In an April 26 article, Scripps News Service reported that Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) would not criticize the recent assertion by his state's Democratic colleague, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, that the Iraq war “is lost,” which Reid followed up by stating that the war “can only be won diplomatically, politically, and economically.” The article noted that the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which Ensign heads, recently released an "Internet advertisement that used Reid's words to campaign against Senate Democrats up for reelection in 2008." Scripps asserted that the ad features “written comments from U.S. troops” and then uncritically reported the claim by an NRSC spokeswoman that the comments were taken from letters “sent to a blogger who asked troops to write in to tell the majority leader how they felt about his comment.” Yet the article did not mention that the “blogger” the NRSC spokeswoman referred to is right-wing pundit Michelle Malkin or that two of the five quotes used in the ad came from letters sent to Malkin signed by one person who included only a first name and another who used only initials. The other two identified themselves as “LT Jason Nichols, USN” (who was quoted twice in the ad) and “SPC Matthew S Gangwer.”

Moreover, the article reported that one of the quotes from the ad read: “To be brief, your words are killing us.” However, it did not mention that the quote came from Nichols, according to Malkin's weblog. Nichols founded Appeal for Courage, which describes itself as “a non-partisan, grass-roots effort to communicate to Congress the troops' desire to remain in Iraq until [their] mission is complete.” The organization encourages active duty military to sign a petition which reads:

As an American currently serving my nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt any calls for retreat. I also respectfully urge my political leaders to actively oppose media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home. The War in Iraq is a necessary and just effort to bring freedom to the Middle East and protect America from further attack.

The article noted that “Reid and Ensign have an agreement not to criticize each other publicly” and that Ensign had a hand in editing the ad. Ensign was quoted as saying, “One of the first drafts that came out was directly going after him.” The article then noted specific details about the ad:

The first ad, which went up on the Republican committee's Web site Sunday, chastises Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, who is considered one of the more vulnerable Democrats in 2008.

Landrieu's face is on the ad, but Reid provides the voice. His “this war is lost” quote is repeated 10 times as written comments from U.S. troops flash across the screen. “To be brief, your words are killing us,” reads one.

Similar ads targeting other senators started running online Monday.

Although the ad says the letters were “to the Democrat majority leader,” they actually were sent to a blogger who asked troops to write in to tell the majority leader how they felt about his comment, a spokeswoman for the Republican committee said.

The ad cites “michellemalkin.com” as the source of the quotes it attributes to U.S. troops critical of Reid's statement. One quote reads: “I am appalled at your callous disregard for the impact of your words.” According to an April 20 post on Malkin's weblog, this quote appears to be part of a letter from “Reader Karl,” who described himself as a “disabled veteran.” Another quote is taken from a letter by “CMK” posted in the same entry. In that letter, “CMK” identified herself* as “a 26 year veteran, Senior Master Sergeant in the Michigan Air National Guard.”

* CORRECTION: This sentence originally read: " 'CMK' identified himself or herself as 'a 26 year veteran, Senior Master Sergeant in the Michigan Air National Guard,' " suggesting that “CMK” had not identified her gender in her letter posted at michellemalkin.com. In fact, in the letter, “CMK” identified herself as “a wife and a mother.” Media Matters for America regrets the error.