MSNBC's Mitchell did not challenge GOP strategist's false assertion that McCain called for Rumsfeld's resignation

Written by Eric Hananoki

Published

On MSNBC Live, Andrea Mitchell failed to challenge Republican strategist Trent Duffy's false claim that Sen. John McCain “was one of the first to call for Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation.” In fact, as his campaign itself has reportedly admitted, McCain did not call for former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation. While McCain expressed “no confidence” in Rumsfeld in 2004, he reportedly “said his comments were not a call for Rumsfeld's resignation.”

On the May 29 edition of MSNBC Live, NBC chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell failed to challenge Republican strategist Trent Duffy's false claim that Sen. John McCain “was one of the first to call for [former Defense] Secretary [Donald] Rumsfeld's resignation.” In fact, as Media Matters for America has repeatedly documented, McCain did not call for Rumsfeld's resignation. 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.” On March 27, MSNBC chief Washington correspondent Norah O'Donnell issued a “clarification” on MSNBC Live after she falsely claimed McCain “called for Don Rumsfeld's resignation.”

As Media Matters noted, The Washington Post reported in a February 9 article that McCain “regularly reminds audiences that he also criticized Bush's management of the war and called for Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation as defense secretary.” After Media Matters noted the article's failure to report that McCain's repeated assertions that he had called for Rumsfeld's resignation were false, the Post published a February 16 article reporting that McCain “overstate[d] his public position on Rumsfeld” and that he had never called for him to resign. According to the February 16 article: "[D]uring a debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., aired on CNN, McCain said, 'I'm the only one that said that Rumsfeld had to go.' 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.' " The February 16 Post article also noted that “McCain's false account has been unwittingly incorporated into the narrative he is selling by some news organizations, including The Washington Post.”

From the 1 p.m. ET hour of the May 29 edition of MSNBC Live:

MITCHELL: Does the Scott McClellan book create a bigger problem, a bigger challenge for John McCain --

DUFFY: I don't think so.

MITCHELL: -- in dealing with Iraq because this is a roadmap to all of the so-called, you know, propaganda and --

DUFFY: Well, I think it'll provide, you know, aid and --

MITCHELL: -- deception.

DUFFY: -- comfort to the Obama camp and George Soros and the left and, you know, maybe Scott saw that money flying into the Obama campaign and wanted his part of it. I do think it gives John McCain the ability to restate what he has already, which is that he was an early critic of the war. He was one of the first to call for Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation. He carved out an independent voice when it comes to Iraq, and he can say that all now.

MITCHELL: In defense of Scott McClellan, at least in his own defense, he said on the Today program that apparently a very small advance, which is the practice of PublicAffairs, his publisher, and that he had somewhat of a conversion. Is that credible, Jonathan [Prince, Democratic strategist], that he had a conversion 10 months out of the White House? All of a sudden he realized that what he was delivering was not the truth?