CNN's Brown aired McCain's remarks about Clinton without noting he later reportedly claimed he never made them

During the June 9 edition of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, guest host Campbell Brown played a video clip of Sen. John McCain asserting during a June 3 speech that "Senator [Hillary] Clinton has earned great respect for her tenacity and courage. The media often overlooked how compassionately she spoke to the concerns and dreams of millions of Americans. And she deserves a lot more appreciation than she sometimes received." Brown then claimed that "this has certainly got to reverberate with Clinton supporters, the die-hards ... he's clearly got a message." But Brown did not note that McCain reportedly claimed days later in an interview with Newsweek that he did not make those remarks. Newsweek reportedly said to McCain: "One of the things that you mentioned in your speech in New Orleans was that you felt that the media hadn't recognized or had overlooked some of the attributes that Hillary Clinton had brought to the race. And I wondered -- ," and McCain interjected: "I did not -- that was in prepared remarks, and I did not -- I'm not in the business of commenting on the press and their coverage or not coverage."

In a June 9 post, the Politico's Jonathan Martin wrote: "Presented with video showing that the GOP nominee did in fact read the remarks as they were prepared, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said Newsweek's account of McCain's answer is 'paraphrased and unclear.' Rogers said he was not questioning the magazine's transcription, but pointing out that they included brackets. But, given that he was responding to a direct question about a portion of the speech, it's unclear what else McCain could have been alluding to when noting twice that he 'did not.' That he also pointed out that the same section had been 'in the prepared remarks' only clarifies that he was referring to the passage in question." Martin added that "Newsweek's [Holly] Bailey said the McCain quote as included in their Q & A posted online was verbatim." The interview includes the following line at the bottom of the page: "This article was updated June 9th to clarify McCain's exact remarks to Newsweek."

Additionally, while Brown claimed that McCain's statement about Clinton "has certainly got to reverberate with Clinton supporters, the die-hards," she did not note, as Media Matters for America has documented, that McCain has previously distorted Clinton's record on issues such as health care, taxes, the environment, and housing, and also issued several personal attacks against Clinton and her family, which may also "reverberate with Clinton supporters."

From the June 6 Newsweek interview with McCain by reporter Holly Bailey and editor Jon Meacham:

[Newsweek]: Want to back up a little bit and talk about press coverage. One of the things that you mentioned in your speech in New Orleans was that you felt that the media hadn't recognized or had overlooked some of the attributes that Hillary Clinton had brought to the race. And I wondered --

[McCAIN]: I did not -- that was in prepared remarks, and I did not -- I'm not in the business of commenting on the press and their coverage or not coverage ... My supporters and friends can comment all they want about the press coverage, and that's their right. They're American citizens. I will not because I believe it's not a profitable enterprise for me to do so. I can't change any of the coverage that I know of except to just campaign as hard as I can and try to seek the approval of the majority of my fellow citizens.

It is something that the American people will judge, and I won't complain about it and I won't praise it. I will just run my campaign and hope that the American people will make a judgment.

From the June 9 edition of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360:

BROWN: And, Ed, fascinating stuff that John McCain has been doing just recently.

And I want to play a little sound here. This is him repeatedly praising Senator Clinton for inspiring this next generation of women.

Let's listen to what he had to say.

McCAIN [video clip]: Senator Clinton has earned great respect for her tenacity and courage. The media often overlooked how compassionately she spoke to the concerns and dreams of millions of Americans. And she deserves a lot more appreciation than she sometimes received.

BROWN: Now, this has certainly got to reverberate with Clinton supporters, the die-hards.

ED ROLLINS (Republican consultant): Well, first of all, Hillary did not lose because she was a woman or because he [Sen. Barack Obama] was black. He won because her campaign never had as good a strategy or never as much implementation.

She was a great candidate. And I think that John McCain, a lot of Republicans, a lot of Democrats across this country, have great respect. And if she would have been the nominee, which she came very close to, she would have been a very credible candidate and could have been the first woman president.

I think the bottom line here, though, is that Barack Obama is the candidate, and it's going to be between him and John McCain. Neither of them have articulated their vision in true words. I mean, they have -- Barack Obama's given great speeches. John McCain's given some speeches. But they really have to lay out, how do they connect to ordinary voters? And, once again, it's about the future and it's about leadership.

BROWN: But listening to what McCain was just saying there, I mean, he's clearly got a message.

ROLLINS: Well, sure. He's --

BROWN: He's trying to reach the disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters. Does he have an actual shot at getting to them?

ROLLINS: We'll have to wait and see.