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

NY Daily News omitted part of Clinton quote in which she criticized Republicans' handling of terrorism
In a September 9 article on upcoming Ground Zero ceremonies marking the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, New York Daily News senior correspondent David Saltonstall stated that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) "drew sharp attacks last month when she mused on the political fallout if there is another terrorist attack." The article went on to quote Clinton as follows: " 'If certain things happen between now and the election, particularly with respect to terrorism, that will automatically give the Republicans an advantage again,' she said at a New Hampshire house party. 'So I think I'm the best of the Democrats to deal with that.' " However, the Daily News omitted the portion of this very same statement in which Clinton criticized Republicans' handling of national security. Read more

Media continue to tout Democrats' campaign finance issues, but not Republicans'
On MSNBC's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough and guest Craig Crawford discussed a fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton who Scarborough said was "on the lam again" and referred to John Edwards' "hedge fund problems " and Barack Obama's "fund-raiser problem." However, neither Scarborough nor Crawford noted that leading Republican presidential candidates are facing questions regarding figures involved in their campaign finances. Read more

Wash. Post uncritically quoted McCain accusing Dems of voting "against funding for our troops"
In a September 9 entry on The Washington Post's The Trail blog, staff writer Dan Balz reported presidential candidate and Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) statement that "Today, leading presidential candidates vote against funding for our troop engaged in the war in Afghanistan and Iraq." Balz added: "Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) both voted against an Iraq funding bill earlier this year," referring to their May 24 votes against a war funding bill that did not include a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. But as Media Matters for America repeatedly noted in response to other media figures' uncritical reporting of similar attacks by McCain or his staff, McCain himself voted against an emergency spending bill that funded the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on March 29, which President Bush ultimately vetoed, citing its provision for a withdrawal timetable. Read more

On Chris Matthews Show, columnist Parker asserted Thompson "ahead of the game" because of high name recognition -- but many haven't heard of him
Columnist Kathleen Parker asserted on The Chris Matthews Show that Fred Thompson "didn't have to come in early" to the presidential race because "[h]e already has that name recognition, so he's way ahead of the game. All these other people have had to spend millions of dollars to get their names known." But recent polling indicates that roughly a third of the American public have not heard of Thompson -- a figure higher than that of other leading presidential candidates. Read more

War in Iraq

On Fox News Sunday, Hume falsely asserted that Al Qaeda in Iraq "was there before we got there"
On Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume asked Juan Williams, "Who are we fighting there [in Iraq] now, Juan?" then answered his own question: "Al Qaeda in Iraq. They were there before we got there, and they're there now." In fact, U.S. military and intelligence officials have reportedly stated that Al Qaeda in Iraq didn't exist before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, didn't pledge its loyalty to Osama bin Laden until October 2004, and isn't controlled by bin Laden or his top aides. Further, the 9-11 Commission found "no evidence" that contacts between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and Al Qaeda "developed into a collaborative operational relationship" before the Iraq invasion. Read more

Myths and falsehoods about progress in Iraq
Supporters of the Iraq war -- rather than waiting for testimony by Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker on the effect of President Bush's troop increase in Iraq -- have engaged in a campaign to convince the media and public that progress is being made in Iraq and that the "surge" is "working." Media Matters has compiled some of the most pervasive myths and falsehoods advanced by opponents of withdrawal in service of the "surge is working" message, which many in the media have been complicit in perpetuating. 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