Media Matters - Government and Elections

Media Matters - Government and Elections http://mediamatters.org/tools/syndication/tag_rss/government_and_elections This link is for use by RSS-enabled software to retrieve Media Matters items matching the term: Government and Elections en-US Copyright 2008, Media Matters for America Ignoring its own reporting, LA Times didn't note McCain's shifting time frame for balancing budget http://mediamatters.org/items/200810120003 The Los Angeles Times reported that Sen. John McCain "advocated for his tax cuts and his plan to balance the budget by 'the end of my term in office.' " But the Times did not note, as it has previously reported, that McCain has repeatedly shifted on his time frame for balancing the budget, originally claiming he would balance the budget in four years, then pledging to do so in eight years, before reversing himself again to return to the four-year pledge. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810120003 Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:48:38 EST Print media reported that Obama represented ACORN, but not that DOJ was a fellow plaintiff in the lawsuit http://mediamatters.org/items/200810120002 Numerous print media outlets reported that Sen. Barack Obama represented the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now in the 1990s in a lawsuit, but they did not report that the Department of Justice was also a plaintiff in the lawsuit with the League of Women Voters and others. The lawsuit sought to require the state of Illinois to implement federal law on voter registration. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810120002 Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:43:16 EST O'Reilly called Media Matters' Brock a "liar," but the falsehood was O'Reilly's http://mediamatters.org/items/200810110007 Fox News' Bill O'Reilly purported to defend his previous false assertion that Sen. Barack Obama did not cast a vote on a Senate amendment denouncing both a MoveOn.org ad that targeted Gen. David Petraeus and "Swift Boat" attacks on Sen. John Kerry by claiming he was referring to an amendment "sponsored by John Cornyn that also condemned MoveOn," which Obama did not vote on. But O'Reilly explicitly said in his previous remarks that the amendment Obama did not vote on was one that condemned both the MoveOn Petraeus ad and "the Swift Boating of Kerry." The Cornyn amendment did not condemn the Swift Boat attacks; an amendment by Sen. Barbara Boxer, which Obama voted for, did. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810110007 Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:52:11 EST McClatchy's Thomma misrepresented Obama's tax plan http://mediamatters.org/items/200810110006 On MSNBC Live, McClatchy's Steven Thomma asserted that Sen. John McCain will likely attack Sen. Barack Obama "as a tax-raiser, someone who'll take money out of your pocket at the very moment you don't want it to happen." Neither Thomma nor Politico's David Mark, who agreed with Thomma's assessment, noted that claims that Obama will raise taxes and "take money out of your pocket" misrepresent Obama's tax plan. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810110006 Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:40:39 EST Jansing, Halperin uncritically report Palin's false charge that Obama's "punished with a baby" comment was about abortion http://mediamatters.org/items/200810110004 On MSNBC Live, Chris Jansing uncritically aired Gov. Sarah Palin's false claim that Sen. Barack Obama was talking about abortion when he said of his two daughters: "I don't want them punished with a baby." However, Jansing did not note that Obama was discussing sex education, not abortion, when he made his comment. Time's Mark Halperin also uncritically reported Palin's attack without pointing out it was false. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810110004 Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:12:46 EST On Cunningham's radio show, Corsi touted dubious "documents" he claims will "prove" Obama "made a pact" with Odinga http://mediamatters.org/items/200810100023 Jerome Corsi claimed on Bill Cunningham's radio show that he "came out of Kenya" with "documents" proving that Sen. Barack Obama "made a pact with this radical leftist politician [Raila] Odinga who is perfectly happy to expand Islamic Sharia law in Kenya and have tribal violence to get power." But the only "documents" Corsi has thus far provided -- purported emails listing the contact in his Senate office to work with Odinga -- do not establish that Obama "made a pact" with Odinga, and they "appear not to have been written by a native English speaker," as Politico's Ben Smith noted. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810100023 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:00:54 EST Brewer falsely portrayed McCain as denouncing voter disenfranchisement in clip she aired http://mediamatters.org/items/200810100021 On MSNBC Live, after citing a New York Times article reporting that voters are being removed from rolls or being blocked from registering, Contessa Brewer asserted that at a campaign stop, Sen. John McCain "was talking about the importance of making sure that voters who register get a chance to go vote." But in the clip she aired, McCain was not talking about alleged voter disenfranchisement or allegations that people were being illegally barred from voting; rather, he was criticizing alleged efforts to register people who are not eligible to vote. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810100021 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:45:37 EST NY Times, AP repeat McCain falsehood that Obama said Ayers was "just" a guy in his neighborhood http://mediamatters.org/items/200810100010 The New York Times and the AP uncritically reported Sen. John McCain's false claim that Sen. Barack Obama said that William Ayers was "just" a guy in his neighborhood. In fact, when questioned about Ayers in an April Democratic primary debate, Obama did not use the word "just" when describing Ayers as "a guy who lives in my neighborhood." http://mediamatters.org/items/200810100010 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:46:18 EST O'Reilly falsely claimed Obama did not vote to condemn attacks on Petraeus and Kerry http://mediamatters.org/items/200810090021 On his radio show, Bill O'Reilly falsely stated that Sen. Barack Obama did not cast a vote on a Senate amendment denouncing both an ad by MoveOn.org that targeted Gen. David Petraeus and "Swift Boat" attacks on Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). In fact, Obama voted in favor of an amendment sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) that denounced the MoveOn.org ad and character attacks on Kerry, former Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA), and other veterans. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810090021 Thu, 9 Oct 2008 19:32:24 EST Politico quoted from McCain campaign's Ayers ad without noting its distortions http://mediamatters.org/items/200810090018 The Politico's Andy Barr reported on Sen. John McCain's ad "on [Sen.] Barack Obama's relationship with 1960s radical William Ayers" without noting that it contains several distortions and misleading assertions. Barr failed to mention that, in contrast to the ad's claim, The New York Times reported that "the two men do not appear to have been close," or that prominent McCain supporters are also connected to the purportedly "radical 'education' foundation" the ad references. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810090018 Thu, 9 Oct 2008 18:08:16 EST In sketch on Corsi's detention in Kenya, Liddy played audio of "jungle telegraph drums" http://mediamatters.org/items/200810090017 On his radio program, G. Gordon Liddy discussed the detention of Jerome Corsi in Kenya and aired a sketch in which he said: "We've used the satellite connection to Kenya, and we are now focusing in on the trial of Dr. Jerome Corsi. ... [H]e's being accused of impersonating a human being. My Zulu's not -- not as good as Obama's, but -- yeah, they're really upset with him. You can probably tell." Liddy then aired a clip apparently from the 1950 movie King Solomon's Mines, which featured characters speaking in Kinyarwanda (not Zulu), one of the official languages of Rwanda, and playing music on drums. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810090017 Thu, 9 Oct 2008 17:46:00 EST Ignoring its own reporting, NY Times did not point out falsehoods in Corsi's smear books on Obama, Kerry http://mediamatters.org/items/200810090014 The New York Times asserted that Jerome Corsi's recent book smearing Sen. Barack Obama "raises pointed questions about Mr. Obama's history of drug use, his 'extensive connections' to Islam and his relationships with Kenyan politicians, among other things -- allegations that Mr. Obama's campaign and others have widely disputed." However, the Times did not point out that The Obama Nation contains numerous falsehoods that have been widely discredited and denounced by the media. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810090014 Thu, 9 Oct 2008 16:15:26 EST MSNBC.com's First Read again falsely claimed McCain "did not vote" against troop funding http://mediamatters.org/items/200810090011 MSNBC.com's First Read again falsely claimed that Sen. John McCain "opposed, but did not vote," on a 2007 troop-funding appropriations bill. In fact, while McCain did not vote on a later version of the appropriations bill, he voted against the measure on March 29, 2007, and said at the time that he was opposing it, in part, because it "would establish a timeline" for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810090011 Thu, 9 Oct 2008 13:11:53 EST NY Times' Bumiller uncritically quoted McCain's distortion of Obama's remarks on subprime lending http://mediamatters.org/items/200810090010 The New York Times uncritically quoted Sen. John McCain saying of Sen. Barack Obama: "[A]s recently as September of last year he said that subprime loans had been, quote, a good idea." The article did not mention that McCain was distorting Obama's comments from a September 2007 speech, as several media outlets -- including the Times -- noted when McCain previously made the same accusation against Obama. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810090010 Thu, 9 Oct 2008 12:56:20 EST ABC's David Wright uncritically repeated Palin claim that Obama has been "palling around with terrorists" http://mediamatters.org/items/200810090009 During a report on ABC's Good Morning America, David Wright stated that Gov. Sarah Palin "accus[ed]" Sen. Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists," but did not note that The New York Times, in the article Palin cited in making that claim, reported that "the two men do not appear to have been close." http://mediamatters.org/items/200810090009 Thu, 9 Oct 2008 12:53:47 EST