During an interview with Sen. George Allen (R-VA) on the September 20 edition of Fox News' Your World, host Neil Cavuto allowed Allen to echo the false suggestion in an ad being run by his campaign that the “record” of his Democratic opponent, James Webb, consists of only “10 months” in the Reagan administration and to baselessly claim that Webb had run a “misrepresentative” campaign ad that featured former President Ronald Reagan. In fact, Webb served in the Reagan administration for nearly four years -- 10 months as secretary of the Navy and three years as deputy secretary of defense. Further, the Webb campaign ad that Allen claimed was “misrepresentative” simply uses a recording of Reagan's own words praising Webb's past military service.

Despite telling Cavuto that he wanted his campaign against Webb “to be on [the] issues,” Allen proceeded to attack Webb for what he suggested was Webb's alleged limited government experience:

ALLEN: Well, I would like our campaign to be on issues of energy independence, lower taxes, less litigation, better education, particularly in the areas of engineering and science and technology. And I have a record, as governor and as U.S. senator. My opponent's record is -- is one where he -- he did serve for 10 months as secretary of the Navy, before he quit the Reagan administration.

Allen's comments regarding Webb's service were an off-shoot from his own campaign television advertisement falsely suggesting that Webb had served in the Reagan administration for only 10 months. On September 14, The Hotline transcribed Allen's misleading ad:

ANNOUNCER: Twenty years ago, fiction writer James Webb served in the Reagan Administration. After 10 months, he quit. Webb attacked Reagan Policy. Now Webb wants you to believe [] the late President would support him. Nancy Reagan doesn't. She called on Webb to take down his ad. Webb refused. Would Ronald Reagan really endorse a candidate who hires people that call him a fool and disrespects the wishes of his widowed wife? That's just fiction.

ALLEN: I'm George Allen, and I approve this message.

Onscreen text accompanying the line “Twenty years ago, fiction writer James Webb served in the Reagan Administration” stated, “James Webb served as Navy Secretary.” But Cavuto failed to mention, as the Richmond Times-Dispatch noted on September 15, that Webb actually served in the Reagan administration for almost four years; he “was secretary of the Navy for 10 months after serving three years as deputy secretary of defense.”

Allen then claimed that Webb had “run a misrepresentative [campaign] ad” that featured Ronald Reagan. The ad to which Allen referred shows Reagan commending Webb's military service, saying: “James's gallantry as a Marine officer in Vietnam won him the Navy Cross and other decorations.” According to a September 9 Washington Post article, after Reagan praises Webb in the ad, "[a]n announcer's voice continues as Reagan's image morphs into pictures of Webb as a Marine." The Post further reported that Nancy Reagan had recently asked Webb's campaign to pull the ad and that the Reagan Library's chief of staff wrote to Webb on her behalf asserting that her husband's presence in the ad “implies endorsement.” But the Post added that Webb campaign spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd responded by claiming that the ad is “Reagan in his own words. What Reagan said about Jim Webb, that belongs to Jim Webb, frankly.” The Allen campaign has not alleged that Webb's ad misquoted Reagan. Nevertheless, Cavuto did not challenge Allen's assertion that the ad is “misrepresentative,” or even mention the content of the ad during his discussion with Allen.

From the September 20 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto:

CAVUTO: All right, Senator, I want to switch gears to your party here. And I know you blew up at the person who asked you this question, so I'm going to be very careful with how I phrase it. But there's a debate now --

ALLEN: I don't worry about you, Neil.

CAVUTO: OK. There was a debate, sir, as to whether your grandfather was Jewish. But I -- I'm not getting into the particulars of that so much, Senator --

ALLEN: Hey, Neil, let me just tell you, my grandfather was Jewish. I just found this out --

CAVUTO: OK.

ALLEN: -- and I'm proud of that.

CAVUTO: But -- but here's what I want to raise. If that became an issue -- much as your opponent's opinion on women in battle, something he wrote 30 years ago, became an issue -- as to whether you made a racially derogatory remark to your opponent's aide in another venue, what is [sic] your race come to in your state?

ALLEN: Well, I like our campaign to be on issues of energy independence, lower taxes, less litigation, better education, particularly in the areas of engineering and science and technology. And I have a record, as governor and as U.S. senator. My opponent's record is -- is one where he -- he did serve for 10 months as secretary of the Navy, before he quit the Reagan administration.

The -- the issue of the -- the women, he was opposed and made some very inflammatory, derogatory, demeaning remarks about women, how women should not be in the military academies. It's not an issue of women in combat. It's a question of, how do you treat women?

CAVUTO: All right.

ALLEN: And some came forward. And, in fact, just last week, Nancy Reagan asked him not to run a misrepresentative ad.

CAVUTO: OK. All right, Senator.

ALLEN: And -- and he disrespected her wishes as well.

CAVUTO: Here we go.

ALLEN: But let's talk about issues that matter.

CAVUTO: I wish -- we will. We will. Senator, I just had to bring that up. But, Senator Allen, always good seeing you.

ALLEN: Good to be with you, Neil.