Sowell falsely claimed Clyburn was referring to 2008 election in Petraeus comments

In his September 19 nationally syndicated column, Thomas Sowell misrepresented comments made by House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) during a July 30 "PostTalk" interview on washingtonpost.com. Echoing comments by other conservatives, Sowell falsely claimed that Clyburn "admitted that an American victory in Iraq 'would be a real big problem for us' in next year's elections." In fact, responding to a question about what Democrats would do in September if Gen. David Petraeus said, "This is working very, very well at this point; we would be foolish to back away from it," Clyburn stated that such a recommendation would be a "real big problem for us" because it would impede Democrats' efforts to garner support in Congress for legislation to begin withdrawal, not because of any electoral effect it would have.

Media Matters for America has documented in a report titled "Black and White and Re(a)d All Over: The Conservative Advantage in Syndicated Op-Ed Columns" that Sowell's column regularly appears in 141 daily U.S. papers and occasionally -- meaning at least once a month, but not weekly -- in 22 more, ranking him ninth among syndicated columnists by the number of papers in which he appears.

From Sowell's column:

Precisely because congressional Democrats already knew that there had been progress after the troop surge in Iraq -- some of their own colleagues had been there and seen it -- they had to discredit General Petraeus, in order to prevent the American people from knowing it.

Democratic Congressman James Clyburn said it all in an unguarded moment when he admitted that an American victory in Iraq "would be a real big problem for us" in next year's elections.

That is why a general who is putting his life on the line every day in Iraq, and whose efforts are producing some success, has to be called a liar on nationwide television by United States Senators and a traitor in a New York Times ad.

In fact, during the July 30 "PostTalk" interview for washingtonpost.com, Washington Post reporter Dan Balz asked Clyburn, "What do Democrats do if General Petraeus comes in in September and says, 'This is working very, very well at this point; we would be foolish to back away from it'?" Clyburn responded: "Well, that would be a real big problem for us, no question about that, simply because of those 47 Blue Dogs. I think there would be enough support in that group to want to stay the course, and if the Republicans were to remain united, as they have been, then it would be a problem for us." Clyburn added: "None of us want to see a bad result in Iraq. If we are going to get in position to yield a good result, I think Democrats want to see that." In other words, Clyburn did not say that "an American victory in Iraq" would be a problem for Democrats "in next year's elections," as Sowell claimed in his column, but, rather, that a recommendation from Petraeus against withdrawal from Iraq would impede Democrats' efforts to garner support in Congress for legislation to begin withdrawal. Following is the original exchange regarding Petraeus' report:

BALZ: What do Democrats do if General Petraeus comes in in September and says, "This is working very, very well at this point; we would be foolish to back away from it"?

CLYBURN: Well, that would be a real big problem for us, no question about that, simply because of those 47 Blue Dogs. I think there would be enough support in that group to want to stay the course, and if the Republicans were to remain united, as they have been, then it would be a problem for us.

So I think we, by and large, would do wise -- be wise to wait on the report. None of us want to see a bad result in Iraq. If we are going to get in position to yield a good result, I think Democrats want to see that. We love this country. We're as patriotic as anybody else about this. And we have loved ones involved in this issue just like everybody else. I've got family and friends involved in Iraq and Afghanistan, and so I certainly want to see a good result. But I'm certainly not going to just roll over because the president said. It is only because we get good intelligence from those people like General Petraeus who can be trusted to give us good information.

As Media Matters has previously noted (here, here, and here), Sowell's distortion echoes several conservative commentators who have misrepresented Clyburn's comments. For example, John Gibson said on the July 31 edition of Fox News' The Big Story that Democrats want "their country [to] lose a war because otherwise they might lose an election." The Republican National Committee issued a "research briefing" on July 31, titled "They Said It!" that cropped the quote from Clyburn to read: "[It Would Be] A Real Big Problem For Us."