On the August 22 edition of CBS' The Early Show, co-anchor Hannah Storm and CBS News host Bob Schieffer discussed a recent comment by Michelle Obama, Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) wife, that "[i]f you can't run your own house, you can't run the White House." Storm claimed that "[a] lot of people ... took" the statement “as a slam at [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY],” adding: “She and her husband both said, 'Not so,' but there is a school of thought that says with a woman running for the Democratic presidential nominee that it may be up to the wives to criticize her because the men can't.” Schieffer replied: “I think there's something to what you say, Hannah. You have a woman running. It is sometimes difficult for men to criticize women without looking like they're brow-beating them or ... putting them down in some kind of way. And so, I think you will hear the wives speak out during this campaign. I mean, we just have some very activist wives this time out, especially on the Democratic side -- Elizabeth Edwards and now Mrs. Obama speaking out.”

At no point did either Storm or Schieffer provide Mrs. Obama's full comments, in which she talked about her own family and did not refer generally or specifically to any other candidates.

As Media Matters for America has repeatedly documented, immediately following her comment about “run[ning] your own house,” Mrs. Obama went on to discuss measures her and her husband were taking to keep their children “grounded” while campaigning and the efforts they are making to ensure that their children will continue to “come first.” From her August 16 remarks:

MICHELLE OBAMA: That one of the most important things that we need to know about the next President of the United States is, is he somebody that shares our values? Is he somebody that respects family? Is a good and decent person? So our view was that, if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House. So, so we've adjusted our schedules to make sure that our girls are first, so while he's traveling around, I do day trips. That means I get up in the morning, I get the girls ready, I get them off, I go and do trips, I'm home before bedtime. So the girls know that I was gone somewhere, but they don't care. They just know that I was at home to tuck them in at night, and it keeps them grounded, and, and children, the children in our country have to know that they come first. And our girls do and that's why we're doing this. We're in this race for not just our children, but all of our children.

Mrs. Obama's comments were first reported in an August 17 New York Times article. As Media Matters noted, in an August 21 column, the Chicago Sun-Times' Jennifer Hunter selectively cited Mrs. Obama's remarks and suggested that she was referring to Clinton in her statement. Internet gossip Matt Drudge then seized on Hunter's column, linking to it on his website under the headline: "Obama's Wife Slams Hillary?" Others in the mainstream media soon followed suit.

• On August 21, CNN host Wolf Blitzer discussed Mrs. Obama's remarks with strategists Donna Brazile and John Feehery on CNN's The Situation Room, but failed to provide the full context of Mrs. Obama's remarks.

• On the August 21 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, guest host Lisa Sylvester teased a segment on Mrs. Obama's comments by claiming that she “apparently blast[ed] Senator Hillary Clinton.”

• On the August 22 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Gretchen Carlson teased a segment on the remarks by asserting that Mrs. Obama was “taking off the gloves and letting loose the claws” in making what “some say ... is a personal attack on Hillary Clinton.” Throughout the subsequent segment, the on-screen text read: “The Claws Come Out: Mrs. Obama Aims at Sen. Clinton”; “Mrs. Obama vs. Sen. Clinton: Cheap Shot or Fair Territory?” and finally “Darts Flying: Michelle Obama Heats Up the Campaign Trail.”

Storm and Schieffer's assertion that because, in Schieffer's words, "[i]t is sometimes difficult for men to criticize women without looking like they're brow-beating them or ... putting them down in some kind of way," recalls remarks conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh made on August 20. As Media Matters documented, on his radio show, discussing comments made by White House senior adviser Karl Rove about Clinton, Limbaugh claimed that “nobody criticizes Hillary. ... Well, you might say, 'No, Michelle Obama and Mrs. Edwards are out there criticizing her,' but, see, I finally figured this one out, too. You can't hit the girl. You just -- you can't hit the girl.” He continued: “And for [Democratic presidential candidate John] Edwards and Obama to go out there and criticize Hillary would -- she would -- she plays the victim better than anybody does, and she could make real hay out of that. So they've got their wives out there ripping her.”

From the August 22 edition of CBS' The Early Show:

STORM: Let's move over to the Democratic side for a moment, and we're going to talk about the wives there, who are very outspoken. In particular, Michelle Obama, recently getting a lot of attention for a comment that she made last week, saying, “If you can't run your own house, you can't run the White House.”

A lot of people, Bob, took this as a slam at Hillary Clinton. She and her husband both said, “Not so,” but there is a school of thought that says with a woman running for the Democratic presidential nominee that it may be up to the wives to criticize her because the men can't.

SCHIEFFER: Well, I think you're going to see wives more active in this campaign, than any campaign we have seen before. I mean, just look at the role that Elizabeth Edwards has been playing. You're going to be talking to her about all this in just a minute on this broadcast. But, I think there's something to what you say, Hannah.

You have a woman running. It is sometimes difficult for men to criticize women without looking like they're brow-beating them or being -- you know, putting them down in some kind of way. And so, I think you will hear the wives speak out during this campaign. I mean, we just have some very activist wives this time out, especially on the Democratic side -- Elizabeth Edwards and now Mrs. Obama speaking out.

I don't think you'll see it as much on the Republican side, among the front-runners there, especially with Mayor Giuliani's wife. The idea is to keep her under wraps as much as possible, but I think you will see it more amongst the Democrats.

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