On the April 2 edition of CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric aired a report purporting to discuss what “leads a candidate to exaggerate or be hyperbolic about his or her record.” During the report, Couric aired a video clip of remarks by Time magazine columnist Joe Klein, who stated: “John McCain doesn't need to exaggerate his biography. It's a spectacular biography. But he does exaggerate the threat of Al Qaeda in Iraq, which is a small Sunni group in a majority Shiite country. He says they could take over if we leave. That's an exaggeration.” In fact, McCain's campaign has reportedly admitted that McCain made at least one false claim about his “record,” when he stated that “I'm the only one that said that [former Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld had to go.” In reality, McCain never called for Rumsfeld's resignation. McCain has also offered a different explanation on the campaign trail for voting against President Bush's 2001 tax cuts than the reason he stated at the time. Further, contrary to Klein's suggestion that McCain's Iraq-related exaggerations have been limited to his claims regarding Al Qaeda's ability to take over Iraq should the U.S. withdraw, McCain has admitted to making a false statement regarding Iran's involvement in training members of Al Qaeda in Iraq and has repeatedly distorted the positions of Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on taxes and health care, among other things.

McCain has repeatedly misrepresented his record. For example:

• McCain claimed that he called for Rumsfeld's resignation. In fact, 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.” After The Washington Post uncritically reported McCain's claim that he called for Rumsfeld's resignation, a subsequent Post article noted that “McCain's false account has been unwittingly incorporated into the narrative he is selling by some news organizations, including The Washington Post.” The article also stated, “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.' ”

• McCain has repeatedly asserted on the campaign trail that he originally voted against the Bush tax cuts because they were not paired with spending cuts -- a claim that the media have repeated. But in the floor statement McCain made during the May 2001 Senate debate on the conference committee report for the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, in which he explained why he was not voting for the final bill, McCain did not mention the absence of offsetting spending cuts. Rather, McCain stated that while he supported the earlier version of the bill “that provided more tax relief to middle income Americans,” he could not “in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle class Americans who most need tax relief.”

• Having told The Wall Street Journal in late 2005 that he knows “a lot less about economics” than “military and foreign policy issues,” McCain then suggested he had not said this when confronted with the quote in a debate question: “I don't know where you got that quote from. I'm very well-versed in economics.” McCain later acknowledged to NBC's Tim Russert, “Now I know where you got that quote from.”

McCain has also made several false claims on the campaign trail, most recently when he repeatedly claimed that Iran was helping to train Al Qaeda operatives in Iraq. After McCain twice made the claim to reporters during a March 18 press conference in Amman, Jordan, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who was accompanying McCain on the trip, alerted McCain, and McCain stated: “I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda.” McCain had made similar comments the day before during an interview with nationally syndicated radio host Hugh Hewitt. U.S. officials have reportedly claimed Iran is training Shiite militants, not Al Qaeda. A Nexis review* of CBS Evening News transcripts found that Evening News has never fully reported on McCain's false statement about Iran training Al Qaeda. The only reference to the misstatement on the Evening News came when CBS correspondent Dean Reynolds stated on March 26 that “Barack Obama's pastor, John McCain's 'who's a Shiite' gaffe, [and] Hillary Clinton's exaggerations on Bosnia” had “drowned out” the candidates' comments on the economy. By contrast, Evening News has mentioned Clinton's misstatement regarding a 1996 visit to Bosnia in at least five separate segments on five different broadcasts.

Additionally, McCain has repeatedly distorted Clinton and Obama's positions and statements, as Media Matters has noted:

• On March 27, McCain's campaign released a statement regarding Clinton's and Obama's proposals for dealing with the mortgage crisis, which stated: “I believe the role of government is to help the truly needy. ... Reforms should focus on improving transparency and accountability in our capital markets. ... What is not necessary is a multibillion-dollar bailout for big banks and speculators, as Senators Clinton and Obama have proposed.” In fact, neither Clinton nor Obama has proposed “a multibillion-dollar bailout” for “speculators.” In speeches on the mortgage crisis issue, both Democratic presidential candidates expressed support for proposals put forward by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) that would reportedly authorize the Federal Housing Administration to guarantee as much as $300 and $400 billion, respectively, in refinanced mortgages to distressed borrowers. But, according to both Dodd's and Frank's websites, only owner-occupied residences would be eligible for a new FHA-insured mortgage; synopses of their proposals specifically state that they would not apply to “investors.”

• On February 27, McCain attacked Obama for saying in a Democratic debate the night before that “as commander in chief, I will always reserve the right to make sure that we are looking out for American interests. And if Al Qaeda is forming a base in Iraq, then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad. So that is true, I think, not just in Iraq, but that's true in other places.” In response, McCain distorted Obama's remarks and said during a campaign appearance: “I am told that Senator Obama made the statement that if Al Qaeda came back to Iraq after he withdraws -- after the American troops are withdrawn -- then he would send military troops back, if Al Qaeda established a military base in Iraq. I have some news: Al Qaeda is in Iraq. Al Qaeda, it's called Al Qaeda in Iraq, and my friends if we left they wouldn't be establishing a base, they wouldn't be establishing a base, they'd be taking a country.” But, contrary to McCain's suggestion, Obama did not say that Al Qaeda currently has no presence in Iraq; he was speaking of the future. Further, as Media Matters noted, McCain had made comments similar to Obama's multiple times in the past.

• McCain has repeatedly asserted that Obama “once suggested bombing our ally, Pakistan.” In fact, in an August 1, 2007, foreign policy speech, Obama stated: “If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and [Pakistani] President [Pervez] Musharraf won't act, we will.” Contrary to McCain's assertion, Obama did not say he would take action against Pakistan -- he made any action against “high-value terrorist targets” inside Pakistan conditional -- and he did not specify what the action would be. Nor did he say that “Pakistan” itself would be the target of any action.

• McCain pointed to a purported comparison between “the Democrats who want to raise your taxes, or me, I want to lower your taxes. Whether it will be a health care system run by the federal government, or whether families in America will make their choices about health care.” McCain's claims about the Democrats' positions on taxes and health care are false. Neither Obama nor Clinton has proposed “a health care system run by the federal government,” and both have called for “choice[]” in health care. Additionally, both Clinton and Obama have proposed tax cuts for the poor and the middle class.

Further, Couric reported that “it's hardly new” for candidates to “embellish” their record, and pointed to former Vice President Al Gore statement in 1999, that "[d]uring my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." Couric added: “Gore's statement played into the Republican strategy in 2000 that he wasn't trustworthy.” But what Couric did not report was that “Gore's statement played into the Republican strategy in 2000” because Republicans and the media misrepresented Gore's remarks by falsely asserting that Gore claimed to have invented the Internet.

From the April 2 edition of CBS Evening News with Katie Couric:

[begin video clip]

COURIC: They were the shots heard 'round the world.

CLINTON: I remember landing under sniper fire.

COURIC: But as everyone now knows, those shots didn't exist.

These shots do. Even before the Bosnia story, Hillary Clinton's reputation had taken some hits. In a recent poll, 46 percent of Americans said Clinton is phony. Only 48 percent said she's honest.

What do you think leads a candidate to exaggerate or be hyperbolic about his or her record?

NICOLLE WALLACE (CBS News political analyst): You take the pressure of a press corps that is on top of them all day, every day, and the competitive pressure of being head-to-head with an opponent now for months on end, and there is extraordinary pressure to come up with new proof points to prove her narrative and her reason for being the best candidate to carry the Democratic mantle.

COURIC: But on the campaign trail, stretching the truth can be as common as kissing babies. And Barack Obama has gilded the lily, as well. Obama claimed it was the Kennedy family that helped finance his father's journey from Kenya to America.

OBAMA: So it is partly because of their generosity that my father came to this country.

COURIC: Except that wasn't true. Neither was another story about the 1965 march on Selma inspiring his parents to fall in love. Trouble is, Obama was born four years before that.

John McCain's rhetoric doesn't always pass the smell test, either.

McCAIN: It's called Al Qaeda in Iraq. And my friends, they wouldn't -- if we left, they wouldn't be establishing a base. They wouldn't be establishing a base; they'd be taking a country.

KLEIN: John McCain doesn't need to exaggerate his biography. It's a spectacular biography. But he does exaggerate the threat of Al Qaeda in Iraq, which is a small Sunni group in a majority Shiite country. He says they could take over if we leave. That's an exaggeration.

COURIC: But in this day and age, candidates embellish at their own peril.

MIKE FELDMAN (former adviser to Gore): We're operating in a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week news environment now. There really are no off-camera moments.

OBAMA: Guys, guys, guys.

COURIC: It may be harder today, but it's hardly new.

STEVE KROFT (60 Minutes correspondent): Who is Gennifer Flowers? You know her.

FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: Oh, yes.

KROFT: How do you know her? How would you describe your relationship?

B. CLINTON: Very limited.

GORE: I took the initiative in creating the Internet.

COURIC: Gore's statement played into the Republican strategy in 2000 that he wasn't trustworthy. While Democrats argued Bush wasn't up to the job.

FELDMAN: Roger Simon, in his book about the campaign, called it Dumbo versus Pinocchio. When President Bush would make a misstatement, it was often seen as benign, a simple mistake. When Vice President Gore would make a misstatement, it was often seen as malicious or intentionally misleading.

COURIC: In this campaign cycle, Hillary Clinton runs the risk of being portrayed the same way.

WALLACE: Her vulnerability among Democrats is that she will say or do anything, and that there's a willingness on her part to stretch or strain the truth.

COURIC: That's not Obama's weakness, but something else could be.

JOE TRIPPI (Democratic strategist): People view Obama as essentially honest, so they give him the benefit of the doubt. But questions about experience and readiness for office, those are ones where if he stumbles, it could really harm him.

[end video clip]

COURIC: So how will this all shake out? A new poll out today shows that in the upcoming primary state of Pennsylvania, trustworthiness is the second-most important quality voters look for in a candidate, second only to strong leader.

*A Nexis search of CBS News transcripts for terms “show: (Evening News) and McCain and Iran or Al Qaeda or Shiite,” from March 17 through April 2 yielded this result.