Human Events allowed McInerney to invoke false ACORN bogeyman in defense-budget attack

Written by Sarah Pavlus

Published

Human Events uncritically reported retired Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney's false claim that the “stimulus package ... gives $3-billion to ACORN.”

An April 7 Human Events article uncritically reported retired Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney's false claim that the “stimulus package ... gives $3-billion to ACORN,” which McInerney made while criticizing Defense Secretary Robert Gates' military budget recommendations. Human Events reported: " 'I am appalled at the decisions just made by the secretary, as are other very senior Air Force general officers,' retired Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney (U.S. Air Force), told HUMAN EVENTS following U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates' press conference yesterday. ... 'Four percent [of GDP] for baseline Defense budget is certainly not too much to ask,' says McInerney. 'After all, we spent $787-billion on a stimulus package that gives $3-billion to ACORN.' " As Media Matters for America has documented, ACORN is a popular scapegoat for conservatives, and the claim that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides money for ACORN is false.

Media Matters previously documented that as a Fox News analyst prior to the Iraq war, McInerney made a series of predictions regarding the impending invasion that later proved false.