Scarborough repeats McCain's falsehood that he called for Rumsfeld's resignation, despite MSNBC's previous correction
SUMMARY: On MSNBC's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough repeated the falsehood that Sen. John McCain called for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation, saying, "I think he [McCain] was saying that Rumsfeld should be fired." Although MSNBC previously corrected this falsehood, and a McCain spokesman reportedly acknowledged that McCain "did not call for his resignation," MSNBC hosts have repeatedly failed to correct guests' assertions that he did so.
On the July 17 broadcast of MSNBC's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough repeated the falsehood that Sen. John McCain called for the resignation of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, saying, "I think he [McCain] was saying that Rumsfeld should be fired." Scarborough made his comments after airing a clip from the July 16 edition of MSNBC Live, during which Mika Brzezinski failed to correct former Republican presidential candidate and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's false assertion that McCain "said that Rumsfeld needed to go." In fact, as Media Matters for America has repeatedly documented, McCain did not call for Rumsfeld's resignation. Moreover, MSNBC chief Washington correspondent Norah O'Donnell issued a "clarification" after falsely claiming in March that McCain "called for Don Rumsfeld's resignation."
While McCain expressed "no confidence" in Rumsfeld in 2004, the Associated Press reported at the time that McCain "said his comments were not a call for Rumsfeld's resignation." Further, when Fox News host Shepard Smith specifically asked McCain, "Does Donald Rumsfeld need to step down?" on November 8, 2006 -- hours before President Bush announced Rumsfeld's resignation -- McCain responded that it was "a decision to be made by the president."
According to a February 16 Washington Post article, "[D]uring a debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., aired on CNN, McCain said, 'I'm the only one that said that Rumsfeld had to go.' A McCain spokesman acknowledged this week that that was not correct. 'He did not call for his resignation,' said the campaign's Brian Rogers. 'He always said that's the president's prerogative.' " The article also noted that "McCain's false account has been unwittingly incorporated into the narrative he is selling by some news organizations, including The Washington Post."
Nevertheless, despite O'Donnell's correction and the Post's report, MSNBC hosts have repeatedly failed to correct guests' assertions that McCain called for Rumsfeld to be fired.
From the July 17 broadcast of MSNBC's Morning Joe:
BRZEZINSKI: But the surge -- the surge has definitely had an impact that changes the conversation a bit. I mean --
SCARBOROUGH: It does. And why did it -- why did it work? It's because Bush finally got rid of Rumsfeld, brought in a great new secretary of Defense, General Petraeus. They -- he finally --
BRZEZINSKI: Oh, that wasn't John McCain?
SCARBOROUGH: He finally put the right team together. Now, let's --
BRZEZINSKI: What? Are you sure?
SCARBOROUGH: -- let's talk about the what the McCain camp --
BRZEZINSKI: It was John McCain.
SCARBOROUGH: -- were saying yesterday that was wrong, Willie.
BRZEZINSKI: He did it.
GEIST: Well, the irony also is that John McCain yesterday was tying Barack Obama to George Bush, saying, as you said --
BRZEZINSKI: Oh, no. I'm confused.
GEIST: -- you said Barack Obama's feet are in cement, and --
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
GEIST: -- and John McCain said that's exactly right, much like this past administration.
SCARBOROUGH: Really?
BRZEZINSKI: Oh.
GEIST: Hasn't America seen enough?
SCARBOROUGH: You are kidding me?
GEIST: Their policy is not flexible. They won't change given conditions on the ground. So, sort of a creative way of --
SCARBOROUGH: Bush?
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: He compared Bush and Obama?
GEIST: Bush -- he tied -- he did. He tied them together.
SCARBOROUGH: Are you serious?
GEIST: He did it on a conference call and --
SCARBOROUGH: I'm dizzy.
GEIST: and then -- yeah, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Mitt Romney, though, out yesterday --
SCARBOROUGH: Uh-huh.
GEIST: -- looking very vice-presidential --
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.
GEIST: -- talking about the fact that the surge -- John McCain's idea.
SCARBOROUGH: Really?
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
ROMNEY [video clip]: John McCain understands military strategy. He, after all, was the person who authored some time ago the philosophy that said a surge would work in Iraq. He said that Rumsfeld needed to go, and you know what? He ended up being right, and Barack Obama said the surge would not work. Guess who was wrong on that one?
BRZEZINSKI: Oh. Yes.
SCARBOROUGH: All right. So, there -- that's fine. But, I mean, it was George Bush's surge. I will say John McCain was the one man in Washington who supported that, it seemed at the time, but I wouldn't go around saying that was McCain's idea.
BRZEZINSKI: I --
GEIST: Yeah.
BRZEZINSKI: I'm thinking, yeah.
GEIST: Or that -- or that he was the one who wanted Rumsfeld out, either.
BRZEZINSKI: Umm --
SCARBOROUGH: Well --
BRZEZINSKI: Well --
SCARBOROUGH: He did not like Rumsfeld.
GEIST: No.
BRZEZINSKI: He did. We gave him the credit for not liking Rumsfeld.
SCARBOROUGH: He did that. He was after Rumsfeld.
BRZEZINSKI: There was a little friction there. I think.
SCARBOROUGH: Actually, I think he was saying Rumsfeld should be fired, but --
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah, no, I think there was legitimate friction there.
TIKI BARBER (NBC News correspondent): So did a host of other people.
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, OK. Everybody in America, but George Bush. Talk about your feet in cement.
Given that it's impossible to be unable to do that no matter how stupid you are, it's proven that national media stars don't want to be right.
Now, regardless of this pilferage issue, can all we agree [that] Jeff Scarborough is a bona fide horse’s arse, with the runs…as in severe cerebral, anal-leakage?
-- the falsehood that Sen. John McCain called for the resignation of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld -- mmfa
Partisan, beltway political pandering. Anyone with a modicum of rational thinking...which excludes most media and pundits...recognizes this as silly partisan reporting...inane political blather.
So McCain never uttered the words, "Rumsfeld must resign"...he loudly and often stated his dissatisfaction with Rumseld's performce. Why didn't he officially call for his resignation?. Beats me...could have been party politics...loyalty to the president...or just plain old political cowardice.
The facts remain that McCain...early and often...criticized Rumsfeld's leadership and policies...regardless of his failure to back up his position with the words "must resign".
mmfa knows it...you know it...and I know it.
-- I think he was saying Rumsfeld should be fired -- Scarborough
Of course he was!
Wesley loves MSM.
The conservetives will never let you take the step to consumate the relationship. Unless they define the MSM as the ultimate of feminity, legally.
There is a difference between being critical of someone and calling for their resignation. (That would have, after all, made him a maverick, or something, with his party. Whoops - ccan't have that!) If he wants to claim he was critical, that's fine. He was, and should get that much credit for being so. But he stopped short of calling for his resignation or calling on prez Bush to fire him. So he DOES NOT deserve credit for doing it!
And the fact that he didn't reveals a lot about his charecter. It clearly shows that he's no maverick, and that he's willing to put party policies ahead of personal conviction.
This is a classic example of Sen. McCain's consisten efforts to try to have it both ways. I remember a "Face the Nation" interview where he "expressed dissatisfaction" with Secretary Rumsfeld's performance, but specifically did not call for his resignation.
Have you read "Mr. Smith is Dead?" For years Sen. McCain would talk on and on about earmarks and Pentagon waste in the military budget and allocations. Then he would vote for the bills that included all that garbage. He fooled so many people that even Robert Sheer writes about Sen. McCain's efforts to fight waste and overspending in the military budget.
But he never did anything about it!
I sincerely believe this is something Sen. Obama needs to bring to light and often discuss - Sen. McCain's reputation doesn't mesh with the facts. He has the maverick reputation -but if one takes a long hard look at his actual accomplishments they often fall far short.
Many of the things he did manage to accomplish (campaign fincne reform) or almost get done (immigration reform) he now appears to not support. Or he voted against the Bush tax cuts and now claims to have different reasons for doing so.
This Sec. Rumsfeld deal is classic Sen. McCain. More subtle than a "flip-flop" that lends itself to a thirty second sound bit. But dishonest, nonetheless.
-- I think he was saying Rumsfeld should be fired -- Scarborough
Of course he was!While McCain expressed "no confidence" in Rumsfeld in 2004, the Associated Press reported at the time that McCain "said his comments were not a call for Rumsfeld's resignation."
The philanderer was certainly surprised when he received divorce papers filed by his wife...she had never said she wanted a divorce.
In fact, after coming home repeatedly with his shirt smelling of strange perfume and lipstick on the collar...she had never hinted about divorce. She had said he was the worst husband ever...his behavior atrocious...but never had she said they should get divorced.
Lamenting the divorce papers to his buddies...how could she do this without warning? Rolling their eyes and laughing out loud, his pals told him that everyone in town knew she was going to divorce him...even if she had not uttered those exact words.
But so goes marital life for those trained in the pedantic word-smithing of articles like this one.
Wesley,
I'm going to do this one more time:
McCain, speaking to The Associated Press in an hour-long interview Monday, said his comments were not a call for Rumsfeld’s resignation, explaining that President Bush “can have the team that he wants around him.”
Your analogy would only make sense if the wife had openly stated that her "worst husband ever" comments were NOT the signs of an impending divorce. It's hardly "pedantic word-smithing" when McCain clearly states that it's not the case. Unless your saying that he and the wife are blatantly lying or just being sarcastic.