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

Cavuto failed to challenge Willey's Morgan-Palladino "fantasy"
On the November 8 edition of Fox News' Your World, host Neil Cavuto did not challenge the assertion by Kathleen Willey, author of Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton (World Ahead Publishing), that right-wing radio host Melanie Morgan "went right up to" private investigator Jack Palladino at a book fair "and said, 'Aren't you embarrassed and ashamed for what you did to Kathleen Willey?' And he looked right at her and said, 'The only thing that I'm ashamed of is that [Sen.] Hillary [Rodham Clinton (D-NY)] didn't pay us in a timely fashion.' " Willey added: "I believe her." But Cavuto did not note that Palladino has reportedly denied Morgan's account, telling the right-wing website WorldNetDaily that "[i]t's total fantasy," "a lie," and "absolute fiction." Read more

NY Times says Edwards' opposition to Peru trade deal "part of his populist anti-establishment campaign" -- in fact, Edwards has specific concerns
A November 9 New York Times article by Steven R. Weisman reported that the House approved a free trade deal with Peru and that "nearly half" of the Democrats "broke with recent party orthodoxy and supported" it. The article also reported that there is "[a] split among the Democratic presidential candidates," asserting that Sens. Barack Obama (IL) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) support the deal but that former Sen. John Edwards (NC) opposes it "as part of his populist anti-establishment campaign." In fact, Edwards has given specific reasons for opposing the Peru trade agreement, although the Times offered none of them. In a statement outlining his reasons for opposing the agreement, Edwards cited concerns regarding international labor and environmental standards and the loss of American jobs, among other issues -- not that his opposition is "part" of a "populist anti-establishment campaign." Read more

Tapper did not challenge Giuliani's claim that he did not "get[] the information" about Kerik
In an interview with Rudy Giuliani, ABC News' Jake Tapper let Giuliani claim, without challenge, that "[t]he mistake" he made in "appointing [Bernard Kerik] police commissioner [and] Department of Corrections chair," "was not getting the information" that Kerik had ties to Interstate Industrial, a company with suspected connections to organized crime. However, in April 2006, Giuliani reportedly "acknowledged" in "testimony to a state grand jury" that "the city investigations commissioner ... had told him that he had been briefed at least once" about Kerik's connections to the company.
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Iowa waitress to media, on coverage of Clinton tipping story: "You people are really nuts"
In a November 9 New York Times article, Iowa waitress Anita Esterday criticized the media's response to her recent comment to National Public Radio that "nobody got left a tip" when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and her campaign staff ate at the restaurant where she works. According to the article, Esterday told a Times reporter: "You people are really nuts. ... There's kids dying in the war, the price of oil right now -- there's better things in this world to be thinking about than who served Hillary Clinton at Maid-Rite and who got a tip and who didn't get a tip." Read more

Fox News' Hill criticizes Clinton for leaving too large a tip, accuses her of "spending like a Learjet liberal"
On the November 9 edition of Fox News Live, host E.D. Hill said that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is "spending like a Learjet liberal on the campaign trail" because her campaign said it left a $100 tip for a $157 bill at a restaurant in Iowa, adding that the big tip "just plays into what people say about liberals." Hill also said, "You know what the rap is against the Democratic Party -- that it's out of touch with reality. It talks about the common man, but every time you look, there's [former Sen.] John Edwards [D-NC] getting a $400 haircut, or Senator -- Vice President [Al] Gore living in a house that consumes 20 times the energy of a regular house." Read more

Politico claimed Dems' energy plans "set[] goals so distant that they won't be met until most of these contenders might be dead"
A Politico article asserted that "even the most ambitious [energy] plans presented by the Democratic presidential candidates are setting goals so distant that they won't be met until most of these contenders might be dead." In fact, while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Sen. John Edwards, and Sen. Barack Obama have called for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, the candidates have also established specific goals to be reached within the next two to 23 years. Read more

Media fail to question Giuliani on Robertson's controversial remarks
In the question-and-answer portion of the November 7 press conference in which Pat Robertson announced his endorsement of Rudy Giuliani, no reporters asked Giuliani to comment on Robertson's history of controversial statements. Further, a Nexis database search shows only two news outlets that, in their reports on the endorsement, appeared to have questioned Giuliani or his campaign about Robertson's past remarks. Read more

Following Drudge example, AP headline only says Clinton campaign rebutted tip-stiffing story, and not restaurant
A November 8 Associated Press article bore the headline: "Clinton campaign says it left tip at Iowa restaurant and didn't skimp." But, as Media Matters for America noted when Internet gossip Matt Drudge featured a similar headline on his website, it wasn't just the Clinton campaign that reportedly rebutted the allegation that Hillary Clinton and campaign staff left the restaurant without tipping; indeed, the very article to which the headline was attached quoted the restaurant's manager, Brad Crawford, saying, "They all paid their bill and they left a tip. They paid it all that same day when they left and everything was good." Read more

MSNBC's Matthews cited wife of his high school band mate to explain "why Hillary likes to clap"
In two separate segments during the November 8 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews returned to the subject of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) clapping, asserting: "As her friends and foes must have noticed, I get a kick out of going after Hillary's fondness for public clapping. She does it everywhere. Every time she gets in front of a crowd of supporters, she keeps clapping and clapping and clapping." Matthews teased the first segment by saying, "Up next, we get to the bottom of why Hillary Clinton is always clapping. We're going to have some fun with that, and I mean good-hearted fun." As Media Matters for America has documented, Matthews has repeatedly highlighted Clinton's clapping -- including at least three prior mentions in the past two weeks -- and has previously characterized her clapping as "Chinese." Read more

Return of the "rookie mistake": Politico's Hearn blamed Obama for "flag flap"
On the November 9 edition of CNN's American Morning, co-host John Roberts reported on the "Obama flag flap" -- an anonymous email circulating a photo purporting to show Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) standing for the Pledge of Allegiance without his hand over his heart. The photo -- which was taken during a rendition of the national anthem, not the Pledge of Allegiance, according to CNN, which cited video it obtained -- was dismissed by Obama as a "dirty trick," which Roberts noted. Roberts went on to ask Politico congressional reporter Josephine Hearn: "Is this all ado about nothing?" Hearn responded by saying it was a "rookie mistake" on Obama's part, explaining: "He hasn't been on the national stage very long, and he's still going to make these little mistakes from time to time. The rule is, always err on the side of more reverie, right? If there's a prayer, bow your head. If there's a Pledge of Allegiance or any sort of patriotic thing, then you should put your hand on your heart." Hearn then went on to dismiss the "flag flap," saying: "I don't think it indicates any kind of broader thing about him, I just think it's a mistake." Read more

Wash. Post's Kornblut claimed that at debate, Hillary Clinton "seemed to contradict" Bill Clinton letter on presidential records -- but it was Russert who misrepresented letter
Washington Post reporter Anne E. Kornblut claimed that during the October 30 Democratic presidential debate, Sen. Hillary Clinton "seemed to contradict a directive from her husband [former President Bill Clinton], who in 2002 wrote a letter suggesting archivists consider correspondence between him and his wife for withholding." Kornblut did not note that, in fact, it was moderator Tim Russert who misrepresented Bill Clinton's 2002 letter by characterizing it as a "ban" on the release of the correspondence; the letter did not ask that such communications "not be made available" but, rather, as Kornblut reported, listed them as documents to be "considered for withholding." Further, Clinton adviser Bruce Lindsey has stated that "Bill Clinton has not asked that records related to communications with Senator Clinton be withheld." Read more

Propaganda/Noise Machine

On Today, CNBC's Cramer defended his description of Cuomo as a "communist"
On the November 8 edition of NBC's Today, while discussing "the falling stock market" with CNBC host Jim Cramer, co-host Meredith Vieira aired a video clip of Cramer's appearance on the previous day's edition of CNBC's Street Signs, during which he claimed that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo "is about confiscation" and called him a "communist." Cramer had been criticizing Cuomo in response to news reports that he is issuing subpoenas to government-sponsored lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as part of his investigation into the mortgage industry. After airing the video clip, Vieira asked: "Now, come on. Isn't he [Cuomo] doing his job?" Cramer replied: "No, he's not doing his job. His job -- this is the New York state. This is not the federal government. He is making it so that the very institutions we need right now to provide money for people are gun-shy." When Vieira countered: "But they made a mess. He's investigating that," Cuomo replied: "So go after the CEOs. Don't make the companies feel like it's dangerous to lend. If you're trying to buy a home right now, the last thing you want is Cuomo attacking the people, the companies that make the money available for you to buy a house." Read more

Investor's Business Daily editorial suggested Dem contributor improperly influenced Pres. Clinton -- but DOJ probe cleared him
An Investor's Business Daily editorial suggested that Bernard Schwartz, then-head of Loral Space and Communications Corp., donated "$600,000 in campaign cash" to President Bill Clinton in 1996 in exchange for "the traitorous transfer of missile technology to Beijing." However, while the editorial mentioned that the Justice Department "investigated Schwartz," it did not note that the Justice Department exonerated him. Read more

Savage: "[L]oving, kind lesbian" is "the type that stuffed ovens in Hitler's concentration camps"
On the November 8 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation, a caller told host Michael Savage that while waiting at a stoplight in Midtown Manhattan, "I'm listening to you with the window open. This mean-faced, clipped-hair, liberal type -- you know, the type you always talk about. ... She comes up to my window and she goes, 'You're listening to hate speech. Why are you listening to that?' " Savage replied to the caller's anecdote by saying, "Well, what does that tell you about the loving, kind lesbian who just assaulted you in your car?" He continued: "She's a -- the type that stuffed ovens in [Adolf] Hitler's concentration camps. Whenever I hear anyone preaching to me about how compassionate they are, I reach for my Glock. That's all I can tell you. They can all drop dead." Read more

2004 Elections

Limbaugh joins other media in whitewashing Swift Boat Vets' falsehoods, claims "nobody has disproven anything they claimed"
On his radio show, Limbaugh claimed that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth "were right on the money, and nobody has disproven anything they claimed in any of their ads, statements, written commentaries, or anything of the sort." In fact, most of the allegations the Swift Boat Veterans made about Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam War service during the 2004 presidential campaign have been thoroughly discredited, often by official military records, but also by the Swift Boat accusers themselves, who struggled to keep their stories straight.
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Government and Elections

On Special Report, Barone cited interest-group spending to explain defeat of conservative initiative, but not liberal one
On Special Report, U.S. News & World Report senior writer Michael Barone asserted that an Oregon initiative that would have increased cigarette taxes to fund children's health care failed because Oregon voters did not want to pay higher taxes. Barone later claimed "the main reason" Utah voters rejected a statewide school voucher plan was "that there was a very big campaign put on against it by the National Education Association and other teacher unions." In fact, spending by an interest group also played a role in the Oregon vote -- tobacco companies reportedly spent $11.8 million in a campaign to defeat the Oregon initiative, nearly triple the $4.4 million reportedly spent by the "very big campaign" to defeat the Utah school voucher plan. Read more

Media

O'Reilly told his "ombudswoman" to ignore the "pinheads who want you to try to embarrass me"
On the November 8 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, during his weekly "Dhue Point" segment -- in which Fox News anchor Laurie Dhue acts as the Factor's "ombudswoman" -- Dhue asked: "So what do my peeps need to ask you in 'The Dhue Point'?" Host Bill O'Reilly responded: "No.1, there are pinheads who want you to try to embarrass me. Those people come from the far-left precincts. Ignore them." Dhue then stated: "I'm getting an awful lot of email saying I'm too easy on you." Bill O'Reilly replied: "[I]t's all coming from the haters on the left. Just throw it in the garbage." O'Reilly continued: "But the regular folks who really enjoy this program, what we want you to ask Laurie is why we do things, why we do them. All right? Or 'we didn't really like that.' But not policy things, because I'll deal with that in the mail segment." Read more

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