NBC's Mitchell said McCain took "very strong stand" against NC GOP's anti-Obama ad, but omitted pattern of smears benefiting McCain

Summary: Reporting on an ad from the North Carolina Republican Party that attacks Sen. Barack Obama for his relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, NBC News' Andrea Mitchell asserted that Sen. John McCain "is taking a very strong stand," telling the party "that he does not want them to run this ad." She later said that "John McCain immediately demanded that the North Carolina Republicans kill the ad." By simply reporting McCain's condemnation of the North Carolina ad, Mitchell was repeating a pattern in the media of allowing McCain, as Slate.com's Melinda Henneberger noted, to "take the high road," while his supporters engage in smears for his benefit.

On the April 23 edition of NBC's Nightly News, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell aired a portion of a recent ad from the North Carolina Republican Party that attacks Sen. Barack Obama for his relationship with his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Mitchell then stated: "[Sen.] John McCain immediately demanded that the North Carolina Republicans kill the ad." Earlier that day, during the 1 p.m. ET hour of MSNBC Live, Mitchell reported that McCain has "written a letter to the North Carolina Republican Party telling them that he does not want them to run this ad," and asserted of McCain: "He's obviously taking a very strong stand." Mitchell went on to ask McCain's senior economic adviser, former Rep. Jack Kemp (R-NY), "[W]hat does it say about the Republican Party that the North Carolina Republicans were planning to run this ad?"

What Mitchell did not report during either segment was that this isn't the first time McCain has repudiated an attack on Obama by a Republican state party. Nor did she report that members of McCain's own campaign have at least twice spread attacks on Obama's relationship with Wright from which McCain subsequently distanced himself. On the 4 p.m. ET hour of the April 23 edition of MSNBC Live, Slate.com contributor Melinda Henneberger commented on its effect: "McCain gets to have it both ways. He gets to take the high road and say that these attacks are absolutely unwarranted ... and yet the ads are still out there, no doubt doing him some good for the general [election]." By simply reporting McCain's condemnation of the North Carolina ad, Mitchell was repeating a pattern in the media of allowing McCain, as Henneberger noted, to "take the high road," while his supporters engage in smears for his benefit.

Previous examples of attacks on Obama that McCain subsequently denounced or distanced himself from include:

• Following conservative radio talk-show host Bill Cunningham's attacks on Obama during a February 26 McCain rally, including Cunningham's repeated use of Obama's middle name, McCain condemned the comments. The New York Times reported that McCain said: "Whatever suggestion that was made that was any way disparaging to the integrity, character, honesty of either Senator Obama or Senator Clinton was wrong. ... I condemn it, and if I have any responsibility, I will take the responsibility, and I apologize for it." The Times added: "Mr. McCain called Mr. Obama a 'man of integrity' and said he was someone he had come to know 'pretty well and I admire.' He also said that it was not appropriate to invoke Mr. Obama's middle name. 'I absolutely repudiate such comments,' Mr. McCain said. 'It will never happen again.' "

• A February 25 press release by the Tennessee Republican Party titled "Anti-Semites for Obama" stated in its original form: "The Tennessee Republican Party today joins a growing chorus of Americans concerned about the future of the nation of Israel, the only stable democracy in the Middle East, if Sen. Barack Hussein Obama is elected president of the United States." The party later added a "clarification" to the press release, stating that "in order to diffuse attempts by Democrats and the Left to divert attention from the main point of this release ... we have deleted the use of Barack Obama's middle name." McCain reportedly condemned the press release but later touted the endorsement of the Tennessee GOP chairman who was quoted in it attacking Obama.

• The McCain campaign reportedly circulated to reporters a March 14 Wall Street Journal op-ed, in which Newsmax.com chief Washington correspondent Ronald Kessler wrote that "Obama's close association with Mr. Wright ... raises legitimate questions about Mr. Obama's fundamental beliefs about his country," which "deserve a clearer answer than Mr. Obama has provided so far." On March 14, the Politico's Jonathan Martin also reported that the McCain campaign "included an op-ed from the WSJ written by Ron Kessler about Obama's pastor today in its morning clips." Subsequently, McCain's campaign reportedly said it sent the op-ed "in error."

• A McCain campaign aide reportedly distributed a video, titled "Is Obama Wright?" that, as the Politico's Martin also reported, "splices together the most inflammatory language of Jeremiah Wright with a series of other issues that have arisen in the campaign," and "includes footage of Malcolm X, the U.S. Olympians who raised their hand in the black power salute and the song 'Fight the Power.' " On March 20, Martin reported that "[a]n aide to John McCain was suspended from the campaign today for blasting out an inflammatory video that raises questions about Barack Obama's patriotism." Martin wrote that the staffer, "who works in McCain's political department, sent out the YouTube link of 'Is Obama Wright?' on twitter at 12:31 today with the tag, 'Good video on Obama and Wright.' It has since been taken down." Additionally, on the March 20 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN Internet correspondent Abbi Tatton reported that "John McCain staffer Soren Dayton" viewed the video, "then sent it out through the website Twitter," and "[t]hat got Dayton suspended today from the McCain campaign."

By contrast, during the April 23 edition of the CBS Evening News, correspondent Dean Reynolds noted that while McCain has "disowned" the ad, "McCain has been down this path before, repeatedly apologizing or rejecting statements from supporters who have questioned Obama's patriotism." After airing a clip of Cunningham's repeated use of Obama's middle name at the February 26 McCain rally, Reynolds added: "But McCain's requests to stop such attacks have not been effective. In North Carolina, the Republicans put their ad on the Internet and say they're going to broadcast it as well. Today, Obama said McCain could do more to stop it." Reynolds then aired a video clip of Obama's response: "I assume that if John McCain thinks that it's an inappropriate ad, that he can get them to pull it down since he is their nominee and standard-bearer."

From the April 23 edition of NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams:

MITCHELL: Obama was also under attack today from Republicans in North Carolina, where the state GOP prepared an ad criticizing his connection to his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

NARRATOR [Republican ad]: He's just too extreme for North Carolina.

MITCHELL: John McCain immediately demanded that the North Carolina Republicans kill the ad.

McCAIN: We called and asked them not to run that message. It's not the message of the Republican Party.

MITCHELL: But McCain did not hesitate to call Obama an elitist for his remarks about people feeling bitter and clinging to their guns and faith.

McCAIN: I think those comments are elitist.

From the 1 p.m. ET hour of the April 23 edition of MSNBC Live:

MITCHELL: Jack, let me play for you an ad that the Republican Party in North Carolina was planning to run, and it's an attack ad against Barack Obama raising the issue of Reverend Wright.

[begin video clip]

NARRATOR: For 20 years, Barack Obama sat in his pew, listening to his pastor.

WRIGHT: -- and then wants us to sing "God Bless America"? No, no, no. Not "God bless America," "God [bleep] America."

[end video clip]

MITCHELL: Now, John McCain has written a letter and, I gather, has in the last few minutes, in fact, spoken out against this ad. He's written a letter to the North Carolina Republican Party telling them that he does not want them to run this ad. He said that "the television advertisement you are planning to air degrades our civics and distracts us from the very real differences we have with Democrats. In the strongest terms, I implore you to not run this advertisement."

He's obviously taking a very strong stand, but what does it say about the Republican Party that the North Carolina Republicans were planning to run this ad?

KEMP: Well, I think most people would understand that this is a state party in North Carolina. I agree with John. I don't think they need to run and shouldn't run that ad. The American people know exactly what Reverend Wright stands for. That's Barack Obama's problem, and it's going to stick to him for a long time to come.

I would like to see this -- and I think John has pointed this out -- that's it's better for our democratic process to talk about what you're for, not just against -- not what you're just against. And I think he has tried to lift the level of debate. It's going to be a tough campaign, but it's going to be respectful.

And I think John, in going to Selma, Alabama, and talking about John Lewis, the great civil rights leader, and going to Appalachia -- and, as I mentioned before, Andrea, going into Youngstown, Ohio, getting picketed for believing in free trade, is not all that bad. Because frankly, the enemy of the steelworker in Ohio or Buffalo, New York, is not in Japan or Germany or Brazil; the enemy are the tax policies and regulatory policies in Washington, D.C., and that's what John McCain is after.

MITCHELL: OK, Jack Kemp, former cabinet secretary, former congressman, and now the economic adviser -- top economic adviser --

KEMP: Thank you.

MITCHELL: -- to John McCain.

From the 4 p.m. ET hour of the April 23 edition of MSNBC Live:

CONTESSA BREWER (host): These attacks, are they because the GOP party in North Carolina wants to hurt Barack Obama before the general election? Or because they really are hoping that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee?

HENNEBERGER: Well, whichever is the case, I think this is fantastic because McCain gets to have it both ways. He gets to take the high road and say that these attacks are absolutely unwarranted, as I think they are, and yet the ads are still out there, no doubt doing him some good for the general. So, whatever the motivations, I think it's a win-win for him.

From the April 23 edition of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric:

REYNOLDS: An advertisement from the Republican Party of North Carolina.

NARRATOR: He's just too extreme for North Carolina.

REYNOLDS: For his part, Republican John McCain disowned it.

McCAIN: It's not the message of the Republican Party. It's not the message of my campaign. I sent them an email again today, asking them to pull down that ad.

REYNOLDS: But McCain has been down this path before, repeatedly apologizing or rejecting statements from supporters who have questioned Obama's patriotism.

CUNNINGHAM: Barack Hussein Obama --

REYNOLDS: But McCain's requests to stop such attacks have not been effective. In North Carolina, the Republicans put their ad on the Internet and say they're going to broadcast it as well. Today, Obama said McCain could do more to stop it.

OBAMA: And I assume that if John McCain thinks that it's an inappropriate ad, that he can get them to pull it down since he is their nominee and standard-bearer.

— S.P. & A.J.W.

Posted to the web on Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 02:21 PM ET