Media uncritically report McCain surprised by Cunningham's remarks despite Cunningham's history of using Obama's middle name

SUMMARY: NBC's Kelly O'Donnell and CNN's John King asserted that Sen. John McCain was surprised by conservative radio talk-show host Bill Cunningham's controversial remarks about Sen. Barack Obama at a February 26 McCain rally, failing to note that Cunningham has previously referred to Obama as "Barack Hussein Obama" and "Barack Mohammed Hussein Obama." Fox News' Molly Henneberg suggested McCain could not have expected Cunningham to refer to Obama's middle name, even though Cunningham did just that on Fox News a month ago.

Comments