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

Tucker Carlson claimed "the Obamas do not sleep in the same bed, Mrs. Obama is saying"
Tucker Carlson quoted Michelle Obama, wife of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), from a recent interview with Glamour, saying of her husband and children: "We have this ritual in the morning. They come in my bed, and Dad isn't there -- because he's too snore-y and stinky, they don't want to ever get into bed with him." But Glamour left out a key word from Michelle Obama's quote; she had said, "They come in my bed, and if Dad isn't there ..." -- the addition of "if" turning her remark into a conditional statement that her children come into bed "if Dad isn't there." But Carlson went beyond Glamour's original error, asserting, based solely on the inaccurate quote, that "the Obamas do not sleep in the same bed, Mrs. Obama is saying." Read more

Noting Huckabee-Paul debate disagreement on Iraq, Luntz declared Huckabee's position "principle[d]"
On Hannity & Colmes, Republican pollster Frank Luntz cited Republican focus group responses to an exchange over Iraq policy between Mike Huckabee and Rep. Ron Paul, and, echoing Huckabee's assertion about needing not "to lose our honor," declared: "Clearly, principle won out in this exchange." Luntz cited no evidence that the focus group participants favored Huckabee's comments because they thought that the comments -- in contrast with Paul's -- were based on "principle." In fact, Paul's position on the Iraq war has been consistent, though originally sharply at odds with public opinion. Read more

Terrorism

Blitzer failed to question Townsend on Musharraf pact with Pakistani tribes
During a discussion about U.S. efforts to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, Wolf Blitzer did not ask presidential homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend about the cease-fire agreement between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and pro-Taliban leaders in Pakistan's tribal areas, which the Bush administration reportedly "reluctantly endorsed."
Read more

Matthews on bin Laden tape: Does it help Giuliani?
Discussing a new video message Osama bin Laden was expected to release, Chris Matthews asked, "Does it have a help to Rudy [Giuliani] there? Does it help the Republicans generally?" Washingtonpost.com staff writer Chris Cillizza responded, "It immediately brings to mind the sense that we are still in this war on terror. I think any time that that dynamic exists in the political dialogue, it helps Rudy." But Giuliani's performance before, during, and after the 9-11 attacks has been questioned and criticized.
Read more

War in Iraq

NY Times, Wash. Post did not note call for reduced U.S. "footprint" in report on Iraq security forces
Two New York Times articles and a Washington Post article on a report by the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq did not mention that the report called on the U.S. military to reduce its "footprint" in Iraq because its presence there conveys an "unintended message" of "permanence" as "an occupying force." Read more

Couric touted Iraq's "first-class" special ops force, overlooked report's criticism of Iraqi security forces
On the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric introduced a report on the Iraqi military's "first-class special operations force" by saying that "a panel of retired military officers recommended the U.S. cut troop levels significantly next year to give Iraqi forces more control" and that "the panel admitted the Iraqis won't be able to fully control their country anytime soon, not in the next 18 months." However, Couric did not report that the panel recommended that the Iraqi National Police "should be disbanded and reorganized." Read more

Propaganda/Noise Machine

NY Post noted Path producer's claims about stalled release of DVD, but not film's numerous fabrications and falsehoods
The New York Post asserted that "[t]he writer who penned the script for last year's controversial ABC miniseries 'The Path to 9/11' says pressure from powerful supporters of Bill and Hillary Clinton is delaying the mini's DVD release." But the Post article failed to address the inaccuracies in the film and the sharp discrepancies between the film's account of certain events and the findings laid out in the 9-11 Commission's report, upon which ABC said the miniseries was based. Read more

O'Reilly named "Worst Person" over Media Matters "assassins" remarks
On Countdown, Keith Olbermann named Bill O'Reilly the "winner" of his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment for calling Media Matters "assassins" who smear people with whom they disagree through The New York Times and NBC News. Read more

LGBT Issues

Russert still welcoming CBN reporter who called male blogger Thompson's "angry girlfriend"
NBC News has announced that Christian Broadcasting Network senior national correspondent David Brody will appear on the September 9 edition of NBC's Meet the Press: "We will have insights & analysis on the race for the White House and the busy week in politics with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network and John Harwood of the Wall Street Journal and CNBC." As Media Matters for America documented, in an August 21 post on his CBNnews.com blog -- titled "Fred, You're Such a Tease!" -- Brody characterized male blogger Lane Hudson, who filed a complaint against former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) with the Federal Election Commission, as Thompson's "angry girlfriend." In his complaint, Hudson accused Thompson, who announced on September 6 that he is running for president, of violating the Federal Election Commission's "testing the waters" clause. 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