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

Discussing McCain's Hitler comment, CNN's Brown baselessly asserted McCain was "making his case for a strong military"
During postdebate analysis of the November 28 CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper aired an exchange between presidential candidates Sen. John McCain (AZ) and Rep. Ron Paul (TX), in which McCain referred to Paul's assertion that U.S. troops should be redeployed from Iraq and stated, "[W]e allowed Hitler to come to power with that kind of attitude of isolationism and appeasement." McCain went on to say that he visited with U.S. troops in Iraq on Thanksgiving and that "the message of these brave men and women who are serving over there is, 'Let us win.' " Asked by Cooper for her thoughts on McCain's statement, in which the senator equated opposition to the Iraq war and support for bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq with the attitude that allowed Adolf Hitler to come to power, correspondent Campbell Brown asserted that McCain was "making his case for a strong military and an interventionist foreign policy." Brown, however, did not explain why she concluded from McCain's comparison of Paul's position on Iraq to the conditions leading to Hitler's ascension that McCain was "making his case for a strong military.'' Read more

Wash. Post's Bacon reported only Obama's denials of madrassa smear, not media debunkings
A Washington Post article on how Sen. Barack Obama "has had to address assertions that he is a Muslim" reported that an "early rumor about Obama's faith came from Insight, a conservative online magazine. The Insight article said Obama had 'spent at least four years in a so-called madrassa, or Muslim seminary, in Indonesia' " [emphasis in original]. But rather than citing the investigative reports conclusively debunking the smear, or providing his own reporting on whether the school Obama attended was, in fact, a madrassa, Bacon reported only that "Obama denied the rumor," portraying the issue as a "he said/he said" dispute. CBSNews.com featured the Post article as the top story on its home page. Read more

Politico update offered no explanation for "clarif[ication]" -- Daily Kos report indicated Obama-madrassa smear deleted
Politico.com's "update" of an article by Michael M. Rosen -- which had reportedly echoed the false smear that Sen. Barack Obama "spent part of his youth studying in an Indonesian madrassa" -- stated that the "article was edited on Nov. 28 to clarify writer Andrew Sullivan's description of Obama's educational background." But the update gave no indication what Rosen's article originally included about "Sen. Barack Obama's educational background" or why it needed to be "clarif[ied]." Read more

CNN's Bohrman apologized to Republican candidates over question in YouTube debate, but has yet to apologize to Democrats
Since the CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate on November 28, much coverage has been devoted to CNN's selection of a video question by retired Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr, a member of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Americans for Hillary Clinton steering committee and a co-chairman of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) Veterans and Military Retirees for Hillary Committee. In a statement published in a November 29 post to CNN's "Political Ticker" blog, CNN senior vice president David Bohrman, the executive producer of the debate, apologized for allowing the question to have aired, given Kerr's campaign affiliation: "We regret this, and apologize to the Republican candidates. We never would have used the General's question had we known that he was connected to any presidential candidate." But CNN has yet to apologize for questions it selected for airing during the Democrats' YouTube debate on July 23. As Media Matters for America noted, in anticipation of the Republican debate, Bohrman reportedly pledged to weed out questions that "you might describe as Democratic 'gotchas' " from those asked of the Republican candidates. But as Media Matters also noted, CNN gave no indication that it applied that standard to the Democrats' debate and, indeed, selected possible Republican "gotchas" such as the following, in which the questioner echoed the enduring Republican myth that Democrats are taxers and spenders: "I'd like to know, if the Democrats come into office, are my taxes going to rise like usually they do when a Democrat gets into office?" The Boston Herald reported in a July 25 article that Bohrman said of the debate: "I think it worked. The questions were really good. The feeling and the energy of the program felt really good." Read more

Fox & Friends First claimed that Clinton "allegedly planted question" at GOP debate without noting denials
On Fox & Friends First, Alisyn Camerota teased a report by stating, "Details on another alleged planted question by the Clinton camp at last night's [CNN/YouTube Republican] debate," referring to a questioner at the debate, retired Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr, a member of committees associated with Hillary Clinton's campaign. During a discussion of Kerr's involvement in the debate, on-screen captions read: "HILLARY'S STAND-IN: CLINTON PLANTS STAFFER AT DEBATE" and "PLANT MEDIA: GOP YOUTUBE DEBATE." But several hours earlier -- unmentioned on Fox & Friends First -- Fox News political field producer Jake Gibson reported online that Kerr told him that Kerr "was not contacted by the Clinton campaign to do this," had appeared at the debate without the prior knowledge of the campaign, and did not work for the Clinton campaign. Gibson added that Kerr's answer "seems genuine." Read more

Sun-Times omitted key information in suggesting Obama conflict of interest
In a November 29 Chicago Sun-Times article, reporter Tim Novak wrote that in 2000, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), an Illinois state senator at the time, "voted with other directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago to invest $1 million with Neighborhood Rejuvenation Partners L.P.," a housing development firm owned by Allison S. Davis, whom Novak described as "a developer represented by the law firm where Obama worked, as well as a small contributor to Obama's political campaign funds." Novak contrasted Obama with former Woods Fund board chairman Howard Stanback -- who "worked for Davis" at a separate company, as Novak noted -- by writing: "While Obama voted to make the $1 million investment with Davis, Stanback abstained, [current Woods Fund president Deborah] Harrington said." However, Novak failed to note that Stanback -- unlike Obama -- was listed as a "principal" in the limited partnership agreement through which Neighborhood Rejuvenation Partners was formed. Read more

CNN expunged "don't ask, don't tell" question and answers in rebroadcasts of debate -- without disclosure
Rebroadcasts of the CNN/YouTube debate for Republican presidential candidates omitted a question from a retired brigadier general about the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, as well as the candidates' answers to the question. CNN did not note the omission.
Read more

Religious Discrimination

Beck invoked purported "reconquista" movement in discussion of rioting in France
In discussing recent riots in Paris suburbs with guest Steve Emerson, Glenn Beck likened the rioting there to the purported situation in the American Southwest, where "[y]ou've got people coming here that have no intention of being Americans. They say, you know, 'Hey, this is our land. We deserve it back.'" Beck's question invoked the "reconquista" concept initially spread by a "vitriolic Mexican-basher" and perpetuated by some conservatives, including Michelle Malkin and Pat Buchanan.
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Terrorism

Blitzer again ignored Bush's inconsistent statements on Pakistani sovereignty
In a recent interview, CNN's Wolf Blitzer did not challenge President Bush when he agreed that "absolutely" he "would authorize U.S. troops to go into Pakistan if [he] had actionable intelligence on Osama bin Laden's whereabouts or other top-ranking Al Qaeda members." When Bush stressed that his position 'hasn't changed," Blitzer did not note that Bush's September 2006 statement -- that he would "[a]bsolutely" order U.S. troops into Pakistan to capture bin Laden -- was inconsistent with a statement he had made five days earlier -- that the United States would not send troops into Pakistan to hunt for bin Laden unless it was "invited" to do so, because Pakistan is a "sovereign nation."
Read more

War in Iraq

CNN's Brown called MoveOn.org "American insurgents"
During the November 28 CNN special Campaign Killers: Why Do Negative Ads Work?, CNN anchor Campbell Brown said: "General David Petraeus made his reputation taking on insurgents in Iraq. But when he came to Capitol Hill in September, he was confronted by American insurgents, a liberal anti-war group called MoveOn.org." Read more

Propaganda/Noise Machine

CNN's Roberts equated "Christian conservatives" with "values voters"
On Anderson Cooper 360, CNN's John Roberts said of Mike Huckabee: "[H]e brings Christian conservatives in the door, values voters." CNN personalities have repeatedly linked "values" and religious faith to conservative voters or politicians. Read more

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