tryin&#39; for 19 years to 
discredit me in the eyes of people like you."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708130006?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708130009?src=other"><em>Cavuto</em>:  "Karl Rove leaving: A loss for Wall Street?"</a></b><br />
The August 13 edition 
of Fox News&#39; <i>Your World with Neil 
Cavuto</i> featured a discussion of White House deputy chief of staff 
Karl Rove&#39;s resignation during which, as <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/13/fox-is-rove-departure-a-loss-for-wall-street/" title="http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/13/fox-is-rove-departure-a-loss-for-wall-street/">noted</a> by the Think Progress blog, 
the on-screen text read: "Karl Rove leaving: A loss for Wall Street?" Host Neil 
Cavuto posed this question to his guests, <i>Weekly Standard</i> executive editor Fred 
Barnes and Fox News director of business news Alexis Glick, and, indeed, Cavuto, 
Barnes, and Glick all agreed that Rove&#39;s departure from the White House will be 
a "loss for Wall Street."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708130009?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/economic_issues?src=other">Economic Issues</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708130003?src=other">Broder again claimed that Bush's predecessors "have enjoyed" fast-track authority</a></b><br />
In his August 12 nationally syndicated <i>Washington Post</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/10/AR2007081001548.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns">column</a>, on the "Free
Trade Divide" between President Bush and Democrats, David Broder
asserted: "The House leadership cavalierly denied his request for the
kind of &#39;fast-track&#39; negotiating authority that past presidents
have enjoyed." Broder was discussing the <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/29/AR2007062902262.html">refusal</a> of Democrats in
Congress to renew Bush&#39;s <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.state.gov/g/oes/rls/fs/2002/12953.htm">trade promotion authority</a> (formerly referred to as "<a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/16806.pdf#page=3" title="http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/16806.pdf#page=3
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/16806.pdf">fast-track
authority</a>"), which expired on June
30. But in fact, as <i>Media Matters for America</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200705170008?src=other" title="http://mediamatters.org/items/200705170008">noted</a> the last time Broder <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051602430.html" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051602430.html">claimed</a> that Bush&#39;s
"predecessors have enjoyed" that authority, President Clinton was
deprived of trade promotion authority for the majority of his time in office after it <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/78415.pdf#page=9">expired</a> in 1994
during his first term. While the Clinton administration <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/16806.pdf#page=6">proposed</a> a
reauthorization of fast-track trade authority during the 104th and 105th
Congresses, it was denied by the Republican-controlled Congress. The authority
was not renewed by Congress until <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.state.gov/g/oes/rls/fs/2002/12953.htm">2002</a> -- after Bush entered the White
House.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708130003?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>




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