On the July 2 edition of MSNBC Live, MSNBC political analyst Joe Watkins falsely asserted that retired Gen. Wesley Clark attacked John McCain's patriotism in recent comments he made on Face the Nation. But Clark did not attack or question McCain's patriotism; he praised McCain as a “hero to me and to hundreds of thousands of millions of others in the Armed Forces as a prisoner of war.”

Watkins was discussing the controversy that followed Clark's comments with host Mika Brzezinski and Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis, who said, "[T]o go out there and wax poetically about 'how dare someone question the patriotism of John McCain,' no Democrat has been doing that." Watkins interrupted, saying, “Wesley Clark did, though,” and went on to repeat the claim twice more as Kofinis rejected Watkins' characterization as “a falsehood.”

Watkins repeated the false assertion in a later July 2 segment of MSNBC Live, when Kofinis said that “the McCain campaign jumped on an inartful comment by General Clark and blew it up into this notion that Democrats were going around every day attacking John McCain's patriotism.” Watkins falsely claimed that "[i]t was just Wesley Clark doing it on national television day in and day out." Kofinis again disputed Watkins' false characterization of Clark's comments: “No -- I mean, not at all. You read his entire comment, Joe.”

Clark's June 29 exchange with Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer can be found in part here.

From the 9 a.m. ET July 2 edition of MSNBC Live:

BRZEZINSKI: Oh, but, Chris, you know, help me understand --

KOFINIS: Sure.

BRZEZINSKI: -- how the McCain campaign couldn't say, “How dare you,” about this General Clark stuff. I mean, seriously.

KOFINIS: I mean, I understand, but listen, you know, if you look at his entire statement, he was praising John McCain. The last sentence, I agree, was a little bit inartful and should have been put differently, but at the end of the day, to go out there and wax poetically about “how dare someone question the patriotism of John McCain,” no Democrat has been doing that. They make it sound like --

WATKINS: Wesley Clark did, though.

KOFINIS: -- Democrats have been going around all day doing that. It is not true.

WATKINS: Wesley Clark did.

KOFINIS: It is a falsehood.

WATKINS: Wesley Clark did.

KOFINIS: And to be honest, look at what they've been doing to Barack Obama. They've attacked his faith, they've attacked his patriotism, they've attacked his character. I mean, this is something the Republicans unfortunately do every single time. I agree with Joe on one thing, you've got to hit back, and you've got to hit back about this.

From the 3 p.m. ET July 2 edition of MSNBC Live:

ALEX WITT (anchor): Chris, I'm curious, in regard to these attacks --

KOFINIS: Yeah.

WITT: Is it the campaign spinmeisters or is it the media that decides which attacks stick around, how long they stay, when they get fueled down?

KOFINIS: I mean, a little bit of both, I mean, to be honest. I mean, the reality is, I think, this is kind of a, you know, a mutual game where, you know, the media kind of focuses on something. The campaigns want to focus on something. I mean, listen, the McCain campaign jumped on an inartful comment by General Clark and blew it up into this notion that Democrats were going around every day attacking John McCain's patriotism. It was nonsense. It wasn't true. But that's part of the game.

WATKINS: It was just Wesley Clark doing it on national television day in and day out.

KOFINIS: No -- I mean, not at all. You read his entire comment, Joe, you know exactly -- and listen --