McCain Source: Media Fact Check

Poll: More people think the media have been 'easier' on McCain.

Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In yesterday’s New York Times/CBS News poll, respondents were asked to address how the news media have treated each of the three remaining presidential candidates in comparison to each other. Considering that reporters like the Washington Post’s Shailagh Murray say Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will have to “wait” until after the Democratic primary to “get his fair share of scrutiny,” it’s not surprising that more people feel he has gotten the easier coverage than both Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).

McCain's Health-Care Muddle

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

John McCain finally came forth this week with what his campaign dubbed a major policy speech, laying out his to do list for health care reform. We at CJR have been asking a lot about his plans lately, which up to this point had raised more questions than answers. Tuesday’s address wasn’t much more illuminating. In fact, in some respects, it was utterly confusing. The Straight Talk Express took a circuitous route, and the press did not clear things up.

FactCheck Buys Into McCain's Fantasy Of '100 Year' Peaceful Presence In Iraq

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

At a townhall meeting in Derry, New Hampshire on Jan. 3, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) infamously exclaimed that it “would be fine with” him if the U.S. military stayed in Iraq for “a hundred years.“ McCain clarified his comments, saying “as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed. That’s fine with me.”

The clip was subsequently used in numerous advertisements.

Yesterday, FactCheck.org weighed in on the ad, complaining that even though the ad simply uses McCain’s own words, it “doesn’t mention that McCain was speaking specifically about a peacetime presence” and leaves “a clear impression that McCain proposes to allow a century more of war.”

Media continue to ignore McCain's flip-flop on Iraq-Korea comparison

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In reporting Sen. John McCain's statement that the U.S. might be in Iraq for "a hundred" years, the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and the Tribune Co.'s Washington bureau all reported that McCain indicated that the extended involvement in Iraq that he was referring to would be similar to the presence the U.S. has had in South Korea. But they did not report that McCain has previously dismissed the idea of a Korea-like U.S. troop presence in Iraq.

Media asserted that McCain flew coach in 2007, without noting expenditure records showing payments for use of wife's jet

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

An April 27 New York Times article reported that Sen. John McCain's campaign used a corporate jet owned by his wife's company, Hensley & Company, "over a seven-month period beginning last summer," and that "[f]or five of those months, the plane was used almost exclusively for campaign-related purposes." Similarly, an April 27 Boston Globe article reported that the McCain campaign "gave up the policy of not using private jets when it was struggling financially in mid-2007," and that the Globe had "identified campaign reimbursements to at least 10 corporations for private jet transport." But in January, several members of the media asserted that McCain had flown coach on commercial airliners when the campaign was low on funds, without addressing the fact that Federal Election Commission filings available when they were making this assertion (and, indeed, were first available October 15, 2007) showed that the McCain campaign had paid his wife's holding company, King Aviation, more than $29,000 for travel between July 1, 2007, and September 30, 2007. Moreover, some members of the media made the assertion in February that McCain flew coach without noting another FEC filing showing that the campaign had paid King Aviation more than $139,000 between October 1, 2007, and December 1, 2007.

Ignoring reversals, Boston Globe cited taxes and immigration as evidence that McCain "appears to delight in defying his fellow Republicans"

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In an April 27 Boston Globe article, reporter Susan Milligan wrote, "Religious and social conservatives have been critical of [Sen. John] McCain, who appears to delight in defying his fellow Republicans on matters ranging from taxes to the environment." Milligan asserted that "McCain's support for immigration reform has not only aggravated the GOP base, but threatens to put him in a politically untenable position this fall: while he needs Latino votes to win battleground states in the general election, any mention of his coauthorship of an immigration package giving undocumented immigrants a path to legal residency infuriates anti-illegal immigration forces that make up a critical part of the GOP base." But Milligan did not note that McCain has shifted his position on the religious right, or that his current position on immigration -- that the borders must be secured before other reforms can be addressed -- is a reversal of his previous position that border security could not be disaggregated from other aspects of comprehensive immigration reform.

David Broder Writes Unproven Assumptions About John McCain

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Here’s what annoys me about David Broder. Midway through a pretty anodyne column about how the ongoing Obama-Clinton contest is bad news for Democrats, he writes:

In an age of deep cynicism about politicians of both parties, McCain is the rare exception who is not assumed to be willing to sacrifice personal credibility to prevail in any contest.

I don’t buy this “assumption” about McCain. Based on his re-positioning—and sometimes outright flips-flops—on issues like the Bush tax cuts, torture policy, and immigration, I’d say McCain is no more or less willing to sacrifice personal credibility than any other politician, but more skilled than most at presenting himself to the media as a principled straight-talker.

Stephanopoulos left unchallenged McCain's assertion that "every time you have cut capital gains taxes, revenues have increased"

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

On the April 20 edition of ABC's This Week, host George Stephanopoulos did not challenge Sen. John McCain's assertion that "history shows every time you have cut capital gains taxes, revenues have increased -- going back to Jack Kennedy." . . . . Additionally, during a panel discussion later on This Week, Washington Post columnist George F. Will asserted, "[I]t's true that when you raise capital gains taxes -- rates, you lower revenues from that." However, as Media Matters for America documented, notwithstanding a potential short-term revenue increase, many economists have challenged the claim that revenue goes up over the long term as a result of capital gains tax rates being cut. Indeed, the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated in June 2006 that the 2006 extension of the 2003 cuts on capital gains taxes would result in decreased revenues of $20 billion over 10 years.

CNN chart purporting to compare candidates' "wealth" omitted Cindy McCain, who is reportedly worth $100 million

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

On the April 18 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, during a report on the release of Sen. John McCain's tax returns, an on-screen chart showed McCain's income to be significantly lower than that of Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton when combined with the income of their spouses. However, the chart did not include any income that McCain's wife, Cindy -- who has not released her tax returns -- earned separately. As CNN political correspondent Dana Bash reported moments earlier of Cindy McCain, "Some estimates actually put her worth at about $100 million." While the chart was displayed, on-screen text read: "Comparing their wealth."

Despite McCain's numerous falsehoods, CNN's Blitzer and Borger repeat "maverick" and "straight-talker" characterizations of McCain

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

While discussing Sen. John McCain's campaign strategy on the April 20 edition of CNN's Late Edition, host Wolf Blitzer stated that McCain uses "his reputation out there as an independent, sometimes described as a maverick" to woo voters. In response, CNN senior political analyst Gloria Borger said: "I think he's going to do it by saying that 'I'm a straight-talker; I tell the truth. You may not agree with me, but you ought to believe what I say.' And that is, you know, that is one of the keys to his success. And if he remains true to that, he may convince some of those independent voters." But as Media Matters for America has documented, contrary to his media-promoted image as a "straight-talker," McCain has promulgated numerous falsehoods in his campaign.