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

Barnes: Obama not "strong on national security" because he opposed war "when the entire world believed" Saddam had WMD
On the October 6 edition of Fox News' The Beltway Boys, co-host and Weekly Standard executive editor Fred Barnes claimed that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is "not in quite as strong a position on the war in Iraq as he really thinks he is." He explained that when Obama delivered his 2002 speech against going to war with Iraq, "it was back in a time when the entire world believed Saddam Hussein in Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, that he would probably be willing to use them himself at some time or pass them along to terrorists who would use them. And yet, Barack Obama was against going to the war at that point." According to Barnes: "I don't think that shows that he is very strong on national security, which he needs to be." Read more

Kurtz: Clinton's Ground Zero ad is treading on Giuliani's "turf"
Discussing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's new television advertisement, Howard Kurtz began an article: "In a stark, black-and-white ad that pictures her in a mask at Ground Zero, Hillary Rodham Clinton is treading on Rudy Giuliani's turf." Similarly, on CNN's American Morning, John Roberts said that Clinton's ad "really is a shot across Rudy Giuliani's bow to say, 'You're not the only one who has a claim to 9-11 here.' But is she going too far? Is she politicizing 9-11?" Roberts did not ask whether Giuliani, who has repeatedly discussed 9-11 in campaign settings, is "going too far" or "politicizing 9-11." Read more

Politico's Martin ignored Giuliani's "pledge" not to attack Republicans; CBN's Brody claimed Giuliani "is talking about Hillary Clinton and nobody else"
In a blog entry, Politico senior political writer Jonathan Martin wrote that Rudy Giuliani's campaign had circulated a press release titled "Romney's Taxachussetts Hypocrisy" and characterized the campaign as "[n]ot terribly thrilled about having to engage a GOP opponent -- but also recognizing the necessity of letting no dig go unanswered." However, in the blog entry, Martin did not note a relevant statement that Giuliani made two days earlier in an interview with Martin himself: "It's my intention not to attack any other Republicans, absolutely. ... The whole focus of my campaign is I'm going to run against a Democrat." On Meet the Press, David Brody claimed that Giuliani "is talking about Hillary Clinton and nobody else," adding: "I mean, it's invoking the Eleventh Commandment, as Ronald Reagan would say, you know, thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican." Read more

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