Media Matters for America summary, September 10, 2007
 
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 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/war_in_iraq?src=other">War in Iraq</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709100005?src=other">Kurtz, NPR's Roberts cited <em>NYT</em> poll showing public trusts generals, but not <em>Wash. Post</em> poll showing skepticism of Petraeus' report</a></b><br />
On September 10, the day of
Multi-National Forces-Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus&#39; congressional
testimony on progress in Iraq, <i>Washington
Post</i> media critic <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100587.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns">Howard Kurtz</a> and
National Public Radio (NPR) contributing senior news analyst <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14285976">Cokie Roberts</a> both
cited a September 4-8 <i>New York Times</i>/CBS
News <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/09102007_pollresults.pdf#page=18" title="http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/09102007_pollresults.pdf">poll</a> that found that
Americans trust military commanders more than the Bush administration or
Congress to "successfully resolv[e] the war in Iraq," while failing
to note more specific poll results about Petraeus&#39; credibility from a
September 4-7 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postpoll_090907.html" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postpoll_090907.html">poll</a> by <i>The Washington
Post</i> and ABC News, which specifically found that a majority of
Americans think Petraeus "will try to make things look better than they
really are" in his report to Congress.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709100005?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709100008?src=other">After defending  Petraeus, Gergen  admitted, "I have a personal relationship with him ... I'm  biased"</a></b><br />
On the September 10 edition of 
<i>CNN Newsroom</i>, former White House 
adviser David Gergen said that Gen. David Petraeus "has won high marks within 
the military on all services as one of the most respected, independent-minded 
men and who ... [has] become a father figure on counterinsurgency," before 
admitting, "I must tell you, I have a personal relationship with him, so I&#39;m 
sure I&#39;m biased in this regard." CNN anchor Don Lemon introduced Gergen as "sort 
of our go-to guy today that we&#39;re going to talk to" during discussions of 
Petraeus&#39; and Ambassador Ryan Crocker&#39;s testimonies on Iraq 
before Congress.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709100008?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709100006?src=other">Matthews called  "civil war" "the lingo of the anti-war movement," but his own network calls it  that, too</a></b><br />
On the September 10 edition of 
<i>MSNBC Live</i>, MSNBC host Chris 
Matthews -- during a 
break in the congressional testimony of Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the 
Multi-National Force-Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker -- said that 
Petraeus "avoided the word &#39;civil war,&#39; " adding: "I think &#39;civil war&#39; has 
become the lingo of the anti-war movement." But referring to the conflict in 
Iraq as a "civil war" is the <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/27/iraq/main2209960.shtml" title="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/27/iraq/main2209960.shtml">stated 
policy</a> of MSNBC and NBC News. Moreover, the National Intelligence Estimate 
(NIE), released on February 2, <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://dni.gov/press_releases/20070202_release.pdf#page=7" title="http://dni.gov/press_releases/20070202_release.pdf#page=7">said</a> that while the phrase "does not 
adequately capture the complexity of the conflict in Iraq, which includes 
extensive Shia-on-Shia violence, al-Qa&#39;ida and Sunni insurgent attacks on 
Coalition forces, and widespread criminally motivated violence," it "accurately 
describes key elements of the Iraqi conflict, including the hardening of 
ethno-sectarian identities, a sea change in the character of the violence, 
ethno-sectarian mobilization, and population 
displacements."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709100006?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/electoral_reform?src=other">Electoral Reform</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709100004?src=other">Fox News' Estrich  misrepresented California Democratic electoral vote  initiatives</a></b><br />
In her September 10 FoxNews.com <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296205,00.html" title="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296205,00.html">column</a>, Fox News 
contributor Susan Estrich -- discussing two virtually identical California 
ballot initiatives backed by Democrats (<a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://ag.ca.gov/cms_pdfs/initiatives/2007-08-21_07-0048_Initiative.pdf" title="http://ag.ca.gov/cms_pdfs/initiatives/2007-08-21_07-0048_Initiative.pdf">here</a> 
and <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://ag.ca.gov/cms_pdfs/initiatives/2007-08-21_07-0049_Initiative.pdf" title="http://ag.ca.gov/cms_pdfs/initiatives/2007-08-21_07-0049_Initiative.pdf">here</a>) 
that would award the state&#39;s electoral votes to the winner of the nationwide 
popular vote if "states cumulatively possessing a majority of electoral votes 
have enacted this agreement in substantially the same form" -- asked: "[I]f 
[Republican presidential candidate] Rudy Giuliani were to win the popular vote, 
and California could put [Sen.] Hillary [Rodham Clinton (D-NY)] over the top in 
electoral votes by following the majority in the state and casting all their 
votes for her, do you really think the Democratic electors of this state would 
feel bound to vote for Rudy? I wouldn&#39;t bet on it." Estrich asserted that the 
initiatives would lead to "national Republicans going to court to force the 
California 
Democratic electors to vote for the Republican candidate," adding that it would 
cause "precisely the sort of chaos cum-federalism wars which an orderly system 
of elections is supposed to avoid." In fact, these initiatives would not require 
California 
Democratic electors to vote for a Republican candidate or vice-versa, but rather 
would appoint the slate of electors of the party whose nominee won the national 
popular vote. Thus, if "Rudy Giuliani were to win the popular vote," the 
Republican slate of presidential electors would be appointed, not the 
"Democratic electors of this state."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709100004?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709100001?src=other">AP reported  California GOP  "endorsed" Electoral College measure, but not that top GOP lawyer  initiated it</a></b><br />
An Associated Press article on the California Republican Party state convention 
reported that "Republicans at the convention also endorsed a proposed ballot 
initiative to change the way the state awards electoral votes in presidential 
contests," but did not note that the initiative was originally proposed by a 
lawyer with deep ties to the state GOP or report any Democratic criticism of the 
proposed initiative.

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709100001?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/200709100007?src=other">Iraq  war supporter Clifford May fails in media appearances to disclose State Dept.  grants to organization he heads</a></b><br />
Former Republican National Committee official Clifford D. May has appeared in 
the media several times to defend the administration's conduct of the Iraq war, 
but in none of his columns or on-air appearances has May disclosed that the 
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, an organization of which he is the 
president, has received at least $1.2 million in State Department grants since 
2004, or that May himself is a member of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's 
Advisory Committee on Democracy Promotion.

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709100007?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>




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