National Review and Limbaugh hitch a ride on 2000 election distortion train

Following in the footsteps of conservative radio host Glenn Beck and The Wall Street Journal's editorial board, conservatives continue to repeat the falsehood that President George W. Bush would have won the last election under every recount scenario.

In a July 12 National Review Online commentary, regular National Review Online contributor Peter N. Kirsanow, who was appointed by President George W. Bush to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, repeated the erroneous claim that "every single vote count -- including those conducted by various media -- unequivocally establishes that Bush won." On the July 12 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show, radio host Rush Limbaugh referenced ("RUSH 24/7" members only) Kirsanow's National Review Online commentary. "No matter how -- they've counted the votes four different ways. There's no way Gore won. It just didn't happen," said Limbaugh.

On June 23, The Wall Street Journal editorial board erroneously stated that "Mr. Bush won the last election under every single vote recount" -- a falsehood Media Matters for America noted later that day. One week later, Media Matters for America reported that Beck had made the same erroneous claim on his June 28 nationally syndicated radio show.

As Media Matters for America previously noted, President Bush did not win "every single vote count." According to a study conducted by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center -- a study sponsored by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post Co., Tribune Publishing, CNN, Associated Press, the St. Petersburg Times, and the Palm Beach Post -- former Vice President Al Gore, not George W. Bush, would have emerged the winner under four recount scenarios.

—S.M.