After claiming on the July 10 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Mike Rosen Show that “the media from day one has driven” the Iraq war “to a defeat,” right-wing author Robert “Buzz” Patterson falsely claimed that “we've had two Medal of Honor winners” and "[y]ou will not find anything in the mainstream media about those two gentlemen." In fact, there was extensive mainstream media coverage of the two soldiers Patterson referred to -- Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith and Cpl. Jason L. Dunham -- including Associated Press and New York Times articles about their posthumous Medal of Honor awards. Additionally, Patterson repeated the canard that, while first lady, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) banned the wearing of military uniforms in the White House.

Host Mike Rosen and Patterson were discussing a new report that, according to an AP article, concluded “limited progress [was] being made by the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad,” when Rosen noted that “today the front-page stories all over the country have to do with Iraq not meeting the political benchmarks.” Patterson then accused the U.S. media of reporting "[t]his constant drum beat of American failure," adding, “And we never hear about the Medal of Honor winners, the, the military victories that were ... the good things that are happening in Iraq.”

Patterson similarly stated that “we've had two Medal of Honor winners -- both who gave their lives in this war to save their, their platoons and their, their fellow soldiers: Paul Smith, Sergeant Paul Smith and Corporal Jason Dunham.” Patterson continued by saying, “You will not find anything in the mainstream media about those two gentlemen. When they awarded those awards, the Medal of Honor -- the highest military award you can get in this country -- by President George Bush posthumously, it was not carried ... in The New York Times.”

In fact, the Times on January 12 published an article (accessed through the Nexis database) about Bush awarding Dunham the Medal of Honor. According the article, titled “Tears Are Shed at the White House for a Marine's Bravery in Iraq”: “In April 2004, Cpl. Jason L. Dunham, an ordinary recruit from a small town in upstate New York, did something extraordinary: he threw himself on a grenade to shield two men in his unit as they battled insurgents on a road in Iraq.” The Times further reported:

On Thursday, President Bush gave Corporal Dunham, who was 22 when he died, the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award, presenting it to his mother and father in a somber East Room ceremony attended by his relatives and friends.

The Times also reported on Smith in a March 30, 2005, article, noting that he died “defending his vastly outnumbered Army unit” and “will receive the Medal of Honor”:

Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, killed nearly two years ago defending his vastly outnumbered Army unit in a fierce battle with elite Iraqi troops for control of Baghdad's airport, will receive the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award, administration officials said Tuesday.

[...]

Sergeant Smith led a defense of a compound next to the airport against a much larger force of Special Republican Guard troops, manning a heavy machine gun, repeatedly firing and reloading three times before he was mortally wounded. Fellow soldiers said his actions killed 20 to 50 Iraqis, allowed wounded American soldiers to be evacuated, and saved an aid station and perhaps 100 lives.

Further contradicting Patterson's claim that "[y]ou will not find anything in the mainstream media" about Dunham or Smith is a January 11 article from the Associated Press -- which serves 1,700 newspapers and 5,000 broadcast outlets. As the AP reported:

WASHINGTON -- A young Marine who fell on a hand grenade in Iraq two years ago, giving his life to save comrades, was given the Medal of Honor Thursday by President Bush, becoming only the second Iraq war recipient of the prestigious award.

Bush awarded the medal, the nation's highest military decoration, to the late Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham of Scio, N.Y. Dunham's parents accepted on their son's behalf during the somber ceremony in the White House's East Room.

“He was the guy who signed on for an extra two months in Iraq so he could stay with his squad. As he explained it, he wanted to 'make sure that everyone makes it home alive,' ” the president said. “Corporal Dunham took that promise seriously and would give his own life to make it good.”

Similarly, a February 2, 2005, AP article (accessed through Nexis) reported on Smith:

A soldier credited with saving dozens of lives by beating back an Iraqi attack before he was killed will receive the first Medal of Honor awarded since 1993, according to the officer who nominated him.

Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith, 33, of the Tampa Bay area, was killed in action when his outnumbered unit was attacked by Iraqi forces at the Baghdad airport on April 4, 2003.

Moreover, a November 10, 2006, USA Today article (accessed through Nexis) reporting on “top decorations for valor in Iraq and Afghanistan” also reported that Smith “received the Medal of Honor” after he “died at the trigger of a .50-caliber machine gun in April 2003 outside Baghdad. He earned the award for killing dozens of Iraqi soldiers who threatened to overrun his small detachment of engineers.”

In addition to his falsehood about media coverage about Dunham and Smith, Patterson revived a canard about Clinton's tenure as first lady. In response to Rosen's question about former President Bill Clinton allegedly making military aides “wear civvies” instead of uniforms, Patterson repeated the conservative falsehood that “it was actually Mrs. Clinton” who instituted the purported change:

ROSEN: Back in, in my White House days in '79 and '80, military aides wore uniforms. Didn't Clinton change that when he took office? Didn't he have you guys wear civvies?

PATTERSON: Well, actually, it was actually Mrs. Clinton, and she tried to change it. Well, she did change it to the effect that we were not allowed to wear our uniform at any other time other than when we were carrying the nuclear football. So, and she wanted to try, she tried to change that but we actually convinced her for national security reasons that it was not a good idea for the military aide to look like all of the Secret Service agents in business suits as we carried the nuclear football. But on all other occasions, yeah, we were wearing either business suits in the White House or a, or matching the president's civilian dress.

ROSEN: What was their reasoning? Why did they want civvies rather than military uniform?

PATTERSON: Well, I think it was an overall mind set that -- not only on the part of the Clintons, but also on the part of most of the staffers -- kind of an anti-military, let's, let's downplay the appearance of the military in the White House; this is not a militaristic White House. It was just kind of an overall ideology that they had and, and I think they still have, actually.

However, as Colorado Media Matters pointed out, the allegation that Hillary Clinton imposed a ban on the wearing of military uniforms in the White House was first reported in an April 1, 1993, Washington Post (accessed through Nexis) article that referred to "[a] whole series of apocryphal anecdotes [that] have made the rounds and fed military disaffection" with the Clinton administration. With regard to “the one about Hillary Rodham Clinton's ban on uniforms in the White House,” the Post reported that it “didn't happen.”

Similarly, Newsweek reported in December 2005 that "[t]here are still soldiers who swear by the myth that she [Clinton] banned uniforms at the White House."

From the July 10 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Mike Rosen Show:

PATTERSON: But the, but the media from day one has driven this thing to a defeat. And they're going to be successful if we're not, if we're not really careful.

ROSEN: As a matter of fact, today the front-page stories all over the country have to do with Iraq not meeting the political benchmarks.

PATTERSON: That's right, and they're going to beat this -- this, this drum beat, Mike, goes back to, again, to before the war actually. This constant drum beat of American failure, predictions of American failure, the fact that the Iraqis aren't capable. And we never hear about the Medal of Honor winners, the, the military victories that were, that were, you know, the good things that are happening in Iraq that -- the schools that we've built, the hospitals we've built, the kids we've immunized against polio, the power and the water structures that we've actually, we've actually built for the Iraqi people. I mean, we don't hear any of that ever. And I think that constant drum beat has worn Americans down.

[...]

PATTERSON: And I've never had a problem with the media reporting that aspect of what's happening. Where I have a problem with the media is not reporting the other aspects. I mean, you know, we've had two Medal of Honor winners -- both who gave their lives in this war to save their, their platoons and their, their fellow soldiers: Paul Smith, Sergeant Paul Smith and Corporal Jason Dunham. You will not find anything in the mainstream media about those two gentlemen. When they awarded those awards, the Medal of Honor -- the highest military award you can get in this country -- by President George Bush posthumously, it was not carried on, in The New York Times. That same day they featured a front-page article about seven Americans being killed in an ambush. So I don't have a problem with the media reporting, you know, and showing the personal nature of, of families who have lost, who have made the ultimate sacrifice. What I demand from the media is the rest of the story, and that's what they have done a very good job not giving us.