Mon, Mar 19, 2007 1:38pm ET

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Time's Joe Klein claimed GOP candidates with multiple marriages "live like liberals"

In a column titled "The Second Commandment Republicans" in the March 15 edition of Time, columnist Joe Klein asserted that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and former Massachusetts Gov.Mitt Romney (R) are "moderate candidates who live like liberals," citing the fact that they "have had nine marriages among them: Giuliani three, Gingrich three, McCain two and Romney one" as his only evidence. The leading Democratic candidates for president -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) -- have each been married once.

Media Matters for America has previously noted instances of media figures referring to Giuliani and McCain as moderates (here, here, and here). Media Matters has also noted NBC Today host Meredith Vieira's conflation of issues purportedly raised in the public's mind over the "multiple" marriages of Giuliani, McCain, and Gingrich and Sen. Clinton's "marriage troubles."

From Klein's column in the March 15 edition of Time:

Then again, the Republicans are fielding a motley crew right now: if you count Newt Gingrich, who'll probably join the fray in the fall, the four leading candidates have had nine marriages among them: Giuliani three, Gingrich three, McCain two and Romney one. The Republican faithful are left with a devil of a choice: moderate candidates who live like liberals, or religious conservatives who talk like liberals.

—R.C.

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