Media Matters for America summary, September 18, 2007
 
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:03:03 -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/health_care?src=other">Health Care</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180006?src=other"><em>Special  Report </em>correspondent  claimed Clinton  would pay for health care plan by "repealing the Bush tax  cuts"</a></b><br />
Fox News' Steve Brown claimed that Sen. Hillary Clinton would pay for her health 
care plan by "repealing the Bush tax cuts." Brown's report was accompanied by 
on-screen text that claimed "paying the price tag" for Clinton's health care 
plan would include "End[ing] Bush Tax Cuts." In fact, according to Clinton's plan, she would 
"discontinue portions of the Bush tax cuts for those making over $250,000."

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180006?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180015?src=other">Despite  polling, Andrea Mitchell saw "general election" problem for Clinton on health  care</a></b><br />
While reporting on 
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton&#39;s (D-NY) recently unveiled universal health-care 
proposal during the September 18 edition of NBC&#39;s <i>Today</i>, NBC chief foreign affairs 
correspondent Andrea Mitchell said that "the real problem for Clinton" may be 
"selling the plan in the general election campaign." As evidence, Mitchell 
pointed to attacks on Clinton by Republican presidential candidates 
Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney over her health-care proposal. But, Mitchell did 
not note that, in fact, public opinion polling shows that the majority of 
Americans support a national health insurance 
program.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180015?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180008?src=other">Blitzer  didn't  note that "weird" 1994 chart purportedly of Clinton health plan was GOP creation</a></b><br />
CNN's Wolf Blitzer said that the health care program proposed by President Bill 
Clinton in 1993 was "1,000 pages, if you remember, 
the detail, all the fine print the last time" and claimed that "[e]verybody 
remembers that weird chart they had trying to explain it," falsely suggesting 
that the Clinton administration created the chart to explain its health care 
proposal. In fact, Republican Sen. Arlen Specter's office created the chart, and 
press reports at the time cited experts or administration officials saying that 
the chart distorted the Clinton proposal and ignored the greater 
complexity of Republican proposals and of the existing system.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180008?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180011?src=other">Media air Romney  attacks on Clinton health care plan without noting he  signed a bill with similar requirements</a></b><br />
In articles on Sen. Hillary Clinton's health care proposal, several media 
outlets reported Mitt Romney's attack on the plan without mentioning that, as 
governor of Massachusetts, he signed into law a 
health care bill that requires every state resident to obtain health insurance 
-- one of the central tenets of Clinton's plan.

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180011?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180016?src=other">Drudge's  false headline on Clinton health care plan: "HEALTH INSURANCE  PROOF REQUIRED FOR WORK"</a></b><br />
On September 18, the 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2007/09/18/20070918_201653.htm" title="http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2007/09/18/20070918_201653.htm">Drudge 
Report</a>, the website of 
Internet gossip Matt Drudge, featured the lead headline "HEALTH INSURANCE PROOF 
REQUIRED FOR WORK" under a picture of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY). 
However, the Associated Press <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070918/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_ap_interview_6" title="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070918/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_ap_interview_6">article</a> to which the headline linked did 
not report that Clinton&#39;s recently proposed health care <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/speech/view/?id=3329" title="http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/speech/view/?id=3329">plan</a> would require people to show proof 
of health insurance "for work." Rather, it reported that, in an interview with 
the AP, Clinton 
said: "At this point, we don&#39;t have anything punitive that we have proposed" for 
people who do not purchase health insurance as required by her plan. According 
to the article, Clinton also said, "We&#39;re providing incentives 
and tax credits which we think will be very attractive to the vast majority of 
Americans." The AP article also stated that Clinton "said she could envision a 
day when &#39;you have to show proof to your employer that you&#39;re insured as a part 
of the job interview -- like when your kid goes to school and has to show proof 
of vaccination,&#39; but said such details would be worked out through negotiations 
with Congress." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180016?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></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/200709180012?src=other">CNN's Foreman  uncritically reported that McCain "doesn't advertise his  faith"</a></b><br />
On <em>The 
Situation Room</em>, discussing an AP article which reported that "John McCain, who has long 
identified himself as an Episcopalian, said this weekend that he is a Baptist 
and has been for years," Tom Foreman stated that McCain "has said for years that he doesn't advertise 
his faith." But Foreman did not note 
that the same 
AP article quoted 
McCain saying he has publicly expressed his faith "hundreds of 
times."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180012?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180014?src=other">AP,  networks mum on Romney-Blackwater connection</a></b><br />
News reports on Iraq's Interior Ministry ordering security firm Blackwater USA 
to leave the country following the deaths of at least eight Iraqi civilians have 
continued to ignore Blackwater USA vice chairman Cofer Black's role 
as chairman of Mitt 
Romney's counterterrorism policy advisory group.

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180014?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180003?src=other">CNN, <em>NY Times, LA Times</em>, AP omit Romney  connection to Blackwater USA</a></b><br />
In reports on recent news that Iraq's Interior Ministry has revoked the license 
of Blackwater USA, an American security firm, 
several news outlets did not mention that Blackwater USA's vice chairman is also 
the head of Mitt Romney's counterterrorism policy advisory group.

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180003?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180010?src=other">On <em>Beck</em>, Cato's Tanner falsely claimed  Clinton's health  plan would force small businesses to pay into health fund</a></b><br />
On <em>Glenn Beck</em>, the Cato 
Institute's Michael Tanner falsely 
asserted 
that under Sen. Hillary Clinton's health care proposal, small 
business owners would have to provide health insurance to their employees, "or 
else pay an additional tax into a fund ... that the government will use to pay for 
that health insurance." In fact, Clinton's plan would provide tax credits to 
ensure that many small businesses offer health coverage to their employees.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180010?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/lgbt_issues?src=other">LGBT Issues</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180009?src=other">Savage's  website: "BULL-DYKE FASCIST TASERS STUDENT WHO ASKS KERRY TOO MANY  QUESTIONS"</a></b><br />
On September 18, the 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/index.html" title="http://www.homestead.com/prosites-prs/index.html">website</a> of right-wing radio host <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/michaelsavage?src=other" title="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/people/michaelsavage">Michael Savage</a> linked to an article 
reporting on a University of Florida student 
who was shocked with a Taser and <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hfZBulx_H-prruRU2Clj0dIgUOww" title="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hfZBulx_H-prruRU2Clj0dIgUOww">removed</a> by several campus police officers 
-- at least one of whom was female -- from a September 17 forum featuring Sen. 
John Kerry (D-MA). Savage linked to the article with the headline: "BULL-DYKE 
FASCIST TASERS STUDENT WHO ASKS KERRY TOO MANY QUESTIONS." The actual <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=8191a196-8c5c-4e6c-ba33-579c53535686" title="http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=8191a196-8c5c-4e6c-ba33-579c53535686">article</a>, which was titled "Student Shot 
by Taser Gun" and appeared on the website of a Baltimore TV station, did not 
state that a female officer was the one who tasered the student and did not 
mention any details about the officers who arrested 
him.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180009?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/200709180007?src=other"><em>NY Times</em> used faulty "sign[]" to support claim that Bush's speech "might have succeeded in shifting some sentiment"</a></b><br />
<em>The New York Times</em> asserted in an article that the day after President Bush delivered his prime-time address outlining his plan for Iraq, "[t]here were signs" that the speech "might have succeeded in shifting some sentiment." The article then pointed to "The Washington Post's editorial page," which, the <em>Times</em> said, "has clung to a middle ground on the war," but which "described Mr. Bush's strategy as 'the least bad plan' and one that would be 'less risky than the alternatives.' " But the Post editorial criticized Bush for omitting key information about the situation in Iraq from his speech and for not setting realistic goals for the U.S. mission there.

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180007?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/natural_disasters?src=other">Natural Disasters</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180004?src=other">KSFO's  Rodgers accused Katrina victims of "sniveling," "whining," riding "gravy  train"</a></b><br />
On his radio program, Lee Rodgers said of Hurricane Katrina refugees, 
"[T]he people who have 
been freeloading for two years are whining because the gravy train is slowing 
down," adding, "At what point after 
a disaster and personal hardship are people expected to start taking care of 
themselves again? Is one hurricane supposed to be a permanent lifelong ticket 
on a bleeping gravy train? Come on!"

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200709180004?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>




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