Fox News repeatedly aired new McCain ad without noting its falsehoods
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SUMMARY: Fox & Friends and America's Newsroom both aired a new ad by Sen. John McCain's campaign that accuses Sen. Barack Obama's campaign of being "disrespectful" to Gov. Sarah Palin. However, none of the hosts on either show gave any indication that the ad contains several distortions.
During the September 12 editions of Fox & Friends and America's Newsroom, Fox News aired a new ad by Sen. John McCain's campaign that accuses Sen. Barack Obama's campaign of being "disrespectful" to Gov. Sarah Palin. However, neither the hosts of Fox & Friends -- Gretchen Carlson, Steve Doocy, and Brian Kilmeade -- nor the hosts of America's Newsroom -- Bill Hemmer and Jamie Colby -- gave any indication that the ad contains several distortions.
In its analysis of the ad, FactCheck.org noted that the ad "takes words out of context to make it sound as though the Democratic ticket is belittling Palin" and stated that it "distorts" each of the three Obama campaign statements it uses "to make the case" that Obama is "being 'disrespectful' of Palin," as Media Matters for America previously documented.
From FactCheck.org's September 11 article:
The ad says Obama and [Sen. Joe] Biden "lashed out at Sarah Palin. Dismissed her as 'good looking.' "
That's misleading. The reference is to a report of Biden joking that one of the differences between Palin and him is that "she's good looking." But the report cited in the ad doesn't characterize Biden's remarks as dismissive. Instead, ABC News' Jake Tapper and Matt Jaffe describe a moment when Biden "ham[s] it up" for the crowd, with one woman telling Biden that he's "gorgeous." The Democratic candidate then says he'd like to end "on a serious note."
[...]
Our ears don't hear Biden's "good looking" comment as dismissive. To the contrary, it's clearly a self-deprecating remark made in joking about himself and his looks. And by the way, the ad shows a picture of Obama next to the "good looking" quote, but it was Biden, not Obama, who said that.
[...]
The ad continues to imply sexism by claiming that "they said she was doing 'what she was told.' " Presumably "they" are the Democrats. But no one said anything close to that. Rather, the McCain ad took a fragment of an actual statement by an Obama adviser and carefully added language to alter the meaning.
The ad cites a Sept. 4 report from Ben Smith's blog at Politico.com in which he interviewed Obama adviser David Axelrod about Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention.
The full quote reads:
Axelrod, quoted by Politico, Sept. 4: "She tried to attack Obama by saying he had no significant legislative accomplishments -- maybe that's what she was told -- but she should talk to Sen. Lugar, talk to Sen. Coburn, talk to people across the aisle in Illinois where he passed dozens of major laws to expand health care reform welfare, reduce taxes on working families."
Axelrod's statement, as reported, was about information that Palin was given: "maybe that's what she was told." The McCain-Palin campaign manipulated the phrase to make it sound as though he was alleging that Palin took orders: "doing what she was told."
The rest of the interview actually included some praise from Axelrod for Palin. For instance, he said she is a "skilled politician."
And, again, the quote used in the ad wasn't said by Obama, either -- though his photo appears next to it.
[...]
The ad wraps up by saying Obama and Biden "desperately called Sarah Palin a liar." And it adds, "How disrespectful."
The reference is to an ad the Obama-Biden campaign released in which it criticizes Palin for saying she was against the infamous Bridge to Nowhere when she had previously been for it. (We called into question Palin's comments on the bridge last week.) The Obama ad says, "Politicians lying about their records. You don't call that maverick, you call it more of the same." It then quotes an item from the liberal magazine The New Republic, which called the claim that Palin stopped the pork-barrel bridge project "a naked lie."
Indeed, as Media Matters has documented, Palin has put forth outright falsehoods about her purported opposition to the Bridge to Nowhere project.
From the September 12 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom:
COLBY: Well, the McCain camp is staying on the offensive, as well, today, with their brand new ad, just released this morning. Take a look at this.
[begin video clip]
NARRATOR: He was the world's biggest celebrity --
CROWD: Obama! Obama!
NARRATOR: -- but his star's fading. So they lashed out at Sarah Palin, dismissed her as good looking -- that backfired. So they said she was doing "what she was told," then, desperately, called Sarah Palin a liar. How disrespectful. And how Governor Sarah Palin proves them wrong every day.
McCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.
[end video clip]
COLBY: And of course, Governor Palin considered to have more than held her own in that interview that she gave with Charlie Gibson.
HEMMER: We're going to get to that in a moment, soon, yeah.
COLBY: But does what you wore in 1982, which is what they're trying to point out in that McCain picture of him in that polyester suit, does that -- is that relevant?
HEMMER: An out-of-touch, out-of-date, computer illiterate.
COLBY: You know --
HEMMER: There will be reaction on this. We talked about the sexism. We talk about the ageism. These are the issues that are being laid out with 53 days to go.
COLBY: And not using the computer? It's what's here that counts.
From the September 12 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
KILMEADE: Wow. Got a little personal there.
DOOCY: A little bit.
CARLSON: Yeah, and he's obviously going after the younger demographic by talking about email because who, quite frankly, in American society does not email? So, I think this is effective for the group of people that he's going after as far as age range, but just be -- when you think that you've been swayed one way or another, here's the other side of the story.
[begin video clip]
NARRATOR: He was the world's biggest celebrity --
CROWD: Obama! Obama!
NARRATOR: -- but his star's fading. So they lashed out at Sarah Palin, dismissed her as good looking -- that backfired. So they said she was doing "what she was told," then, desperately, called Sarah Palin a liar. How disrespectful. And how Governor Sarah Palin proves them wrong every day.
McCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.
[end video clip]
DOOCY: OK, so there you've got -- it's nice to see the disco ball --
KILMEADE: Right.
DOOCY: -- back into the campaign.
KILMEADE: That's absolutely true.
DOOCY: Which do you think is more effective? Email us right now: The "Disrespectful" ad or "the John McCain doesn't know how to email" ad? Email us right now at Friends@FoxNews.com.
I have worked in an elementary school before and this concern over who is being the most disrespectful sounds a lot like the cafeteria at lunch.
So, do we win elections in this country by portraying our opponent as being mean to us and calling us names or do we win by having the best plan for leading and solving problems?
Also remember, Obama is not running around screaming racism even thougth according to many, he represents the downfall of civilization iteself
EB.... the media had better address McCain's ill suited temperment for president, and I think the ads are an example. Bloggers have addressed this, but the media needs to look at who he really is.
Do we really want him giving world leaders ultimatums, and when he is turned down or doesn't get the answer he wants, he sends in troops, or takes actions that would set off volatile situations?The Evangelical right is supporting this "man of moral character".Newsmax July 5 2006:
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/7/5/00548.shtml
[..] "......'A presidential candidate is not supposed to talk at length and on the record about the rules he broke or the strippers he dated, or the time he arrived so drunk that he fell through the screen door of the young lady he was wooing," Time wrote in a Dec. 13, 1999 profile of McCain. "The candor tells you more than the comment, and reporters sometimes just decide to take him off the record because they don't want to see him flame out and burn up a great story'........"
[...] "..... Nowhere is that sentiment stronger than in the Senate, where McCain has few friends or supporters. In fact, when McCain ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2000, only four Republican senators endorsed him.
"I have witnessed incidents where he has used profanity at colleagues and exploded at colleagues," said former Senator Bob Smith, a New Hampshire Republican who served with McCain on the Senate Armed Services Committee and on Republican policy committees. "He would disagree about something and then explode. It was incidents of irrational behavior. We've all had incidents where we have gotten angry, but I've never seen anyone act like that."..............."
"...............Another former senator who requested anonymity recalled an exchange at a Republican policy lunch. McCain turned on another senator who disagreed with him.
"....."McCain used the f-word," the former senator said. 'McCain called the guy a ‘sh--head.' The senator demanded an apology. McCain stood up and said, ‘I apologize, but you're still a sh--head.' That was in front of 40 to 50 Republican senators. That sort of thing happened frequently."........"
"When I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism, or maybe a sharper microscope put on her, I think, 'Man, that doesn't do us any good, women in politics, or women in general, trying to progress this country."
–Sarah Palin, on complaints from Hillary Clinton's campaign about sexist coverage, Spring 2008
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/sarahpalin/a/palin-top-10.htm
I have heard McCain say this to the press more than once now (and just Googled and found three instances where he said this).
Is it just me, or is McCain saying that what they are doing to Obama is payback for not doing the town hall meetings with McCain. He sounds like a child throwing a tantrum by using dirty politics because Obama won't do as he says.
“I think the tone of this whole campaign would have been very different if Senator Obama had accepted my request for us to appear in town hall meetings all across America, the same way Jack Kennedy and Barry Goldwater had agreed to do so. I know that because I”ve been in enough campaigns.” McCain Crooks and Liars
And here:
...."Ever the nonpartisan opinionist, however, Broder let McCain make his point for him: "I'm very sorry about it. I think we could have avoided at least some of this if we had agreed to do the town hall meetings" throughout the summer, said McCain. In the interview Obama responded that the three presidential debates "will allow people to see Senator McCain and myself interact in a way that keeps people more honest because you're standing there face to face."......" P.M. Carpenter, the Fifth Cloumnist
And again here:
''I'm very sorry about it,'' McCain said in a Saturday interview at his Arlington, Va., headquarters. ''I think we could have avoided at least some of this if we had agreed to do the town hall meetings'' together, as he had suggested, during the summer months.Thanks for posting those quotes, Graydogs. That's a pretty intersting take on things, and by "interesting", I mean apeshit crazy rationalization. It's like some high school girl telling a guy she wouldn't have told the whole school he was gay if he's asked her to the prom.
What possible reasonable interpretation is there? Maybe the McCain camp planned for the Town Hall meetings to be the equivalent of a Hannity/O'Reilly show, where he could just spew out the BS as fast as it could be rebutted, making it appear to the uninformed viewer as a "he said, he said" situation, forcing Obama to spend all of his time on the defensive.
This is what's being lauded as "political victory", "savvy" and "successful" by the media, catapulting the propaganda faster than the other side can tell the truth.
It's no more complicated than the technique used by so many of the trolls at this site who post lengthy comments loaded with crap, and think that because people don't have the time, or don't consider it worth the time, to refute every point with links to the facts,that it makes them right.
It would be funny if it didn't work on millions of people who get to vote.
Colonel....and I heard it again last night, and am sure I must have heard it times I didn't find on Google. The MSM should be making a huge case about this temper tantrum but each time I heard have heard it, not one, says...WOW McCain is using the ads because Obama won't agree to Town Hall meetings.
Every one of these statement, should be in an ad played as an example of McCain's temerment. What will he do to leaders of other countries that piss him off by not doing as he says?
More from NewsmaxJuly 5, 2006
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/7/5/00548.shtml[....]......"Senators are leery of speaking on the record about what McCain is really like. Bob Smith described his behavior reluctantly. A former Republican senator listed Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch, and Pete Dominici, fellow Republican senators, as being among those who had encountered McCain's outbursts, but none of them agreed to be interviewed on the subject.
Most major media outlets have been uninterested in pursuing the subject. Virtually every media outlet ran Sen. Trent Lott's comment at a 100th birthday tribute to Strom Thurmond. As a result of the criticism over his remarks, Lott stepped aside as Senate majority leader.
But only a few news outlets, like the Phoenix New Times in Arizona and the National Journal, that ran an Associated Press story reporting McCain's 1998 joke suggesting that Chelsea Clinton was ugly and Janet Reno and Hillary Clinton were lesbians.
"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?" McCain said at a GOP fund-raiser in Washington. "Because Janet Reno is her father."
McCain apologized to the Clintons. But more recently, McCain said on Fox News, "You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who is still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it."
In part because he gives reporters access and charms them with his apparent openness, McCain gets good press........" [..]
FOX also made a big mistake in its recent special, "Sarah Palin: An American Woman," by showing a picture of Trooper Wooten's attorney when they clearly intended to show a picture of Trooper Wooten himself! Intentional? You decide. (The real Trooper Wooten is younger and clean-shaven.)
Some questions not asked by FOX:
1.) As a born-again, evangelical, Bible-believing Christian, does Sarah Palin believe wives should submit to their husbands? And if so, did she have to get her husband's permission before entering public life?
2.) Does Sarah Palin believe we are living in the Biblical end times?