On the August 27 edition of Fox News Watch, National Review editor Rich Lowry misleadingly attacked a column by Editor & Publisher editor Greg Mitchell by suggesting that it urged newspaper editorial boards to support pulling out of Iraq “now.” In fact, Mitchell urged newspapers to call for “a phased withdrawal,” not an immediate pullout -- a distinction Mitchell clearly made. Lowry mischaracterized host Eric Burns's description of Mitchell's column, transforming what Burns said -- “pull out of Iraq” -- into “pull out now.” Lowry's leap -- an assumption that any call for a pullout must mean a call for an immediate one -- echoed his August 22 distortion of Sen. Russ Feingold's (D-WI) proposal for a gradual withdrawal targeted for the end of 2006.

Host Eric Burns opened a “Quick Take” segment with a summary of Mitchell's August 22 column: “It is now time for newspapers to start editorializing for America to pull out of Iraq. Polls show that most Americans are opposed to the war, Mitchell says. Time for newspapers to reflect that opinion.” Lowry responded that newspapers could heed Mitchell's advice, which he interpreted as asking editorial boards to call for American troops “to pull out now,” because “of course, it's their right to do it,” but he predicted editorial boards would not call for this “because I think everyone realizes that whatever you thought of the war originally, it would be a mistake to pull up stakes right now” [italics added].

In fact, Mitchell clearly wrote that he was not asking for editorial pages to call for an immediate pullout; rather, he wanted to see newspapers call for a phased withdrawal. Mitchell commented that Bush, defending his Iraq polices, had “lashed out at those who advocate something quite different -- an immediate pullout -- as if that is the only option.” He then reiterated his “other option”: “I have challenged major U.S. newspapers for more than two years to be first to clearly call for a phased withdrawal.” Mitchell opined that “once a few do so, they will show that it is safe for others to stick their toes in the water.” In noting that polls show declining support for the war, Mitchell clearly stated that the issue was the first step of a withdrawal, not an immediate pullout. “Not for the first time, the newspapers are lagging behind the public, as major polls show that most Americans favor starting a pullout now, and feel the war was a mistake from the start” [italics added].

Lowry similarly distorted Feingold's position on the August 22 edition of Fox News' Dayside with Linda Vester, when he claimed that Feingold had called for the United States to “get out [of Iraq] now.” In fact, Feingold had proposed that that the United States should chart a timeline for leaving Iraq by the end of 2006; he did not propose a start date, and he said that his target date for completing the withdrawal (December 31, 2006) could be pushed back if the circumstances on the ground required it.

From the August 27 edition of Fox News' Fox News Watch:

BURNS: Greg Mitchell, a columnist for the trade publication Editor & Publisher, wrote this week that it is now time for newspapers to start editorializing for America to pull out of Iraq. Polls show that most Americans are opposed to the war, Mitchell says. Time for newspapers to reflect that opinion.

LOWRY: Follow the polls. You know, that's the -- that's the leadership we expect from the nation's newspapers. Well, I mean, if these editorial boards really think it's a good idea to pull out now, of course it's their right to do it.

BURNS: They should say it.

LOWRY: But they -- they overwhelmingly, I believe, won't because I think everyone realizes that whatever you thought of the war originally, it would be a mistake to pull up stakes right now.

JANE HALL (American University assistant professor and Fox News Watch panelist): The supposedly liberal Washington Post supported this war, as did many other publications. And they are behind public opinion. What they should do about that, it's their call. But they are behind, and they were out front for the war in ways that belie this liberal-media notion.