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	<title>Wes Bentley - World-of-Newave.info</title>
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	<description>Latest news and articles about Wes Bentley</description>
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	<pubDate>Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:49:33 GMT</pubDate>
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		<title>{LITERATURE &gt; RSS FEEDS} - Brieum To Start Storyteller</title>
		<link>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/rss-feeds/brieum-to-start-storyteller-20080664542.htm</link>
		<guid>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/rss-feeds/brieum-to-start-storyteller-20080664542.htm</guid>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
		<description>

Icelandic actress Anita Briem (Journey to the Center of the Earth) told SCI FI Wire that she's about to start work on The Storyteller, a fantasy film in which she'll play opposite Wes Bentley (Ghost Rider).
</description>
		<source url="http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=3&amp;id=56670">Scifi.Com</source>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[
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<tr><td colspan="2" style="font:bold 12pt Arial;vertical-align:top;"><a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/rss-feeds/brieum-to-start-storyteller-20080664542.htm"><b>Brieum To Start Storyteller</b></a> <sup style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;">{<a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/rss-feeds/brieum-to-start-storyteller-20080664542.htm" target="_blank">new window</a>}</sup></td></tr>
<tr>
<td style="font:6pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;">&nbsp;</td>
<td width="100%" style="font:9pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;font-variant:small-caps;">Www.Scifi.Com</span> - 

Icelandic actress Anita Briem (Journey to the Center of the Earth) told SCI FI Wire that she's about to start work on The Storyteller, a fantasy film in which she'll play opposite Wes Bentley (Ghost Rider).
<div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Published:</span> June 25, 2008, 6:00 am - <span style="color:#808080;">Indexed:</span> June 25, 2008, 10:43 am - <span style="color:#808080;">Page Size:</span>&nbsp;42KB</div><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Category:</span> <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/arts/">Arts</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/">Literature</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/">Genres</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/">Science Fiction</a> &gt;  <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/rss-feeds/"><b>RSS Feeds</b></a></div></td></tr></table>
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		<category>Arts > Literature > Genres > Science Fiction > RSS Feeds</category>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>{NEWS &gt; BREAKING NEWS} - Getting Audiophile Sound in the Worst Place for It</title>
		<link>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/news/breaking-news/getting-audiophile-sound-in-the-worst-place-for-20080880820.htm</link>
		<guid>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/news/breaking-news/getting-audiophile-sound-in-the-worst-place-for-20080880820.htm</guid>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:33:54 GMT</pubDate>
		<description>



Getting audiophile sound out of your car often means a trip to a stereo shop, where some kid with no musical taste fills your ride with gear that strains your alternator, drains your wallet and invariably sound better in the showroom than behind the wheel.



Automakers have figured out there's a lot of money to be made offering truly high-end audiophile stereos and are starting to respond. Lacking the expertise to do it themselves, many are enlisting some of the biggest names in home audio to turn their vehicles in to rolling concert halls. Lexus started things off by tapping renowned audio geek Mark Levinson to design a system for the SC430. Audi offers an award-winning $6,300 Bang &amp; Olufsen stereo with 13 speakers and a subwoofer in the A8 and S8. Jaguar recently invited British speaker specialists Bowers &
Wilkins to give the XF sedan a top-shelf system. Many expect the industry mashups to continue as other premium automakers jump on the bandwagon.

"We are seeing a bit of a paradigm shift," says Martin Lindsay of Bowers &amp; Wilkins. "Levinson was just the beginning. The luxury car market was under-served when it came to audio. You had good, better and best when it came to auto choices but car audio seemed to stop at better. There was nothing for those who wanted the best." 

Bentley is the latest to join the party, inviting their countrymen at
Naim to develop an audio system befitting automobiles with six-figure prices. The
system they've come up with is the result of two years spent trying to
get audiophile sound into one of the worst possible environments for
it.

ICar interiors are lousy places for hi-fi audio systems. They're full of complex shapes, reflective surfaces and electrical interference. They've got to overcome the sound of the engine and drone of the road, not to mention absorb axle-snapping potholes without skipping. Even a car like the Bentley, with its double-paned glass, whisper-quiet interior and superplush suspension, poses some serious challenges. 

"Strict automotive testing
was a major requirement," says Paul Stephenson, managing director of Naim -- which, by the way, he says is Arabic for "sweet and pleasant sounding" and was picked after a night of drinking. "Designing
the speaker drive units from scratch allowed us to maximize the
performance of every unit for every position in the car, which is some
cases were not ideal. Fortunately our mindset for designing
engineering solutions to operate to extreme levels, but always within
known parameters, is one we were used to."

To overcome the challenges, Naim chose class D amplification so it could achieve high power from a relatively small package. The 15-channel amplifier pumps 1,100 watts into as many as 15 speakers, depending on the model. Eight digital-signal processing modes allow listeners to tailor the sound to their taste. Dynamic equalization provides more than 300 EQ levels for each mode to keep the sound spot-on even as the car speed and road noise increases. The system automatically corrects those settings when you drop the top on convertible models. 

We've heard the system, and it's impressive. It offers the kind of performance that raises the hair on the back of your neck and makes you think you're right there in the studio. We could even hear Jacko snapping his fingers in the background to the opening of "Thriller." Naim says CDs often contain a world of data cheap, or even mid-range, systems simply can't pick up.  



"Many hi-fi systems sound different and therefore something is
going on which interferes with the end result of the musician?s art," Stephenson says. "We
only aim to reproduce the musician?s art the way he or she intended."

Stephenson says automakers like Bentley could develop their own systems and make them sound pretty good, but it's faster, easier and cheaper to bring in the experts. "We
will see more and more joint projects/branding happening in the
industry," he says. "Many will be ?pimp-my-ride? type systems, quick and dirty low-cost add-ons. The true in-depth projects, such as ours, will be less
common."

Photos courtesy Naim and Bentley






The 15-channel class D amplifier Naim developed for Bentley cranks out 1,100 watts and features a fanless design to ensure there's no audio interference from moving parts. Still, it has no trouble performing in temperatures as low as -40 Fahrenheit or as high as 158.








The system includes digital signal processing with eight modes ranging from "audiophile" to "digital media," which makes even the compressed sound of MP3s sound decent. A variable dynamic equalization system adjusts the sound for every 1 km/hour increase in speed, meaning there are more than 300 unique EQ settings for each of the eight processing modes. 








Each of the 15 speakers in Bentley's cars (14 in the Continental GTC) was designed specifically for its location in the vehicle.







      
  


   
</description>
		<source url="http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/08/in-car-audio-th.html">Blog.Wired.Com</source>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[
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<tr><td colspan="2" style="font:bold 12pt Arial;vertical-align:top;"><a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/news/breaking-news/getting-audiophile-sound-in-the-worst-place-for-20080880820.htm"><b>Getting Audiophile Sound in the Worst Place for It</b></a> <sup style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;">{<a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/news/breaking-news/getting-audiophile-sound-in-the-worst-place-for-20080880820.htm" target="_blank">new window</a>}</sup></td></tr>
<tr>
<td style="font:6pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;">&nbsp;</td>
<td width="100%" style="font:9pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;font-variant:small-caps;">Blog.Wired.Com</span> - 



Getting audiophile sound out of your car often means a trip to a stereo shop, where some kid with no musical taste fills your ride with gear that strains your alternator, drains your wallet and invariably sound better in the showroom than behind the wheel.



Automakers have figured out there's a lot of money to be made offering truly high-end audiophile stereos and are starting to respond. Lacking the expertise to do it themselves, many are enlisting some of the biggest names in home audio to turn their vehicles in to rolling concert halls. Lexus started things off by tapping renowned audio geek Mark Levinson to design a system for the SC430. Audi offers an award-winning $6,300 Bang & Olufsen stereo with 13 speakers and a subwoofer in the A8 and S8. Jaguar recently invited British speaker specialists Bowers &
Wilkins to give the XF sedan a top-shelf system. Many expect the industry mashups to continue as other premium automakers jump on the bandwagon.

"We are seeing a bit of a paradigm shift," says Martin Lindsay of Bowers & Wilkins. "Levinson was just the beginning. The luxury car market was under-served when it came to audio. You had good, better and best when it came to auto choices but car audio seemed to stop at better. There was nothing for those who wanted the best." 

Bentley is the latest to join the party, inviting their countrymen at
Naim to develop an audio system befitting automobiles with six-figure prices. The
system they've come up with is the result of two years spent trying to
get audiophile sound into one of the worst possible environments for
it.

ICar interiors are lousy places for hi-fi audio systems. They're full of complex shapes, reflective surfaces and electrical interference. They've got to overcome the sound of the engine and drone of the road, not to mention absorb axle-snapping potholes without skipping. Even a car like the Bentley, with its double-paned glass, whisper-quiet interior and superplush suspension, poses some serious challenges. 

"Strict automotive testing
was a major requirement," says Paul Stephenson, managing director of Naim -- which, by the way, he says is Arabic for "sweet and pleasant sounding" and was picked after a night of drinking. "Designing
the speaker drive units from scratch allowed us to maximize the
performance of every unit for every position in the car, which is some
cases were not ideal. Fortunately our mindset for designing
engineering solutions to operate to extreme levels, but always within
known parameters, is one we were used to."

To overcome the challenges, Naim chose class D amplification so it could achieve high power from a relatively small package. The 15-channel amplifier pumps 1,100 watts into as many as 15 speakers, depending on the model. Eight digital-signal processing modes allow listeners to tailor the sound to their taste. Dynamic equalization provides more than 300 EQ levels for each mode to keep the sound spot-on even as the car speed and road noise increases. The system automatically corrects those settings when you drop the top on convertible models. 

We've heard the system, and it's impressive. It offers the kind of performance that raises the hair on the back of your neck and makes you think you're right there in the studio. We could even hear Jacko snapping his fingers in the background to the opening of "Thriller." Naim says CDs often contain a world of data cheap, or even mid-range, systems simply can't pick up.  



"Many hi-fi systems sound different and therefore something is
going on which interferes with the end result of the musician?s art," Stephenson says. "We
only aim to reproduce the musician?s art the way he or she intended."

Stephenson says automakers like Bentley could develop their own systems and make them sound pretty good, but it's faster, easier and cheaper to bring in the experts. "We
will see more and more joint projects/branding happening in the
industry," he says. "Many will be ?pimp-my-ride? type systems, quick and dirty low-cost add-ons. The true in-depth projects, such as ours, will be less
common."

Photos courtesy Naim and Bentley






The 15-channel class D amplifier Naim developed for Bentley cranks out 1,100 watts and features a fanless design to ensure there's no audio interference from moving parts. Still, it has no trouble performing in temperatures as low as -40 Fahrenheit or as high as 158.








The system includes digital signal processing with eight modes ranging from "audiophile" to "digital media," which makes even the compressed sound of MP3s sound decent. A variable dynamic equalization system adjusts the sound for every 1 km/hour increase in speed, meaning there are more than 300 unique EQ settings for each of the eight processing modes. 








Each of the 15 speakers in Bentley's cars (14 in the Continental GTC) was designed specifically for its location in the vehicle.







      
  


   
<blockquote style="background:#FAFAFA;border:1px dotted #E6E6E6;font:italic 10pt Times New Roman;padding:9px;">Getting Audiophile Sound in the Worst Place for It | Autopia from Wired.com {...} Getting audiophile sound out of your car often means a trip to a stereo shop, where some kid with no musical taste fills your ride with gear that strains your {...}</blockquote><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Indexed:</span> August 18, 2008, 9:33 pm - <span style="color:#808080;">Page Size:</span>&nbsp;64KB</div><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Category:</span> <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/news/">News</a> &gt;  <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/news/breaking-news/"><b>Breaking News</b></a></div></td></tr></table>
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		<category>News > Breaking News</category>
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		<title>{LITERATURE &gt; RSS FEEDS} - B5's Delenn Inspired Harmony</title>
		<link>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/rss-feeds/b5-s-delenn-inspired-harmony-2008083201.htm</link>
		<guid>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/rss-feeds/b5-s-delenn-inspired-harmony-2008083201.htm</guid>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Aug 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
		<description>

SF author C.F. Bentley told SCI FI Wire that her novel Harmony was inspired by the character of Delenn on the television show Babylon 5.
</description>
		<source url="http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=5&amp;id=58371">Scifi.Com</source>
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<tr><td colspan="2" style="font:bold 12pt Arial;vertical-align:top;"><a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/rss-feeds/b5-s-delenn-inspired-harmony-2008083201.htm"><b>B5's Delenn Inspired Harmony</b></a> <sup style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;">{<a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/rss-feeds/b5-s-delenn-inspired-harmony-2008083201.htm" target="_blank">new window</a>}</sup></td></tr>
<tr>
<td style="font:6pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;">&nbsp;</td>
<td width="100%" style="font:9pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;font-variant:small-caps;">Www.Scifi.Com</span> - 

SF author C.F. Bentley told SCI FI Wire that her novel Harmony was inspired by the character of Delenn on the television show Babylon 5.
<div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Published:</span> August 6, 2008, 6:00 am - <span style="color:#808080;">Indexed:</span> August 6, 2008, 10:22 pm - <span style="color:#808080;">Page Size:</span>&nbsp;42KB</div><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Category:</span> <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/arts/">Arts</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/">Literature</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/">Genres</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/">Science Fiction</a> &gt;  <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/rss-feeds/"><b>RSS Feeds</b></a></div></td></tr></table>
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		<category>Arts > Literature > Genres > Science Fiction > RSS Feeds</category>
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		<title>{COMICS &gt; P} - You?ll Have That</title>
		<link>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/comics/comic-strips-and-panels/p/you-ll-have-that-20080733935.htm</link>
		<guid>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/comics/comic-strips-and-panels/p/you-ll-have-that-20080733935.htm</guid>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:18:31 GMT</pubDate>
		<description>I was really excited to hear that my buddy Chris Williams was redesigning a website for Wes Molebash and his comic strip &#8220;You&#8217;ll Have That.&#8221;
It&#8217;s been a while since I hit Wes&#8217; site and when I saw Chris working on it, my first response was &#8220;Wow! Wes&#8217; artwork has really been turned up a notch.&#8221; [...]</description>
		<source url="http://www.pvponline.com/2008/07/21/youll-have-that/">Pvponline.Com</source>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[
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<tr><td colspan="2" style="font:bold 12pt Arial;vertical-align:top;"><a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/comics/comic-strips-and-panels/p/you-ll-have-that-20080733935.htm"><b>You?ll Have That</b></a> <sup style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;">{<a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/comics/comic-strips-and-panels/p/you-ll-have-that-20080733935.htm" target="_blank">new window</a>}</sup></td></tr>
<tr>
<td style="font:6pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;">&nbsp;</td>
<td width="100%" style="font:9pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;font-variant:small-caps;">Www.Pvponline.Com</span> - I was really excited to hear that my buddy Chris Williams was redesigning a website for Wes Molebash and his comic strip &#8220;You&#8217;ll Have That.&#8221;
It&#8217;s been a while since I hit Wes&#8217; site and when I saw Chris working on it, my first response was &#8220;Wow! Wes&#8217; artwork has really been turned up a notch.&#8221; [...]<blockquote style="background:#FAFAFA;border:1px dotted #E6E6E6;font:italic 10pt Times New Roman;padding:9px;">PvPonline  » Archive   » You&#8217;ll Have That {...} </blockquote><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Published:</span> July 21, 2008, 5:18 pm - <span style="color:#808080;">Indexed:</span> July 23, 2008, 12:34 am - <span style="color:#808080;">Page Size:</span>&nbsp;25KB</div><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Category:</span> <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/arts/">Arts</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/arts/comics/">Comics</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/arts/comics/comic-strips-and-panels/">Comic Strips and Panels</a> &gt;  <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/arts/comics/comic-strips-and-panels/p/"><b>P</b></a></div></td></tr></table>
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		<category>Arts > Comics > Comic Strips and Panels > P</category>
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	<item>
		<title>{COMPUTERS &gt; INTERNET} - Senior Google Earth programmer departs</title>
		<link>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/internet/senior-google-earth-programmer-departs-20080736923.htm</link>
		<guid>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/internet/senior-google-earth-programmer-departs-20080736923.htm</guid>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:22:00 GMT</pubDate>
		<description>Wes Thierry, who for six years worked on the Google Earth software package that runs on people's PCs, leaves to join a virtual reality company.</description>
		<source url="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-9993214-93.html?hhTest=1&amp;part=rss&amp;subj=news&amp;tag=2547-1023_3-0-10">News.Cnet.Com</source>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[
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<tr><td colspan="2" style="font:bold 12pt Arial;vertical-align:top;"><a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/internet/senior-google-earth-programmer-departs-20080736923.htm"><b>Senior Google Earth programmer departs</b></a> <sup style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;">{<a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/internet/senior-google-earth-programmer-departs-20080736923.htm" target="_blank">new window</a>}</sup></td></tr>
<tr>
<td style="font:6pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;">&nbsp;</td>
<td width="100%" style="font:9pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;font-variant:small-caps;">News.Cnet.Com</span> - Wes Thierry, who for six years worked on the Google Earth software package that runs on people's PCs, leaves to join a virtual reality company.<blockquote style="background:#FAFAFA;border:1px dotted #E6E6E6;font:italic 10pt Times New Roman;padding:9px;">Senior Google Earth programmer departs | News - Digital Media - CNET News.com {...} Wes Thierry, who for six years worked on the Google Earth software package that runs on people's PCs, leaves to join a virtual reality company. Read this blog post by Stephen Shankland on News - Digital Media. {...}</blockquote><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Published:</span> July 17, 2008, 5:22 pm - <span style="color:#808080;">Indexed:</span> July 17, 2008, 6:44 pm - <span style="color:#808080;">Page Size:</span>&nbsp;55KB</div><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Category:</span> <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/computers/">Computers</a> &gt;  <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/computers/internet/"><b>Internet</b></a></div></td></tr></table>
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		<category>Computers > Internet</category>
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		<title>{ISSUES &gt; BIAS AND BALANCE} - Fox &amp; Friends baselessly claimed Bill Clinton took "a swipe at John McCain," falsely suggested his and Clark's comments part of Obama attack strategy  </title>
		<link>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/fox-friends-baselessly-claimed-bill-clinton-took-20080716816.htm</link>
		<guid>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/fox-friends-baselessly-claimed-bill-clinton-took-20080716816.htm</guid>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:54:16 GMT</pubDate>
		<description>On the July 8 edition of Fox
News' Fox
&amp; Friends, co-hosts Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson, and Andrew
Napolitano repeatedly asserted that former President Bill Clinton recently "attack[ed]" Sen. John
McCain's "selfless heroism at the Hanoi Hilton," in Napolitano's words, and
Napolitano and Carlson also falsely
suggested that Clinton's statement and recent comments by retired Gen. Wesley Clark were part of a
coordinated effort by Sen. Barack Obama's campaign to
"attack" McCain's service. Clinton
made the remarks in question on July 5 at the Aspen Ideas
Festival while discussing what former South African President
Nelson Mandela means to
him. But the Fox &amp; Friends
co-hosts provided no evidence that Clinton's
comments were intended to refer to McCain; nor did they provide the context of those remarks. Moreover, as Media
Matters for America has repeatedly noted, Clark did not attack McCain's Vietnam War record during his June 29
interview on CBS' Face the Nation. Further undermining the suggestion by Napolitano and Carlson that Clark's
remarks were evidence of, in Carlson's words,
"a strategy by the Barack Obama campaign," Clark has been saying
for months that McCain's military service does not
necessarily make him qualified to be president, including while he was speaking
on behalf of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

During two segments
and an interview with
McCain, Carlson read only the portion of Clinton's comments in which he said, "[I]f you know anybody that
was ever a POW for any length of time, you will see that you go along for
months or maybe even years, and then something will happen, it'll trigger
all those bad dreams,
and they'll come back." During Clinton's
Aspen "conversation," moderator Jane Wales said
to Clinton,
"Nelson Mandela turns 90 in a couple of weeks. He is someone with whom
you've been extremely close over the years. I wanted you to say a word about what he has meant,
not only to South Africa, to
Africa, to the world, but also to say
something about what he's
meant to you personally." During his five minute and 30 second response -- in which McCain was never mentioned -- Clinton asserted that Mandela "show[ed] us all how to live,
that's the thing he meant the most to me about." He compared
Mandela's experience -- as a prisoner for 27
years after leading a resistance movement against the South African apartheid
government -- to that of a POW, and
after making the statement Carlson read, said of Mandela:
"That's the thing that makes his life so monumental. It's not like all that stuff went away,
but he disciplined himself, and his mind and his heart and his spirit, to
always work to constantly overcome it every day."

From Clinton's
July 5 remarks
at the Aspen Ideas Festival [portion Carlson read bolded]: 

WALES: Nelson Mandela
turns 90 in a couple of weeks. He is someone with whom you've been
extremely close over the years. I wanted
you to say a word about what he has meant, not only to South Africa, to Africa,
to the world, but also to say something about what he's meant to you personally.

CLINTON: Well, I think the importance of his life for
all of us is that first of all, he proved that -- he really did give up his freedom, almost
a full third of his life, so that everybody could be free, including his
oppressors. He paid as high a price as you can pay without getting killed for
it to prove that freedom has to be a universal commodity. And then he governed
in a way that was consistent with what he said.

Everybody knows, for example, that
he invited his jailers to his inauguration. Not as many people know that he put
the leaders of all the groups that oppressed him into his cabinet. And keep in
mind, he was elected
with two-thirds of the
vote, so he did not have to do that. There is no constitutional system in the
world that would have required him to do it. He did it because he knew that the
country could not govern without the skills and knowledge and the psychological
balance that would be provided by doing that. So he did that. That's the
first thing he did.

The second thing he did, which is
very important in the [Robert] Mugabe
case, is to show us that you don't have to be in office to do public
service. You can do much public good
as a private citizen. And your ability to do it is
enhanced if you leave office as required by the laws of your country with good
grace, and then you use the stature you acquired from having held the job to
try to continue to be of public service. And he did it in his later years, when
no one would have blamed him if he had retreated to that amazing game preserve
he has up -- that a
friend of his built him a house in in
northern South Africa.

And the third thing he did was to
show us all how to live, that's the thing he meant the most to me about.
I mean, he just -- you know,
he really did realize that -- if you read his memoirs -- I wrote about this in my book, but he said -- I ask him -- I told him that the day
he was released for the last time, and you may all remember they -- it was beautifully staged for
television, they way it
was on an early Sunday morning in the United States. And
he walked -- he took last -- one long last walk
down a dusty road, went through a gate, and then got in the car and rode away.

I said to him, "Now, tell me the truth." I said, "I know you're a
great man, but you're also a great politician. And you did the right
thing getting all those people in your government, but when you were taking those last steps,
didn't you really relive
those 27 years, and
didn't you hate them again?" He said, "Sure, I did." It's great, you know, you reach a
certain age and you're not running for anything, you can pretty well say
what you want.

And he said, "Sure, I did. For
a moment, I did." He said, "I felt anger and hatred and fear. And I
realized that if I kept hating them once I got in that car and got through the
gate, I would still be in prison. So,
I let it go, 'cause I wanted to be free." There is a --

[applause]

Every living soul on the planet has
some often highly justified
anger. Everybody. And just learning that you have to practice -- and by the way, I said this at his
birthday. I'm
probably one of the few people who's actually seen him mad on more than
one occasion. You know, it's just like, if
you know anybody that was ever a POW for any length of time, you will see that
you go along for months or maybe even years, and then something will happen,
it'll trigger all those bad dreams, and they'll come back, and
it may not last 30
seconds. That's the thing that makes his life so monumental. It's not like all that stuff went away,
but he disciplined himself, and his mind and his heart and his spirit, to
always work to constantly overcome it every day.

And I think, in some ways, when you
look at how we're gonna -- what
will happen in the aftermath of Mugabe's going? There will be an enormous -- let's suppose the
best of all worlds
happened, and he woke up tomorrow and he
says,
"I've had a terrible attack
of conscience.
I'm tired of this general running me. I don't care how old I am. I have some good sense left. I'm out of here. Goodbye. I love my country. I wish you well." Think of all the
people on the other side who would be tempted to go kill other people. I mean,
this is a universal lesson that all of us have to keep struggling with in our
lives.

So I think he proved freedom has to
be a universal commodity, he served with enormous distinction out of office as
well as in, and he taught us a lot about
how all of us should be trying to live. And that's -- those three things are why I think he's -- he,
along with [former Israeli prime
minister] Yitzhak
Rabin, are the two most remarkable people I ever knew. 

During her
interview with McCain, Carlson
again quoted Clinton as saying only,
"It's like you know anyone
who's ever been a
POW for any length of time, you will see that they go along for months or even years, and then something will
happen that will
trigger all those bad dreams," and did not note that his statement came during a discussion of
Mandela. Carlson later asked McCain:
"[D]oes
it appear that this is a strategy by the Barack Obama campaign? Last week, it was Wesley Clark, and
there were others before that as well.
This week, it's Bill Clinton. They seem to be attacking
your strongest point."

During the first Fox &amp; Friends segment, Doocy
asserted that Clinton
"was trying to make a compliment about Nelson Mandela. He was talking
about Nelson Mandela, and suddenly -- kind of in the middle, in an awkward spot, it does appear that he
was taking a swipe at John McCain." Carlson said that "I don't know
if he's an expert
on that necessarily, because he was not a POW, and I'm not sure if he has any
close friends who were." Later,
Napolitano asked,
"Is this the beginning or is this the continuation? It started a week ago
with Wes Clark, of the Democrats, going at John McCain's strongest and most
heroic moments and saying, 'Big deal.' " In response, Carlson asserted that "they're saying
it's dangerous, that that anger -- because keep in mind that also the rumors about John
McCain is that this deep-seated anger can percolate from time to time -- and then it comes to the surface."

Doocy went on to say of Clinton, "I'll tell you one thing that he's done is he's smeared a whole generation of heroes
-- people who spent time --
he's not just
talking -- he didn't say John McCain per se, he said POWs. There were a lot of
guys who were locked up over there." He added: "And you know, the
thing about it is, what he's
saying is, 'Be careful with these guys, because you never know when they're going to
snap.' That's exactly what he said."

During the second Fox &amp; Friends
segment, Doocy asserted of Clinton, "[I]n the midst of a speech out in Aspen, he was talking about Nelson
Mandela -- who was of course imprisoned for
many, many years, and
out of nowhere, he said
this quote -- and see if you think this looks like a swipe against John
McCain." Napolitano asserted that Clinton
was "obviously talking about John McCain, and he's suggesting, 'Hey, before you vote
for John McCain, consider this is why he has a temper.' This is Doctor Clinton's analysis -- I'm
kidding of course, calling him Doctor Clinton -- of John McCain's psyche. That anger builds up within people who are ex-POWs and it can come out at a time that they
least expect it." Napolitano continued: "This is yet
again an attack by a major Democrat on the perceived strongest part of John
McCain's background,
his utter selfless heroism at the Hanoi Hilton." Carlson responded,
"And the amazing thing
is that John
McCain rarely speaks about it." In fact, as Media Matters for America has documented, McCain
has repeatedly highlighted his experience as a POW, even as he and the media
have promoted the notion that he is
reluctant to do so. Indeed, on the morning of July 8, the McCain campaign released a new
television ad, "Love," in which a narrator says: "John McCain: Shot down.
Bayoneted. Tortured. Offered early release, he said, 'No.'
He'd sworn an oath." The ad features footage from McCain's
time as a POW.

From the July 8 edition of Fox News' Fox &
Friends:

CARLSON: All right, we want to talk to you about Bill
Clinton, because he's
back in political action. 

NAPOLITANO: He sure is.

CARLSON: I kind of missed Bubba for
a while.

NAPOLITANO: Right.

CARLSON: He was over
in Europe, you know, when Hillary, his wife, and Barack Obama had that
whole unity thing, and we didn't see very much of him. And now he was out in Aspen, Colorado,
giving a speech there. Now,
we don't know exactly what predicated these comments, but he had some severe comments
about POWs. 

DOOCY: Well, we know he was talking -- he was trying to
make a compliment about Nelson Mandela.

CARLSON: Oh, OK.

DOOCY: He was
talking about Nelson Mandela, and suddenly -- kind of in the middle, in an awkward spot, it does
appear that he was taking a swipe at John McCain. And keep in mind, he has
said, "Look, I'm not running for anything. So I can say pretty much
anything I want to." And he said something that, today, people are saying
he really should not have said that.

NAPOLITANO: Well, Nelson Mandela was
locked up for 20 years. John McCain was locked up for five years. And Bill Clinton says,
"You know what happens to these
people when they're locked up like that, when they're prisoners?
Suddenly, years later, the anger comes out of
them. And you've got to watch for
that." So, who
was he talking about?

DOOCY: Yeah. Exactly
right.

CARLSON: Well, I don't know if he's an expert on that
necessarily, because he was not a POW, and I'm not sure if he has any close
friends who were. 

However, this is the direct quote. Clinton said: "If you know anybody
who was a POW for any length of time, you will see, you go along for months or maybe even years,
and then something will happen and it will trigger all those bad dreams and it
will come back."

NAPOLITANO: Is this the beginning or
is this the continuation? It started a week ago with Wes Clark, of the
Democrats, going at John McCain's strongest and most heroic moments and saying,
"Big deal."

DOOCY: Yeah.

NAPOLITANO: Is that what
they're up to here? 

CARLSON: Well, they're saying more than big deal here,
Judge. 

NAPOLITANO: They're saying it's dangerous.

CARLSON: They're -- they're saying it's
dangerous, that that anger -- because keep in mind that also the rumors about
John McCain is that this deep-seated anger can percolate from time to time --

DOOCY: Hmm-mm.

NAPOLITANO: Right.

CARLSON: -- and then it comes to the surface. The
interesting thing is, a lot of Republicans are waiting for some of that anger
to come to the surface to
actually see --

NAPOLITANO: Sure.

CARLSON: -- that he's in this for a fight. 

DOOCY: So, he has very -- was it an accident? Was it
intentional? Did he intentionally plant the little seed right out there? I'll tell you one thing that he's done is he's smeared a whole generation of heroes
-- people who spent time --
he's not just
talking -- he didn't say John McCain per se, he said POWs. There were a lot of
guys who were locked up over there. 

NAPOLITANO: Oh, absolutely. 

DOOCY: And you know, the thing about
it is, what he's
saying is, "Be careful with these guys, because you never know when they're going to
snap."

CARLSON: Yeah. As opposed
--

DOOCY: That's exactly what he said. 

CARLSON: As opposed to people who have never served in the
military. 

NAPOLITANO: Like him. 

CARLSON: You know -- right. And I think it's very
interesting to be an expert
about something that you were never a part of. 

NAPOLITANO: It's an odd thing
for them to say, unless,
each week, they're going to come out
with something attacking John McCain's military career and sufferings for the
country and, this week, it's Bill. 

CARLSON: We will have to stay tuned,
Judge.

[...]

DOOCY: Did you just mention Bill
Clinton? 

NAPOLITANO: Yes, I did mention Bill Clinton, because I knew
what you wanted to talk about, Steve. 

DOOCY: Well, he's back at it again. He was out in Colorado,
and in the midst of a speech out in
Aspen, he was
talking about Nelson Mandela --

NAPOLITANO: Right.

DOOCY: -- who was of course imprisoned for
many, many years, and
out of nowhere, he said
this quote -- and see if you think this looks like a swipe against John
McCain. 

CARLSON: Well, Steve, he says, "It's like if
you know someone who's ever a POW for any
length of time" -- there
it is -- "you
will see you go along for months or maybe even years, and then something will happen and it will
trigger all those bad dreams and it will all come back." So, who is he talking about? 

NAPOLITANO: Well, he's obviously talking about John
McCain, and he's suggesting,
"Hey, before you vote for John McCain, consider this is why
he has a temper."
This is Doctor
Clinton's analysis -- I'm kidding of course, calling him Doctor
Clinton -- of John McCain's psyche. That anger builds up within people who are ex-POWs and it can come out at a time that they least expect it.

CARLSON: Well, a couple
of points.

NAPOLITANO: This is yet
again an attack by a major Democrat on the perceived strongest part of John
McCain's background,
his utter selfless heroism at the Hanoi Hilton. 

DOOCY: Hmm-mm.

CARLSON: And the amazing thing is that John McCain rarely speaks
about it.

NAPOLITANO: Right.

CARLSON: It's not
like he's out there bragging about his five-year stay at the Hilton there. In fact, I think a lot of
Republicans would like him to talk about it a little bit more. A lot of Republicans would probably like him to get a
little bit more anger -- angry and show a
little bit more of that
temper because they seem to be --
some -- frustrated that
he's not willing to take on Barack Obama as some would like him to do. 

DOOCY: Well, we asked you an hour ago whether or not you thought this was
an intentional swipe or whether it
was accidental. You
know, did he just want to plant the seed so people would start
talking about it?

Overwhelmingly, the emails say it was no accident. This is typical. One guy writes, "I believe that Bill
Clinton said was intentional and completely un-American. No one who served in
any military service should be criticized or attacked. I think because John
McCain was a POW proves that he would be a great president for the U.S. of
A."

[...]

CARLSON: I am going to get to that
question in a moment, but I do want to get to what appears to be one of the
headlines of the day, with regard to something that President Bill Clinton said while he was in Aspen. Here's what
he said, Senator. He said: "It's
like you know anyone
who's ever been a
POW for any length of time, you will see that they go along for months or even years, and then something will
happen that will
trigger all those bad dreams." Your response to that?

McCAIN: [laughs] I don't know where he gets his expertise. Look, that's -- I don't know how to
respond to that, except to say that some of the greatest moments of my life was, I had the great honor of
serving in the company of heroes and observing a thousand acts of courage and
compassion and love, and those that I know best and love most are those I had
the honor of being led by and served with, who inspired me to do things I never
would have been capable of.

CARLSON: But Senator, does it appear that
this is a strategy by the Barack Obama campaign? Last week, it was Wesley Clark, and there were others
before that as well. This week, it's Bill Clinton. They seem to be attacking your strongest
point.

McCAIN: Well, you know, they can -- whatever they want to do is fine. I think
what Americans care about today is keeping their jobs, better life, educating
their kids, staying in their homes. Americans are hurting right now. We're talking about the economy this
week, and we're going to create jobs. We're
going to keep taxes low, and -- difference
is Senator Obama wants to raise taxes, I want to keep them low. That's
really what the American people are worried about, and that's what
we're talking about at the town hall meetings across the country.</description>
		<source url="http://mediamatters.org/items/200807080006">Mediamatters.Org</source>
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<tr><td colspan="2" style="font:bold 12pt Arial;vertical-align:top;"><a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/fox-friends-baselessly-claimed-bill-clinton-took-20080716816.htm"><b>Fox & Friends baselessly claimed Bill Clinton took "a swipe at John McCain," falsely suggested his and Clark's comments part of Obama attack strategy  </b></a> <sup style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;">{<a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/fox-friends-baselessly-claimed-bill-clinton-took-20080716816.htm" target="_blank">new window</a>}</sup></td></tr>
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<td style="font:6pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;">&nbsp;</td>
<td width="100%" style="font:9pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;font-variant:small-caps;">Mediamatters.Org</span> - On the July 8 edition of Fox
News' Fox
& Friends, co-hosts Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson, and Andrew
Napolitano repeatedly asserted that former President Bill Clinton recently "attack[ed]" Sen. John
McCain's "selfless heroism at the Hanoi Hilton," in Napolitano's words, and
Napolitano and Carlson also falsely
suggested that Clinton's statement and recent comments by retired Gen. Wesley Clark were part of a
coordinated effort by Sen. Barack Obama's campaign to
"attack" McCain's service. Clinton
made the remarks in question on July 5 at the Aspen Ideas
Festival while discussing what former South African President
Nelson Mandela means to
him. But the Fox & Friends
co-hosts provided no evidence that Clinton's
comments were intended to refer to McCain; nor did they provide the context of those remarks. Moreover, as Media
Matters for America has repeatedly noted, Clark did not attack McCain's Vietnam War record during his June 29
interview on CBS' Face the Nation. Further undermining the suggestion by Napolitano and Carlson that Clark's
remarks were evidence of, in Carlson's words,
"a strategy by the Barack Obama campaign," Clark has been saying
for months that McCain's military service does not
necessarily make him qualified to be president, including while he was speaking
on behalf of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

During two segments
and an interview with
McCain, Carlson read only the portion of Clinton's comments in which he said, "[I]f you know anybody that
was ever a POW for any length of time, you will see that you go along for
months or maybe even years, and then something will happen, it'll trigger
all those bad dreams,
and they'll come back." During Clinton's
Aspen "conversation," moderator Jane Wales said
to Clinton,
"Nelson Mandela turns 90 in a couple of weeks. He is someone with whom
you've been extremely close over the years. I wanted you to say a word about what he has meant,
not only to South Africa, to
Africa, to the world, but also to say
something about what he's
meant to you personally." During his five minute and 30 second response -- in which McCain was never mentioned -- Clinton asserted that Mandela "show[ed] us all how to live,
that's the thing he meant the most to me about." He compared
Mandela's experience -- as a prisoner for 27
years after leading a resistance movement against the South African apartheid
government -- to that of a POW, and
after making the statement Carlson read, said of Mandela:
"That's the thing that makes his life so monumental. It's not like all that stuff went away,
but he disciplined himself, and his mind and his heart and his spirit, to
always work to constantly overcome it every day."

From Clinton's
July 5 remarks
at the Aspen Ideas Festival [portion Carlson read bolded]: 

WALES: Nelson Mandela
turns 90 in a couple of weeks. He is someone with whom you've been
extremely close over the years. I wanted
you to say a word about what he has meant, not only to South Africa, to Africa,
to the world, but also to say something about what he's meant to you personally.

CLINTON: Well, I think the importance of his life for
all of us is that first of all, he proved that -- he really did give up his freedom, almost
a full third of his life, so that everybody could be free, including his
oppressors. He paid as high a price as you can pay without getting killed for
it to prove that freedom has to be a universal commodity. And then he governed
in a way that was consistent with what he said.

Everybody knows, for example, that
he invited his jailers to his inauguration. Not as many people know that he put
the leaders of all the groups that oppressed him into his cabinet. And keep in
mind, he was elected
with two-thirds of the
vote, so he did not have to do that. There is no constitutional system in the
world that would have required him to do it. He did it because he knew that the
country could not govern without the skills and knowledge and the psychological
balance that would be provided by doing that. So he did that. That's the
first thing he did.

The second thing he did, which is
very important in the [Robert] Mugabe
case, is to show us that you don't have to be in office to do public
service. You can do much public good
as a private citizen. And your ability to do it is
enhanced if you leave office as required by the laws of your country with good
grace, and then you use the stature you acquired from having held the job to
try to continue to be of public service. And he did it in his later years, when
no one would have blamed him if he had retreated to that amazing game preserve
he has up -- that a
friend of his built him a house in in
northern South Africa.

And the third thing he did was to
show us all how to live, that's the thing he meant the most to me about.
I mean, he just -- you know,
he really did realize that -- if you read his memoirs -- I wrote about this in my book, but he said -- I ask him -- I told him that the day
he was released for the last time, and you may all remember they -- it was beautifully staged for
television, they way it
was on an early Sunday morning in the United States. And
he walked -- he took last -- one long last walk
down a dusty road, went through a gate, and then got in the car and rode away.

I said to him, "Now, tell me the truth." I said, "I know you're a
great man, but you're also a great politician. And you did the right
thing getting all those people in your government, but when you were taking those last steps,
didn't you really relive
those 27 years, and
didn't you hate them again?" He said, "Sure, I did." It's great, you know, you reach a
certain age and you're not running for anything, you can pretty well say
what you want.

And he said, "Sure, I did. For
a moment, I did." He said, "I felt anger and hatred and fear. And I
realized that if I kept hating them once I got in that car and got through the
gate, I would still be in prison. So,
I let it go, 'cause I wanted to be free." There is a --

[applause]

Every living soul on the planet has
some often highly justified
anger. Everybody. And just learning that you have to practice -- and by the way, I said this at his
birthday. I'm
probably one of the few people who's actually seen him mad on more than
one occasion. You know, it's just like, if
you know anybody that was ever a POW for any length of time, you will see that
you go along for months or maybe even years, and then something will happen,
it'll trigger all those bad dreams, and they'll come back, and
it may not last 30
seconds. That's the thing that makes his life so monumental. It's not like all that stuff went away,
but he disciplined himself, and his mind and his heart and his spirit, to
always work to constantly overcome it every day.

And I think, in some ways, when you
look at how we're gonna -- what
will happen in the aftermath of Mugabe's going? There will be an enormous -- let's suppose the
best of all worlds
happened, and he woke up tomorrow and he
says,
"I've had a terrible attack
of conscience.
I'm tired of this general running me. I don't care how old I am. I have some good sense left. I'm out of here. Goodbye. I love my country. I wish you well." Think of all the
people on the other side who would be tempted to go kill other people. I mean,
this is a universal lesson that all of us have to keep struggling with in our
lives.

So I think he proved freedom has to
be a universal commodity, he served with enormous distinction out of office as
well as in, and he taught us a lot about
how all of us should be trying to live. And that's -- those three things are why I think he's -- he,
along with [former Israeli prime
minister] Yitzhak
Rabin, are the two most remarkable people I ever knew. 

During her
interview with McCain, Carlson
again quoted Clinton as saying only,
"It's like you know anyone
who's ever been a
POW for any length of time, you will see that they go along for months or even years, and then something will
happen that will
trigger all those bad dreams," and did not note that his statement came during a discussion of
Mandela. Carlson later asked McCain:
"[D]oes
it appear that this is a strategy by the Barack Obama campaign? Last week, it was Wesley Clark, and
there were others before that as well.
This week, it's Bill Clinton. They seem to be attacking
your strongest point."

During the first Fox & Friends segment, Doocy
asserted that Clinton
"was trying to make a compliment about Nelson Mandela. He was talking
about Nelson Mandela, and suddenly -- kind of in the middle, in an awkward spot, it does appear that he
was taking a swipe at John McCain." Carlson said that "I don't know
if he's an expert
on that necessarily, because he was not a POW, and I'm not sure if he has any
close friends who were." Later,
Napolitano asked,
"Is this the beginning or is this the continuation? It started a week ago
with Wes Clark, of the Democrats, going at John McCain's strongest and most
heroic moments and saying, 'Big deal.' " In response, Carlson asserted that "they're saying
it's dangerous, that that anger -- because keep in mind that also the rumors about John
McCain is that this deep-seated anger can percolate from time to time -- and then it comes to the surface."

Doocy went on to say of Clinton, "I'll tell you one thing that he's done is he's smeared a whole generation of heroes
-- people who spent time --
he's not just
talking -- he didn't say John McCain per se, he said POWs. There were a lot of
guys who were locked up over there." He added: "And you know, the
thing about it is, what he's
saying is, 'Be careful with these guys, because you never know when they're going to
snap.' That's exactly what he said."

During the second Fox & Friends
segment, Doocy asserted of Clinton, "[I]n the midst of a speech out in Aspen, he was talking about Nelson
Mandela -- who was of course imprisoned for
many, many years, and
out of nowhere, he said
this quote -- and see if you think this looks like a swipe against John
McCain." Napolitano asserted that Clinton
was "obviously talking about John McCain, and he's suggesting, 'Hey, before you vote
for John McCain, consider this is why he has a temper.' This is Doctor Clinton's analysis -- I'm
kidding of course, calling him Doctor Clinton -- of John McCain's psyche. That anger builds up within people who are ex-POWs and it can come out at a time that they
least expect it." Napolitano continued: "This is yet
again an attack by a major Democrat on the perceived strongest part of John
McCain's background,
his utter selfless heroism at the Hanoi Hilton." Carlson responded,
"And the amazing thing
is that John
McCain rarely speaks about it." In fact, as Media Matters for America has documented, McCain
has repeatedly highlighted his experience as a POW, even as he and the media
have promoted the notion that he is
reluctant to do so. Indeed, on the morning of July 8, the McCain campaign released a new
television ad, "Love," in which a narrator says: "John McCain: Shot down.
Bayoneted. Tortured. Offered early release, he said, 'No.'
He'd sworn an oath." The ad features footage from McCain's
time as a POW.

From the July 8 edition of Fox News' Fox &
Friends:

CARLSON: All right, we want to talk to you about Bill
Clinton, because he's
back in political action. 

NAPOLITANO: He sure is.

CARLSON: I kind of missed Bubba for
a while.

NAPOLITANO: Right.

CARLSON: He was over
in Europe, you know, when Hillary, his wife, and Barack Obama had that
whole unity thing, and we didn't see very much of him. And now he was out in Aspen, Colorado,
giving a speech there. Now,
we don't know exactly what predicated these comments, but he had some severe comments
about POWs. 

DOOCY: Well, we know he was talking -- he was trying to
make a compliment about Nelson Mandela.

CARLSON: Oh, OK.

DOOCY: He was
talking about Nelson Mandela, and suddenly -- kind of in the middle, in an awkward spot, it does
appear that he was taking a swipe at John McCain. And keep in mind, he has
said, "Look, I'm not running for anything. So I can say pretty much
anything I want to." And he said something that, today, people are saying
he really should not have said that.

NAPOLITANO: Well, Nelson Mandela was
locked up for 20 years. John McCain was locked up for five years. And Bill Clinton says,
"You know what happens to these
people when they're locked up like that, when they're prisoners?
Suddenly, years later, the anger comes out of
them. And you've got to watch for
that." So, who
was he talking about?

DOOCY: Yeah. Exactly
right.

CARLSON: Well, I don't know if he's an expert on that
necessarily, because he was not a POW, and I'm not sure if he has any close
friends who were. 

However, this is the direct quote. Clinton said: "If you know anybody
who was a POW for any length of time, you will see, you go along for months or maybe even years,
and then something will happen and it will trigger all those bad dreams and it
will come back."

NAPOLITANO: Is this the beginning or
is this the continuation? It started a week ago with Wes Clark, of the
Democrats, going at John McCain's strongest and most heroic moments and saying,
"Big deal."

DOOCY: Yeah.

NAPOLITANO: Is that what
they're up to here? 

CARLSON: Well, they're saying more than big deal here,
Judge. 

NAPOLITANO: They're saying it's dangerous.

CARLSON: They're -- they're saying it's
dangerous, that that anger -- because keep in mind that also the rumors about
John McCain is that this deep-seated anger can percolate from time to time --

DOOCY: Hmm-mm.

NAPOLITANO: Right.

CARLSON: -- and then it comes to the surface. The
interesting thing is, a lot of Republicans are waiting for some of that anger
to come to the surface to
actually see --

NAPOLITANO: Sure.

CARLSON: -- that he's in this for a fight. 

DOOCY: So, he has very -- was it an accident? Was it
intentional? Did he intentionally plant the little seed right out there? I'll tell you one thing that he's done is he's smeared a whole generation of heroes
-- people who spent time --
he's not just
talking -- he didn't say John McCain per se, he said POWs. There were a lot of
guys who were locked up over there. 

NAPOLITANO: Oh, absolutely. 

DOOCY: And you know, the thing about
it is, what he's
saying is, "Be careful with these guys, because you never know when they're going to
snap."

CARLSON: Yeah. As opposed
--

DOOCY: That's exactly what he said. 

CARLSON: As opposed to people who have never served in the
military. 

NAPOLITANO: Like him. 

CARLSON: You know -- right. And I think it's very
interesting to be an expert
about something that you were never a part of. 

NAPOLITANO: It's an odd thing
for them to say, unless,
each week, they're going to come out
with something attacking John McCain's military career and sufferings for the
country and, this week, it's Bill. 

CARLSON: We will have to stay tuned,
Judge.

[...]

DOOCY: Did you just mention Bill
Clinton? 

NAPOLITANO: Yes, I did mention Bill Clinton, because I knew
what you wanted to talk about, Steve. 

DOOCY: Well, he's back at it again. He was out in Colorado,
and in the midst of a speech out in
Aspen, he was
talking about Nelson Mandela --

NAPOLITANO: Right.

DOOCY: -- who was of course imprisoned for
many, many years, and
out of nowhere, he said
this quote -- and see if you think this looks like a swipe against John
McCain. 

CARLSON: Well, Steve, he says, "It's like if
you know someone who's ever a POW for any
length of time" -- there
it is -- "you
will see you go along for months or maybe even years, and then something will happen and it will
trigger all those bad dreams and it will all come back." So, who is he talking about? 

NAPOLITANO: Well, he's obviously talking about John
McCain, and he's suggesting,
"Hey, before you vote for John McCain, consider this is why
he has a temper."
This is Doctor
Clinton's analysis -- I'm kidding of course, calling him Doctor
Clinton -- of John McCain's psyche. That anger builds up within people who are ex-POWs and it can come out at a time that they least expect it.

CARLSON: Well, a couple
of points.

NAPOLITANO: This is yet
again an attack by a major Democrat on the perceived strongest part of John
McCain's background,
his utter selfless heroism at the Hanoi Hilton. 

DOOCY: Hmm-mm.

CARLSON: And the amazing thing is that John McCain rarely speaks
about it.

NAPOLITANO: Right.

CARLSON: It's not
like he's out there bragging about his five-year stay at the Hilton there. In fact, I think a lot of
Republicans would like him to talk about it a little bit more. A lot of Republicans would probably like him to get a
little bit more anger -- angry and show a
little bit more of that
temper because they seem to be --
some -- frustrated that
he's not willing to take on Barack Obama as some would like him to do. 

DOOCY: Well, we asked you an hour ago whether or not you thought this was
an intentional swipe or whether it
was accidental. You
know, did he just want to plant the seed so people would start
talking about it?

Overwhelmingly, the emails say it was no accident. This is typical. One guy writes, "I believe that Bill
Clinton said was intentional and completely un-American. No one who served in
any military service should be criticized or attacked. I think because John
McCain was a POW proves that he would be a great president for the U.S. of
A."

[...]

CARLSON: I am going to get to that
question in a moment, but I do want to get to what appears to be one of the
headlines of the day, with regard to something that President Bill Clinton said while he was in Aspen. Here's what
he said, Senator. He said: "It's
like you know anyone
who's ever been a
POW for any length of time, you will see that they go along for months or even years, and then something will
happen that will
trigger all those bad dreams." Your response to that?

McCAIN: [laughs] I don't know where he gets his expertise. Look, that's -- I don't know how to
respond to that, except to say that some of the greatest moments of my life was, I had the great honor of
serving in the company of heroes and observing a thousand acts of courage and
compassion and love, and those that I know best and love most are those I had
the honor of being led by and served with, who inspired me to do things I never
would have been capable of.

CARLSON: But Senator, does it appear that
this is a strategy by the Barack Obama campaign? Last week, it was Wesley Clark, and there were others
before that as well. This week, it's Bill Clinton. They seem to be attacking your strongest
point.

McCAIN: Well, you know, they can -- whatever they want to do is fine. I think
what Americans care about today is keeping their jobs, better life, educating
their kids, staying in their homes. Americans are hurting right now. We're talking about the economy this
week, and we're going to create jobs. We're
going to keep taxes low, and -- difference
is Senator Obama wants to raise taxes, I want to keep them low. That's
really what the American people are worried about, and that's what
we're talking about at the town hall meetings across the country.<blockquote style="background:#FAFAFA;border:1px dotted #E6E6E6;font:italic 10pt Times New Roman;padding:9px;">Media Matters - Fox & Friends baselessly claimed Bill Clinton took "a swipe at John McCain," falsely suggested his and Clark&#39;s comments part of Obama attack strategy   {...} Three Fox & Friends co-hosts repeatedly asserted that former President Bill Clinton recently "attack[ed]" Sen. John McCain&#39;s "selfless heroism at the Hanoi Hilton," in Andrew Napolitano&#39;s words, and two of the hosts -- Napolitano and Gretchen Carlson -- falsely suggested that Clinton&#39;s statement and recent comments by retired Gen. Wesley Clark were part of a coordinated effort by Sen. Barack Obama&#39;s campaign to "attack" McCain&#39;s service. But the Fox & Friends co-hosts provided no evidence that Clinton&#39;s comments were intended to refer to McCain; nor did they provide the context of those remarks.   {...}</blockquote><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Published:</span> July 8, 2008, 11:54 pm - <span style="color:#808080;">Indexed:</span> July 10, 2008, 10:31 am - <span style="color:#808080;">Page Size:</span>&nbsp;39KB</div><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Category:</span> <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/">Society</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/">Issues</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/">Business</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/">Media</a> &gt;  <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/"><b>Bias and Balance</b></a></div></td></tr></table>
<br/>
]]></content:encoded>
		<category>Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance</category>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>{ISSUES &gt; BIAS AND BALANCE} - On CNN, Kurtz again falsely claimed Clark "strafed" McCain  </title>
		<link>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/on-cnn-kurtz-again-falsely-claimed-clark-strafed-2008071247.htm</link>
		<guid>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/on-cnn-kurtz-again-falsely-claimed-clark-strafed-2008071247.htm</guid>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:50:42 GMT</pubDate>
		<description>On the July 6 edition of
CNN's Reliable Sources,
host Howard Kurtz repeated the false
claim that Sen. John McCain got "strafed by [retired Gen.] Wes Clark over his Vietnam
service" during Clark's June 29 appearance on CBS' Face the Nation. Kurtz previously wrote in a July 1 washingtonpost.com column that Clark
"used" his Face the Nation appearance
"to strafe John McCain over his Vietnam War record."
Kurtz opened Reliable Sources by
saying: "Waging war:
McCain gets strafed by Wes Clark over his Vietnam service." He later said: "I
would have bet a sizable sum of money that of all the possible attacks against
John McCain, the Democrats would not have gone after his Vietnam War record,
which, of course, includes his capture and torture in Hanoi. Well, I was wrong." He later said, "The latest round began this
week when retired General Wes Clark appeared on Face the Nation and opened rhetorical fire on McCain's war
record." But Clark
did not "strafe[]" McCain, nor did he
"go[] after his
Vietnam War record." And while airing part of Clark's comments,
Kurtz did not air Clark's praise of McCain as a "hero to
me and to hundreds of thousands of millions of others in the Armed Forces as a
prisoner of war."

After stating that Clark "opened rhetorical fire on
McCain's war record," Kurtz aired an edited clip of Clark's comments on Face the Nation and claimed that the remarks were "all
it took for the pundits to make yet another presidential campaign about a war
that ended more than three decades ago." But in the video clip he aired of
Clark's remarks, Kurtz omitted the portion of the exchange in which Clark described McCain as a "hero." On Face the Nation, Clark stated: 

BOB SCHIEFFER (host): Well, you -- you
went so far as to say that you thought John McCain was, quote -- and these are
your words -- "untested and untried." And I must say, I had to read
that twice, because you're talking about somebody who was a prisoner of war. He
was a squadron commander of the largest squadron in the Navy. He's been on the
Senate Armed Services Committee for lo these many years -- how can you say that
John McCain is untested and untried, General?

CLARK: Because in
the matters of national security policy-making, it's a matter of understanding
risk. It's a matter of gauging your opponents, and it's a matter of being held
accountable. John McCain's never done any of that in his official positions. I
certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to
hundreds of thousands of millions of others in the Armed Forces as a prisoner of
war. He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he has
traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That
large squadron in the Air -- in the Navy that he commanded, it wasn't a wartime
squadron. He hasn't been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn't seen
what it's like when diplomats come in and say, "I don't know whether we're
going to be able to get this point through or not. Do you want to take the
risk? What about your reputation? How do we handle it" --

SCHIEFFER: Well --

CLARK: --
"publicly?" He hasn't made those calls, Bob. 

SCHIEFFER: Well -- well, General,
maybe he --

CLARK: So --

SCHIEFFER: Could I just interrupt
you? If --

CLARK: Sure.

SCHIEFFER: I have to say, Barack
Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a
fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean --

CLARK: Well, I
don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification
to be president.

SCHIEFFER: Really?

CLARK: But Barack
is not -- he is not running on the fact that he has made these national
security pronouncements. He's running on his other strengths. He's running on
the strengths of character, on the strengths of his communication skills, on
the strengths of his judgment -- and those are qualities that we seek in our
national leadership. 

On Reliable
Sources, Kurtz aired only portions of the exchange that followed Clark's comments that McCain was a "hero." From Reliable
Sources:


KURTZ: The latest round began this
week when retired General Wes Clark appeared on Face the Nation and opened rhetorical fire on McCain's war
record.

[begin video clip]


CLARK: He hasn't
been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn't seen what it's like when
diplomats come in and say, "I
don't know if whether we're going to be able to get this point through or not."

[video
break]

SCHIEFFER: I have to say, Barack
Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a fighter
plane and gotten shot down. I mean --

CLARK: Well, I
don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification
to be president.

SCHIEFFER: Really? 

[end video clip]

KURTZ: That was all it took for the
pundits to make yet another presidential campaign about a war that ended more
than three decades ago.


As Media Matters for America noted, in a July 1 washingtonpost.com column, Kurtz
asserted that "Clark used an appearance
on 'Face the Nation' Sunday to strafe John McCain over his Vietnam War
record." Kurtz later stated: "No one's saying that being a POW
entitles you to the Oval Office or places you above criticism. But Barack Obama
frequently prefaces his criticism of McCain with a nod to his honorable
service. Which raises the question: What was Wes thinking?"

Also, on the July 5 edition of
NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, while reporting on an
exchange between spokesmen for opposing Iraq war veterans groups, guest host Linda Wertheimer
said that the two were "arguing about whether
former General Wesley Clark went too far in attacking John McCain's
military record." As
Media Matters has repeatedly noted, Clark
did not "attack[] John McCain's military record." 

From the July 6 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources: 

KURTZ: Waging war: McCain gets strafed by Wes Clark over his Vietnam
service. Obama still battling rumors about his patriotism and his religion.

[...]

KURTZ: I would have bet a sizable
sum of money that of all the possible attacks against John McCain, the
Democrats would not have gone after his Vietnam War record, which, of course,
includes his capture and torture in Hanoi.
Well, I was wrong. And
I was reasonably certain that by now the media would set the record straight on
these scurrilous rumors that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim, or in the latest
crazy iteration, a gay Muslim. But plenty of people are telling reporters they
still believe it. Which
leads me to this question: Do journalists have the will and the ability to
police unfair attacks and deep-six the garbage? 

The latest round began this week
when retired General Wes Clark appeared on Face
the Nation and opened rhetorical fire on McCain's war record.

[begin video clip]


CLARK: He hasn't
been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn't seen what it's like when
diplomats come in and say, "I
don't know if whether we're going to be able to get this point through or not."

[video
break]

SCHIEFFER: I have to say, Barack
Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a
fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean --

CLARK: Well, I
don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification
to be president.

SCHIEFFER: Really? 

[end video clip]

KURTZ: That was all it took for the
pundits to make yet another presidential campaign about a war that ended more
than three decades ago.

[...]

KURTZ: Sure, it made national news.
But it went on to day three and four and five. And by the way, the Obama campaign
did say to me, among others, that they certainly did not tell General Clark to
say that.

DAVID CORN (Mother Jones
Washington
bureau chief): Well, it made national news because national media
loves nothing better than a catfight. And the McCain camp saw an opportunity to
make it a catfight. Over and over again this week, the headline was that Wesley
Clark attacks John McCain's military record in Vietnam.

I've read this; I don't think it's an attack on his military
record. In the same comments he said,
"He was a hero to
me." You don't
call someone a hero if you're attacking them. But he was making the argument,
whether true or not --
and this is what we can evaluate --
whether his military service and what happened to him as a POW has any bearing
on whether he should be president or not. Now people can make -- can argue that point, but it wasn't a
criticism of what he did in Vietnam the way the Swift Boat people criticized
and actually called Kerry a fraud for what he did. So I think that's -- I think the media has actually
misportrayed this in a pretty fundamental way. 

From the July 5 edition
of National Public Radio's Weekend
Edition Saturday: 

WERTHEIMER: The shouting matches this week on cable TV
had a military air.

[begin audio clip]

[crosstalk]

HEGSETH: Senator Obama --

SOLTZ: The entire --

HEGSETH: Jon, let me speak. Senator Obama --

SOLTZ: The entire blogosphere is
supporting Senator -- or General Clark.

HEGSETH: The blogosphere, the Daily Kos and
the Huffington Post and all those
folks on the far left -- let me speak --

[end audio clip]



WERTHEIMER: Pete Hegseth and Jon Soltz, here on
MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews,
arguing about whether former General Wesley Clark
went too far in attacking John McCain's military record. Hegseth and
Soltz lead opposing veterans'
organizations -- one
conservative, one liberal --
in a year when veterans may have an unusually strong political voice. NPR's
Peter Overby reports. </description>
		<source url="http://mediamatters.org/items/200807070003">Mediamatters.Org</source>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<table cellspacing="4" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="margin:9px;">
<tr><td colspan="2" style="font:bold 12pt Arial;vertical-align:top;"><a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/on-cnn-kurtz-again-falsely-claimed-clark-strafed-2008071247.htm"><b>On CNN, Kurtz again falsely claimed Clark "strafed" McCain  </b></a> <sup style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;">{<a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/on-cnn-kurtz-again-falsely-claimed-clark-strafed-2008071247.htm" target="_blank">new window</a>}</sup></td></tr>
<tr>
<td style="font:6pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;">&nbsp;</td>
<td width="100%" style="font:9pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;font-variant:small-caps;">Mediamatters.Org</span> - On the July 6 edition of
CNN's Reliable Sources,
host Howard Kurtz repeated the false
claim that Sen. John McCain got "strafed by [retired Gen.] Wes Clark over his Vietnam
service" during Clark's June 29 appearance on CBS' Face the Nation. Kurtz previously wrote in a July 1 washingtonpost.com column that Clark
"used" his Face the Nation appearance
"to strafe John McCain over his Vietnam War record."
Kurtz opened Reliable Sources by
saying: "Waging war:
McCain gets strafed by Wes Clark over his Vietnam service." He later said: "I
would have bet a sizable sum of money that of all the possible attacks against
John McCain, the Democrats would not have gone after his Vietnam War record,
which, of course, includes his capture and torture in Hanoi. Well, I was wrong." He later said, "The latest round began this
week when retired General Wes Clark appeared on Face the Nation and opened rhetorical fire on McCain's war
record." But Clark
did not "strafe[]" McCain, nor did he
"go[] after his
Vietnam War record." And while airing part of Clark's comments,
Kurtz did not air Clark's praise of McCain as a "hero to
me and to hundreds of thousands of millions of others in the Armed Forces as a
prisoner of war."

After stating that Clark "opened rhetorical fire on
McCain's war record," Kurtz aired an edited clip of Clark's comments on Face the Nation and claimed that the remarks were "all
it took for the pundits to make yet another presidential campaign about a war
that ended more than three decades ago." But in the video clip he aired of
Clark's remarks, Kurtz omitted the portion of the exchange in which Clark described McCain as a "hero." On Face the Nation, Clark stated: 

BOB SCHIEFFER (host): Well, you -- you
went so far as to say that you thought John McCain was, quote -- and these are
your words -- "untested and untried." And I must say, I had to read
that twice, because you're talking about somebody who was a prisoner of war. He
was a squadron commander of the largest squadron in the Navy. He's been on the
Senate Armed Services Committee for lo these many years -- how can you say that
John McCain is untested and untried, General?

CLARK: Because in
the matters of national security policy-making, it's a matter of understanding
risk. It's a matter of gauging your opponents, and it's a matter of being held
accountable. John McCain's never done any of that in his official positions. I
certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to
hundreds of thousands of millions of others in the Armed Forces as a prisoner of
war. He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he has
traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That
large squadron in the Air -- in the Navy that he commanded, it wasn't a wartime
squadron. He hasn't been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn't seen
what it's like when diplomats come in and say, "I don't know whether we're
going to be able to get this point through or not. Do you want to take the
risk? What about your reputation? How do we handle it" --

SCHIEFFER: Well --

CLARK: --
"publicly?" He hasn't made those calls, Bob. 

SCHIEFFER: Well -- well, General,
maybe he --

CLARK: So --

SCHIEFFER: Could I just interrupt
you? If --

CLARK: Sure.

SCHIEFFER: I have to say, Barack
Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a
fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean --

CLARK: Well, I
don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification
to be president.

SCHIEFFER: Really?

CLARK: But Barack
is not -- he is not running on the fact that he has made these national
security pronouncements. He's running on his other strengths. He's running on
the strengths of character, on the strengths of his communication skills, on
the strengths of his judgment -- and those are qualities that we seek in our
national leadership. 

On Reliable
Sources, Kurtz aired only portions of the exchange that followed Clark's comments that McCain was a "hero." From Reliable
Sources:


KURTZ: The latest round began this
week when retired General Wes Clark appeared on Face the Nation and opened rhetorical fire on McCain's war
record.

[begin video clip]


CLARK: He hasn't
been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn't seen what it's like when
diplomats come in and say, "I
don't know if whether we're going to be able to get this point through or not."

[video
break]

SCHIEFFER: I have to say, Barack
Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a fighter
plane and gotten shot down. I mean --

CLARK: Well, I
don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification
to be president.

SCHIEFFER: Really? 

[end video clip]

KURTZ: That was all it took for the
pundits to make yet another presidential campaign about a war that ended more
than three decades ago.


As Media Matters for America noted, in a July 1 washingtonpost.com column, Kurtz
asserted that "Clark used an appearance
on 'Face the Nation' Sunday to strafe John McCain over his Vietnam War
record." Kurtz later stated: "No one's saying that being a POW
entitles you to the Oval Office or places you above criticism. But Barack Obama
frequently prefaces his criticism of McCain with a nod to his honorable
service. Which raises the question: What was Wes thinking?"

Also, on the July 5 edition of
NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, while reporting on an
exchange between spokesmen for opposing Iraq war veterans groups, guest host Linda Wertheimer
said that the two were "arguing about whether
former General Wesley Clark went too far in attacking John McCain's
military record." As
Media Matters has repeatedly noted, Clark
did not "attack[] John McCain's military record." 

From the July 6 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources: 

KURTZ: Waging war: McCain gets strafed by Wes Clark over his Vietnam
service. Obama still battling rumors about his patriotism and his religion.

[...]

KURTZ: I would have bet a sizable
sum of money that of all the possible attacks against John McCain, the
Democrats would not have gone after his Vietnam War record, which, of course,
includes his capture and torture in Hanoi.
Well, I was wrong. And
I was reasonably certain that by now the media would set the record straight on
these scurrilous rumors that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim, or in the latest
crazy iteration, a gay Muslim. But plenty of people are telling reporters they
still believe it. Which
leads me to this question: Do journalists have the will and the ability to
police unfair attacks and deep-six the garbage? 

The latest round began this week
when retired General Wes Clark appeared on Face
the Nation and opened rhetorical fire on McCain's war record.

[begin video clip]


CLARK: He hasn't
been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn't seen what it's like when
diplomats come in and say, "I
don't know if whether we're going to be able to get this point through or not."

[video
break]

SCHIEFFER: I have to say, Barack
Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a
fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean --

CLARK: Well, I
don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification
to be president.

SCHIEFFER: Really? 

[end video clip]

KURTZ: That was all it took for the
pundits to make yet another presidential campaign about a war that ended more
than three decades ago.

[...]

KURTZ: Sure, it made national news.
But it went on to day three and four and five. And by the way, the Obama campaign
did say to me, among others, that they certainly did not tell General Clark to
say that.

DAVID CORN (Mother Jones
Washington
bureau chief): Well, it made national news because national media
loves nothing better than a catfight. And the McCain camp saw an opportunity to
make it a catfight. Over and over again this week, the headline was that Wesley
Clark attacks John McCain's military record in Vietnam.

I've read this; I don't think it's an attack on his military
record. In the same comments he said,
"He was a hero to
me." You don't
call someone a hero if you're attacking them. But he was making the argument,
whether true or not --
and this is what we can evaluate --
whether his military service and what happened to him as a POW has any bearing
on whether he should be president or not. Now people can make -- can argue that point, but it wasn't a
criticism of what he did in Vietnam the way the Swift Boat people criticized
and actually called Kerry a fraud for what he did. So I think that's -- I think the media has actually
misportrayed this in a pretty fundamental way. 

From the July 5 edition
of National Public Radio's Weekend
Edition Saturday: 

WERTHEIMER: The shouting matches this week on cable TV
had a military air.

[begin audio clip]

[crosstalk]

HEGSETH: Senator Obama --

SOLTZ: The entire --

HEGSETH: Jon, let me speak. Senator Obama --

SOLTZ: The entire blogosphere is
supporting Senator -- or General Clark.

HEGSETH: The blogosphere, the Daily Kos and
the Huffington Post and all those
folks on the far left -- let me speak --

[end audio clip]



WERTHEIMER: Pete Hegseth and Jon Soltz, here on
MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews,
arguing about whether former General Wesley Clark
went too far in attacking John McCain's military record. Hegseth and
Soltz lead opposing veterans'
organizations -- one
conservative, one liberal --
in a year when veterans may have an unusually strong political voice. NPR's
Peter Overby reports. <blockquote style="background:#FAFAFA;border:1px dotted #E6E6E6;font:italic 10pt Times New Roman;padding:9px;">Media Matters - On CNN, Kurtz again falsely claimed Clark "strafed" McCain   {...} On Reliable Sources , Howard Kurtz again falsely claimed that, as Kurtz worded it this time, Sen. John McCain got "strafed by [retired Gen.] Wes Clark over his Vietnam service" during Clark&#39;s appearance on Face the Nation , and also said: "I would have bet a sizable sum of money that of all the possible attacks against John McCain, the Democrats would not have gone after his Vietnam War record, which, of course, includes his capture and torture in Hanoi. Well, I was wrong." But Clark neither "strafed" McCain&#39;s Vietnam service, nor went "after his Vietnam War record."   {...}</blockquote><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Published:</span> July 7, 2008, 8:50 pm - <span style="color:#808080;">Indexed:</span> July 8, 2008, 10:09 am - <span style="color:#808080;">Page Size:</span>&nbsp;28KB</div><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Category:</span> <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/">Society</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/">Issues</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/">Business</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/">Media</a> &gt;  <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/"><b>Bias and Balance</b></a></div></td></tr></table>
<br/>
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		<category>Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance</category>
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		<title>{ISSUES &gt; BIAS AND BALANCE} - Novak falsely asserted Clark attacked McCain's "credentials as a war hero" as part of "conscious effort" by Obama campaign  </title>
		<link>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/novak-falsely-asserted-clark-attacked-mccain-s-2008076887.htm</link>
		<guid>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/novak-falsely-asserted-clark-attacked-mccain-s-2008076887.htm</guid>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:27:53 GMT</pubDate>
		<description>On the July 2 broadcast of Westwood
One's The Radio Factor,
syndicated columnist Robert Novak falsely asserted that, during an
appearance on the June 29 edition of CBS' Face the Nation, retired Gen. Wesley Clark joined a group
of "Obama surrogates who have been questioning and attacking [Sen.] John
McCain's credentials as a war hero." In fact, during his
Face the Nation appearance, Clark
praised McCain as a "hero" for "his service as a
prisoner of war," while, as Zachary Roth wrote
at the Columbia Journalism Review's Campaign
Desk blog, "question[ing] the relevance of McCain's combat
experience as a qualification to be president of the United States." Novak further asserted that Clark's comments
were part of "a really conscious effort to downgrade him [McCain] as a
war hero," adding, "[S]o when you find five, six, seven surrogates,
all questioning McCain's war record -- this isn't an accident. This
is -- I am sure this is some talking points that were put out secretly in the
Obama campaign. But Wesley Clark being such a clumsy, ham-handed person, he
just went too far." However, contrary to Novak's assertion that
Clark was using "talking points that were put out secretly" by the
Obama campaign, Clark has been saying for months that McCain's military
service alone does not make him qualified to be president, including while he
was speaking on behalf of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. 

As Media
Matters for America has noted, during
a March 2 conference call arranged by Clinton's presidential campaign,
Clark praised McCain's "service as a fighter pilot" and
"his courage as a prisoner of war," but added that "having
served as a fighter pilot ... doesn't prepare you to be commander in chief
in terms of dealing with the national strategic issues that are
involved." 

From the July 2 edition of Westwood
One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

MICHAEL
SMERCONISH [guest host]: Are you surprised by the legs that the General Wesley
Clark story appears to have or is this just a July issue?

NOVAK:
I -- no. I think this is a very interesting story. You know, there's a whole record of Obama surrogates who
have been questioning and attacking John McCain's credentials as a war
hero. I think they're very -- I think the Obama campaign is
very much worried about this being something that will, when they get to know
-- when people who don't follow politics, when they realize that he is a
war hero, that this is gonna get the undecided vote to his favor. So, I think they're trying -- there's a
really conscious effort to downgrade him as a war hero. And so when you find
five, six, seven surrogates, all questioning McCain's war record -- this
isn't an accident. This is -- I am sure this is some talking points that
were put out secretly in the Obama campaign.

SMERCONISH:
But where's the --

NOVAK:
But Wesley Clark being such a clumsy,
ham-handed person, he just went too far. He was too nasty. He didn't do
it in some obscure place. He did it on a national television talk show on
Sunday, and he just went too far. And he might have really inhibited the Obama
campaign from carrying on this technique.

SMERCONISH:
But where would the substance be to go after John McCain on his war record?
It's not as if you have, as we saw four years ago, individuals who served
with him now coming forward and saying history recorded this in an inaccurate
fashion.

NOVAK:
Well, it's a -- it's part of politics. If you're a -- if your
main attribute as a politician for example, say, is that you're an expert
at energy, what your -- what the opposition will try to do is to knock you down
as an energy expert. So, the way to do this -- to knock you down as a war
expert -- but it has to be done subtly. And Wes Clark was just so ham-handed,
and clumsy, and really vulgar about it that he might have spoiled the whole
thing for Obama.





SMERCONISH:
Robert Novak, a privilege to have you on the Radio
Factor. Thank you, sir.</description>
		<source url="http://mediamatters.org/items/200807030013">Mediamatters.Org</source>
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<tr><td colspan="2" style="font:bold 12pt Arial;vertical-align:top;"><a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/novak-falsely-asserted-clark-attacked-mccain-s-2008076887.htm"><b>Novak falsely asserted Clark attacked McCain's "credentials as a war hero" as part of "conscious effort" by Obama campaign  </b></a> <sup style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;">{<a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/novak-falsely-asserted-clark-attacked-mccain-s-2008076887.htm" target="_blank">new window</a>}</sup></td></tr>
<tr>
<td style="font:6pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;">&nbsp;</td>
<td width="100%" style="font:9pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;font-variant:small-caps;">Mediamatters.Org</span> - On the July 2 broadcast of Westwood
One's The Radio Factor,
syndicated columnist Robert Novak falsely asserted that, during an
appearance on the June 29 edition of CBS' Face the Nation, retired Gen. Wesley Clark joined a group
of "Obama surrogates who have been questioning and attacking [Sen.] John
McCain's credentials as a war hero." In fact, during his
Face the Nation appearance, Clark
praised McCain as a "hero" for "his service as a
prisoner of war," while, as Zachary Roth wrote
at the Columbia Journalism Review's Campaign
Desk blog, "question[ing] the relevance of McCain's combat
experience as a qualification to be president of the United States." Novak further asserted that Clark's comments
were part of "a really conscious effort to downgrade him [McCain] as a
war hero," adding, "[S]o when you find five, six, seven surrogates,
all questioning McCain's war record -- this isn't an accident. This
is -- I am sure this is some talking points that were put out secretly in the
Obama campaign. But Wesley Clark being such a clumsy, ham-handed person, he
just went too far." However, contrary to Novak's assertion that
Clark was using "talking points that were put out secretly" by the
Obama campaign, Clark has been saying for months that McCain's military
service alone does not make him qualified to be president, including while he
was speaking on behalf of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. 

As Media
Matters for America has noted, during
a March 2 conference call arranged by Clinton's presidential campaign,
Clark praised McCain's "service as a fighter pilot" and
"his courage as a prisoner of war," but added that "having
served as a fighter pilot ... doesn't prepare you to be commander in chief
in terms of dealing with the national strategic issues that are
involved." 

From the July 2 edition of Westwood
One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

MICHAEL
SMERCONISH [guest host]: Are you surprised by the legs that the General Wesley
Clark story appears to have or is this just a July issue?

NOVAK:
I -- no. I think this is a very interesting story. You know, there's a whole record of Obama surrogates who
have been questioning and attacking John McCain's credentials as a war
hero. I think they're very -- I think the Obama campaign is
very much worried about this being something that will, when they get to know
-- when people who don't follow politics, when they realize that he is a
war hero, that this is gonna get the undecided vote to his favor. So, I think they're trying -- there's a
really conscious effort to downgrade him as a war hero. And so when you find
five, six, seven surrogates, all questioning McCain's war record -- this
isn't an accident. This is -- I am sure this is some talking points that
were put out secretly in the Obama campaign.

SMERCONISH:
But where's the --

NOVAK:
But Wesley Clark being such a clumsy,
ham-handed person, he just went too far. He was too nasty. He didn't do
it in some obscure place. He did it on a national television talk show on
Sunday, and he just went too far. And he might have really inhibited the Obama
campaign from carrying on this technique.

SMERCONISH:
But where would the substance be to go after John McCain on his war record?
It's not as if you have, as we saw four years ago, individuals who served
with him now coming forward and saying history recorded this in an inaccurate
fashion.

NOVAK:
Well, it's a -- it's part of politics. If you're a -- if your
main attribute as a politician for example, say, is that you're an expert
at energy, what your -- what the opposition will try to do is to knock you down
as an energy expert. So, the way to do this -- to knock you down as a war
expert -- but it has to be done subtly. And Wes Clark was just so ham-handed,
and clumsy, and really vulgar about it that he might have spoiled the whole
thing for Obama.





SMERCONISH:
Robert Novak, a privilege to have you on the Radio
Factor. Thank you, sir.<blockquote style="background:#FAFAFA;border:1px dotted #E6E6E6;font:italic 10pt Times New Roman;padding:9px;">Media Matters - Novak falsely asserted Clark attacked McCain&#39;s "credentials as a war hero" as part of "conscious effort" by Obama campaign   {...} On The Radio Factor , Robert Novak falsely asserted that Wesley Clark joined a group of "Obama surrogates who have been questioning and attacking [Sen.] John McCain&#39;s credentials as a war hero" and suggested that Clark&#39;s comments were part of "a really conscious effort to downgrade [McCain] as a war hero." In fact, Clark praised McCain as a "hero" for "his service as a prisoner of war," while, as CJR&#39;s Zachary Roth wrote, "question[ing] the relevance of McCain&#39;s combat experience as a qualification to be president of the United States" -- an argument Clark has been making for months.   {...}</blockquote><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Published:</span> July 4, 2008, 1:27 am - <span style="color:#808080;">Indexed:</span> July 4, 2008, 6:24 pm - <span style="color:#808080;">Page Size:</span>&nbsp;20KB</div><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Category:</span> <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/">Society</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/">Issues</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/">Business</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/">Media</a> &gt;  <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/"><b>Bias and Balance</b></a></div></td></tr></table>
<br/>
]]></content:encoded>
		<category>Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance</category>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>{ISSUES &gt; BIAS AND BALANCE} - "Media Matters"; by Jamison Foser</title>
		<link>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/media-matters-by-jamison-foser-2008077103.htm</link>
		<guid>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/media-matters-by-jamison-foser-2008077103.htm</guid>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:14:46 GMT</pubDate>
		<description>John McCain's "protective
barrier"

Nearly four months ago, I wrote that many
journalists were going along with John McCain's apparent efforts to
declare that, because of his military service, any criticism -- even if it doesn't have anything to
do with his service --
is out of bounds. In one early example, McCain attacked Mitt Romney, claiming
that Romney (who, McCain noted, "has never had any military
experience") had criticized Bob Dole's "service and
courage." In fact, Romney hadn't said anything about Dole's
service, or his courage. Not even close. But that didn't stop the media
from going along
with McCain's false claims.

A few weeks later, MSNBC's Contessa Brewer asked if
Barack Obama was
"taking aim at John McCain's age, an American war hero." Obama hadn't said anything that had anything to do with McCain's status as an "American war
hero" -- indeed,
he hadn't mentioned McCain at
all. Still,
Brewer felt compelled to invoke McCain's status as a war hero at the
slightest hint (real or imagined) that
McCain is being criticized
-- even though that
(real or imagined) criticism had nothing to do with McCain's military
service.

But incidents like that were apparently just trial runs for
what has happened this week, as much of the media has abandoned any pretense of
neutrality. In the most vivid example to date of media describing any criticism
of McCain as criticism of his military service, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell described a television ad that made not a
single mention of McCain's service as being a part of "an organized campaign
against John McCain's military service."

Here's
the ad; watch for yourself. It's an ad about McCain's Iraq
policies. It doesn't make any mention of McCain's military record.
Doesn't even hint at anything
having anything to do with
McCain's service. Yet Mitchell suggested it was part of "an
organized campaign against John McCain's military service." She may
as well have said a giant purple unicorn had called McCain a traitor, for all
the truth there was to her statement.

Mitchell's description was deeply dishonest, but
what's really remarkable is how well it fit in among the rest of the
media's political coverage this week.

On Sunday, Face the
Nation host Bob Schieffer suggested that the fact that Barack Obama
has not "ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down" makes him
less qualified to be president than John McCain. His guest, retired
Gen. Wesley Clark, responded by saying that having done so is not a qualification to be president:





SCHIEFFER: I have
to say, Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he
ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean --

CLARK: Well, I
don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification
to be president.

SCHIEFFER: Really?


Clark has made
similar comments in the past, and various media figures
said much the same thing about John Kerry in 2004. Morton Kondracke, for example:
"It does not qualify you to be the commander in chief of all the Armed
Forces because you were a Swift boat commander." And Kathleen Parker:
"[M]ilitary
service neither qualifies nor disqualifies one for political office."
That same year, Bush campaign spokesperson Steve Schmidt -- now John McCain's de facto campaign
manager -- dismissed
the relevance of Kerry's military service, noting that it had occurred
decades earlier.

Nobody much cared when people said John Kerry's military service didn't qualify him to be president. But the media have different rules when it comes to John McCain. And so Clark's comments were met with a firestorm of media criticism. Never mind that Clark hadn't criticized McCain's service; that he hadn't said McCain served poorly or dishonorably -- in fact, Clark called McCain a "hero." Never mind all that; the media quickly, relentlessly -- and falsely -- jumped all over Clark.

They falsely accused him of attacking McCain's military service. They
falsely accused him of attacking McCain's patriotism. They went
along with the McCain campaign's complaints that Clark -- who, again, called McCain a
"hero" -- "didn't pay proper
homage" to McCain. By the end of the week, one creative journalist went so far as to falsely claim that Clark's
comments were part of a "pattern of attacks" on McCain as
"psychologically unfit for presidential office." In short:
they freaked out.

A few journalists felt compelled to acknowledge the obvious:
that what Clark said was actually right -- that McCain's
military service, like John Kerry's, is not sufficient qualification for
the presidency no matter how honorable and heroic it was.  But they still
insisted Clark shouldn't have said it.

New York Times columnist Gail Collins, for example, wrote: "When Schieffer pointed out that Obama had neither run a squadron nor 'ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down,' the correct response was: 'No, and he honors Senator McCain's service.' ... Nevertheless, what Clark said was obviously true." Collins' Times colleague John Harwood agreed during an appearance on MSNBC: "[I]t was a misstep by Clark ... It was not a well-advised thing for Clark to do ... It actually was true."

When did journalists decide that the "obviously true" answer to a question is not the "correct" answer? When did they decide that it was appropriate to spend days excoriating someone for saying something that is "true" but isn't "well-advised?" Columbia Journalism Review's Zachary Roth, writing about an ABCNews.com
report, explained:






This is the
perfect embodiment of the press's unbelievably destructive habit of
assessing every piece of campaign rhetoric for its political acuity, rather
than for its validity and accuracy. Clark's
comments may (or may not) have been impolitic. But that has no bearing on their
validity or lack thereof -- which is how the news media should be evaluating
them.

Incredibly, many in the media compared Clark's
"obviously true" comments to the vicious smear campaign waged by
the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth against John Kerry. The comparisons
began almost immediately. Just hours after Clark's
appearance on Face the Nation,
CNN host Rick Sanchez asked, "[D]id Wesley Clark pull a swift boat on John
McCain today?"  He later described Clark's
comments as "A respected military leader dissing, some might say,
swift-boating John McCain's military record." The absurd comparison
quickly gained traction, particularly on cable news.

But wait: it gets worse. Not only did the media compare
Clark to the noxious Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, many of them politely averted
their eyes when McCain turned to a member of that group -- which McCain once called "dishonest
and dishonorable" --
to respond to Clark's non-attack. The Washington
Post, one of the media outlets that did note Bud Day's
membership in the SBVT, quoted him rejecting the comparison between Clark and
the anti-Kerry group --
because, he claimed, the comparison was unfair to the Swifties: "The Swift boat, quote, attacks were simply a revelation
of the truth. The similarity doesn't exist. ... One was about laying out the
truth. This one is about attempting to cast another shadow."

The Post
didn't bother to tell readers that, in fact, the Swift Boat attacks were
deeply dishonest and nasty smears.

In short: John McCain turned to a member of the Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth, a group whose false and despicable attacks on John
Kerry's war record McCain once denounced, to attack Wesley Clark for
comments in which Clark did not criticize McCain's war record -- and in which he, in fact,
called McCain a hero.  And the media went along with it.

But --
because the only limit to how absurd the media's pro-McCain coverage will
become is time -- it gets even worse.

While defending the Swift Boat Vets' lies about John Kerry and attacking
Wes Clark for something he didn't say, Bud Day said of Clark:
"General Clark spent a month in Vietnam,
got badly wounded, evacuated, and that was his Vietnam experience. I'd say let's
hold the two of them up and see who's most qualified to talk about their
experience as a combat officer."

That happens
to be false. Clark served at least six months in Vietnam, not "a month."
Day's comments about Clark constituted
an actual falsehood about a distinguished veteran's military record, made
on an official McCain campaign conference call by a hand-picked surrogate.
Surely, after days of freaking out over something Wes Clark didn't say,
the media quickly gave as much attention to SBVT member Bud Day's false
claims about Clark's own war record?

Of course not. Remember: the rules are different for John
McCain.

Then there's Bob Dole. Earlier this year, McCain
falsely accused Mitt Romney of criticizing Dole's service. This week, Bob
Dole returned the favor by releasing a statement calling Wes Clark's
non-attack on McCain's service "Beyond
comprehension" and a "further erosion of our nation's political
discourse."

CNN, MSNBC, Time and the Associated Press,
among others, reported Bob Dole's comments about Clark.
But nobody mentioned an inconvenient fact that completely undermines
Dole's credibility on this topic: In 2004, in the midst of the Swift Boat
controversy, Bob Dole went on national television to make false claims about John
Kerry's war injuries, suggesting the Democratic presidential candidate
didn't deserve his Purple Hearts.

Dole said in 2004 that he will
"always quarrel about" Kerry's Purple
Hearts, because "he got two in one day" even though he "never
bled" and only had "superficial wounds." In fact,
Kerry's Purple Hearts were not awarded for the same day, and he did
bleed, according to Kerry crewmate Del Sandusky, who -- unlike Dole -- was present when Kerry was injured. There
has never been any evidence that John Kerry did not earn his medals, and there
is considerable evidence he did.

The false claims Bob Dole made to suggest John Kerry did not
deserve his Purple Hearts are what it looks like when somebody actually smears a war hero. Yet the media
who dutifully repeated Dole's criticism of Clark
didn't bother to mention Dole's bogus and offensive comments about
Kerry.

After all, Dole was defending John McCain from (imaginary)
attacks, and the rules are different for John McCain.

Let's pause for a moment to review. According to the
news media, if you call John McCain a "hero," but say that heroism
doesn't qualify him to be president, you have dishonorably attacked his
military service. (Feel free, however, to say the same thing about John Kerry.)
And if you criticize McCain's Iraq policies, you are
participating in "an organized campaign against John McCain's military
service."

But wait! There's more!

The media's knee-jerk defense of McCain doesn't
stop at their use of his military service to rule criticism of his Iraq
policies out of bounds. It extends to (things having nothing to do with) his
age, too. See, if you criticize John McCain for ignoring his own pledge to
avoid negative campaigning, the media will quickly
announce that you're really attacking his age. That was ridiculous,
of course, but McCain aide Mark
Salter told
them to say it, so they did.

You get the picture: the media is on the verge of declaring any
criticism of John McCain off-limits --
even when it isn't really criticism. Even when you call him a
"hero," but not quite enthusiastically enough.

One of the hallmarks of the Karl Rove era of GOP politics is that the Republicans aren't particularly subtle about their tactics. They tend to clearly telegraph what they intend to do, though often with the slight wrinkle of accusing the opposition of doing what they plan to do themselves.

That is certainly true of the McCain campaign. In the very
memo in which Salter convinced the media to pretend that Obama's
criticism of McCain's negative campaigning was an attack on the Arizona senator's age, Salter
wrote: "Senator Obama is hopeful that the media will continue to form a
protective barrier around him, declaring serious limits to the questions,
discussion and debate in this race."

Yes, that's John
McCain's senior adviser
complaining that the media has formed a "protective barrier" around
Barack Obama.

The American people, however, seem to see through this nonsense. Two months ago, The New York Times and CBS News conducted a poll
in which they asked respondents whether the media has been harder or easier on
John McCain than on other candidates. Only 8 percent thought the media had been harder on
McCain than on other candidates; more than three times as many people thought
the media had taken it easier on McCain than on other candidates. (Asked
the same question about media coverage of Barack Obama, respondents split
pretty much down the middle.)





It probably could go without saying at this point, but in
case you're wondering: No, neither the Times
nor CBS reported those poll results.

</description>
		<source url="http://mediamatters.org/items/200807030012">Mediamatters.Org</source>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<table cellspacing="4" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="margin:9px;">
<tr><td colspan="2" style="font:bold 12pt Arial;vertical-align:top;"><a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/media-matters-by-jamison-foser-2008077103.htm"><b>"Media Matters"; by Jamison Foser</b></a> <sup style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;">{<a href="http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/media-matters-by-jamison-foser-2008077103.htm" target="_blank">new window</a>}</sup></td></tr>
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<td style="font:6pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;">&nbsp;</td>
<td width="100%" style="font:9pt Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;font-variant:small-caps;">Mediamatters.Org</span> - John McCain's "protective
barrier"

Nearly four months ago, I wrote that many
journalists were going along with John McCain's apparent efforts to
declare that, because of his military service, any criticism -- even if it doesn't have anything to
do with his service --
is out of bounds. In one early example, McCain attacked Mitt Romney, claiming
that Romney (who, McCain noted, "has never had any military
experience") had criticized Bob Dole's "service and
courage." In fact, Romney hadn't said anything about Dole's
service, or his courage. Not even close. But that didn't stop the media
from going along
with McCain's false claims.

A few weeks later, MSNBC's Contessa Brewer asked if
Barack Obama was
"taking aim at John McCain's age, an American war hero." Obama hadn't said anything that had anything to do with McCain's status as an "American war
hero" -- indeed,
he hadn't mentioned McCain at
all. Still,
Brewer felt compelled to invoke McCain's status as a war hero at the
slightest hint (real or imagined) that
McCain is being criticized
-- even though that
(real or imagined) criticism had nothing to do with McCain's military
service.

But incidents like that were apparently just trial runs for
what has happened this week, as much of the media has abandoned any pretense of
neutrality. In the most vivid example to date of media describing any criticism
of McCain as criticism of his military service, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell described a television ad that made not a
single mention of McCain's service as being a part of "an organized campaign
against John McCain's military service."

Here's
the ad; watch for yourself. It's an ad about McCain's Iraq
policies. It doesn't make any mention of McCain's military record.
Doesn't even hint at anything
having anything to do with
McCain's service. Yet Mitchell suggested it was part of "an
organized campaign against John McCain's military service." She may
as well have said a giant purple unicorn had called McCain a traitor, for all
the truth there was to her statement.

Mitchell's description was deeply dishonest, but
what's really remarkable is how well it fit in among the rest of the
media's political coverage this week.

On Sunday, Face the
Nation host Bob Schieffer suggested that the fact that Barack Obama
has not "ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down" makes him
less qualified to be president than John McCain. His guest, retired
Gen. Wesley Clark, responded by saying that having done so is not a qualification to be president:





SCHIEFFER: I have
to say, Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he
ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean --

CLARK: Well, I
don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification
to be president.

SCHIEFFER: Really?


Clark has made
similar comments in the past, and various media figures
said much the same thing about John Kerry in 2004. Morton Kondracke, for example:
"It does not qualify you to be the commander in chief of all the Armed
Forces because you were a Swift boat commander." And Kathleen Parker:
"[M]ilitary
service neither qualifies nor disqualifies one for political office."
That same year, Bush campaign spokesperson Steve Schmidt -- now John McCain's de facto campaign
manager -- dismissed
the relevance of Kerry's military service, noting that it had occurred
decades earlier.

Nobody much cared when people said John Kerry's military service didn't qualify him to be president. But the media have different rules when it comes to John McCain. And so Clark's comments were met with a firestorm of media criticism. Never mind that Clark hadn't criticized McCain's service; that he hadn't said McCain served poorly or dishonorably -- in fact, Clark called McCain a "hero." Never mind all that; the media quickly, relentlessly -- and falsely -- jumped all over Clark.

They falsely accused him of attacking McCain's military service. They
falsely accused him of attacking McCain's patriotism. They went
along with the McCain campaign's complaints that Clark -- who, again, called McCain a
"hero" -- "didn't pay proper
homage" to McCain. By the end of the week, one creative journalist went so far as to falsely claim that Clark's
comments were part of a "pattern of attacks" on McCain as
"psychologically unfit for presidential office." In short:
they freaked out.

A few journalists felt compelled to acknowledge the obvious:
that what Clark said was actually right -- that McCain's
military service, like John Kerry's, is not sufficient qualification for
the presidency no matter how honorable and heroic it was.  But they still
insisted Clark shouldn't have said it.

New York Times columnist Gail Collins, for example, wrote: "When Schieffer pointed out that Obama had neither run a squadron nor 'ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down,' the correct response was: 'No, and he honors Senator McCain's service.' ... Nevertheless, what Clark said was obviously true." Collins' Times colleague John Harwood agreed during an appearance on MSNBC: "[I]t was a misstep by Clark ... It was not a well-advised thing for Clark to do ... It actually was true."

When did journalists decide that the "obviously true" answer to a question is not the "correct" answer? When did they decide that it was appropriate to spend days excoriating someone for saying something that is "true" but isn't "well-advised?" Columbia Journalism Review's Zachary Roth, writing about an ABCNews.com
report, explained:






This is the
perfect embodiment of the press's unbelievably destructive habit of
assessing every piece of campaign rhetoric for its political acuity, rather
than for its validity and accuracy. Clark's
comments may (or may not) have been impolitic. But that has no bearing on their
validity or lack thereof -- which is how the news media should be evaluating
them.

Incredibly, many in the media compared Clark's
"obviously true" comments to the vicious smear campaign waged by
the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth against John Kerry. The comparisons
began almost immediately. Just hours after Clark's
appearance on Face the Nation,
CNN host Rick Sanchez asked, "[D]id Wesley Clark pull a swift boat on John
McCain today?"  He later described Clark's
comments as "A respected military leader dissing, some might say,
swift-boating John McCain's military record." The absurd comparison
quickly gained traction, particularly on cable news.

But wait: it gets worse. Not only did the media compare
Clark to the noxious Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, many of them politely averted
their eyes when McCain turned to a member of that group -- which McCain once called "dishonest
and dishonorable" --
to respond to Clark's non-attack. The Washington
Post, one of the media outlets that did note Bud Day's
membership in the SBVT, quoted him rejecting the comparison between Clark and
the anti-Kerry group --
because, he claimed, the comparison was unfair to the Swifties: "The Swift boat, quote, attacks were simply a revelation
of the truth. The similarity doesn't exist. ... One was about laying out the
truth. This one is about attempting to cast another shadow."

The Post
didn't bother to tell readers that, in fact, the Swift Boat attacks were
deeply dishonest and nasty smears.

In short: John McCain turned to a member of the Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth, a group whose false and despicable attacks on John
Kerry's war record McCain once denounced, to attack Wesley Clark for
comments in which Clark did not criticize McCain's war record -- and in which he, in fact,
called McCain a hero.  And the media went along with it.

But --
because the only limit to how absurd the media's pro-McCain coverage will
become is time -- it gets even worse.

While defending the Swift Boat Vets' lies about John Kerry and attacking
Wes Clark for something he didn't say, Bud Day said of Clark:
"General Clark spent a month in Vietnam,
got badly wounded, evacuated, and that was his Vietnam experience. I'd say let's
hold the two of them up and see who's most qualified to talk about their
experience as a combat officer."

That happens
to be false. Clark served at least six months in Vietnam, not "a month."
Day's comments about Clark constituted
an actual falsehood about a distinguished veteran's military record, made
on an official McCain campaign conference call by a hand-picked surrogate.
Surely, after days of freaking out over something Wes Clark didn't say,
the media quickly gave as much attention to SBVT member Bud Day's false
claims about Clark's own war record?

Of course not. Remember: the rules are different for John
McCain.

Then there's Bob Dole. Earlier this year, McCain
falsely accused Mitt Romney of criticizing Dole's service. This week, Bob
Dole returned the favor by releasing a statement calling Wes Clark's
non-attack on McCain's service "Beyond
comprehension" and a "further erosion of our nation's political
discourse."

CNN, MSNBC, Time and the Associated Press,
among others, reported Bob Dole's comments about Clark.
But nobody mentioned an inconvenient fact that completely undermines
Dole's credibility on this topic: In 2004, in the midst of the Swift Boat
controversy, Bob Dole went on national television to make false claims about John
Kerry's war injuries, suggesting the Democratic presidential candidate
didn't deserve his Purple Hearts.

Dole said in 2004 that he will
"always quarrel about" Kerry's Purple
Hearts, because "he got two in one day" even though he "never
bled" and only had "superficial wounds." In fact,
Kerry's Purple Hearts were not awarded for the same day, and he did
bleed, according to Kerry crewmate Del Sandusky, who -- unlike Dole -- was present when Kerry was injured. There
has never been any evidence that John Kerry did not earn his medals, and there
is considerable evidence he did.

The false claims Bob Dole made to suggest John Kerry did not
deserve his Purple Hearts are what it looks like when somebody actually smears a war hero. Yet the media
who dutifully repeated Dole's criticism of Clark
didn't bother to mention Dole's bogus and offensive comments about
Kerry.

After all, Dole was defending John McCain from (imaginary)
attacks, and the rules are different for John McCain.

Let's pause for a moment to review. According to the
news media, if you call John McCain a "hero," but say that heroism
doesn't qualify him to be president, you have dishonorably attacked his
military service. (Feel free, however, to say the same thing about John Kerry.)
And if you criticize McCain's Iraq policies, you are
participating in "an organized campaign against John McCain's military
service."

But wait! There's more!

The media's knee-jerk defense of McCain doesn't
stop at their use of his military service to rule criticism of his Iraq
policies out of bounds. It extends to (things having nothing to do with) his
age, too. See, if you criticize John McCain for ignoring his own pledge to
avoid negative campaigning, the media will quickly
announce that you're really attacking his age. That was ridiculous,
of course, but McCain aide Mark
Salter told
them to say it, so they did.

You get the picture: the media is on the verge of declaring any
criticism of John McCain off-limits --
even when it isn't really criticism. Even when you call him a
"hero," but not quite enthusiastically enough.

One of the hallmarks of the Karl Rove era of GOP politics is that the Republicans aren't particularly subtle about their tactics. They tend to clearly telegraph what they intend to do, though often with the slight wrinkle of accusing the opposition of doing what they plan to do themselves.

That is certainly true of the McCain campaign. In the very
memo in which Salter convinced the media to pretend that Obama's
criticism of McCain's negative campaigning was an attack on the Arizona senator's age, Salter
wrote: "Senator Obama is hopeful that the media will continue to form a
protective barrier around him, declaring serious limits to the questions,
discussion and debate in this race."

Yes, that's John
McCain's senior adviser
complaining that the media has formed a "protective barrier" around
Barack Obama.

The American people, however, seem to see through this nonsense. Two months ago, The New York Times and CBS News conducted a poll
in which they asked respondents whether the media has been harder or easier on
John McCain than on other candidates. Only 8 percent thought the media had been harder on
McCain than on other candidates; more than three times as many people thought
the media had taken it easier on McCain than on other candidates. (Asked
the same question about media coverage of Barack Obama, respondents split
pretty much down the middle.)





It probably could go without saying at this point, but in
case you're wondering: No, neither the Times
nor CBS reported those poll results.

<blockquote style="background:#FAFAFA;border:1px dotted #E6E6E6;font:italic 10pt Times New Roman;padding:9px;">Media Matters - "Media Matters"; by Jamison Foser {...} </blockquote><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Published:</span> July 4, 2008, 1:14 am - <span style="color:#808080;">Indexed:</span> July 4, 2008, 6:24 pm - <span style="color:#808080;">Page Size:</span>&nbsp;25KB</div><div style="font:8pt Verdana,Arial;vertical-align:top;"><span style="color:#808080;">Category:</span> <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/">Society</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/">Issues</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/">Business</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/">Media</a> &gt;  <a href="http://www.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/"><b>Bias and Balance</b></a></div></td></tr></table>
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		<category>Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance</category>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>{ISSUES &gt; BIAS AND BALANCE} - Media continue to falsely claim Clark criticized McCain's service  </title>
		<link>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/media-continue-to-falsely-claim-clark-criticized-2008075423.htm</link>
		<guid>http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/media-continue-to-falsely-claim-clark-criticized-2008075423.htm</guid>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:42:51 GMT</pubDate>
		<description>Several media reports, including two separate pieces by Washington Post staff writers and a report
on CNN's The Situation Room,
falsely claimed that retired Gen. Wesley Clark criticized Sen. John
McCain's military service during a June 29 appearance on CBS' Face the Nation. In fact, Clark did not criticize
McCain's military service, but rather praised McCain as a hero. As noted
by a post on Columbia Journalism Review's
Campaign Desk blog, these reports are echoing
the false
claim by the McCain campaign that "Clark attacked John McCain's
military service record"; at CJR's
Campaign Desk, writer Zachary Roth wrote: "Of course, Clark had done
nothing of the kind."

Examples of media echoing this false claim include the
following:



In a
     July 1 article, Washington Post staff writers
     Jonathan Weisman and Michael D. Shear quoted comments Clark
     made about McCain during his Face the
     Nation interview after asserting that McCain "pushed back
     hard against criticism of his own record as a Navy flier and a prisoner of
     war."



On the June 30 edition
     of The Situation Room, guest
     host John Roberts said that "Clark took a weekend hit at McCain, targeting his
     history as a war hero and his possible future as president." Roberts made the assertion despite
     the fact that immediately afterward, Roberts aired video of Clark saying during his Face the Nation appearance, "I certainly honor
     his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of
     thousands of millions of others in the Armed Forces as a prisoner of war.
     He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he has
     traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility."



In a July 1 washingtonpost.com column,
     Post media critic Howard
     Kurtz asserted that "Clark used an
     appearance on 'Face the Nation' Sunday to strafe John McCain
     over his Vietnam War record." Kurtz later stated: "No one's
     saying that being a POW entitles you to the Oval Office or places 