Media Matters for America - County Fair

Media Matters staff: MSNBC's Up With Chris Hayes To Be First Sunday Show To Host Experts Blaming GOP For Gridlock

Media Matters staff — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:18:28 EDT

Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, two well-respected, centrist congressional experts, will make their first Sunday talk show appearance on the June 3 edition of MSNBC's Up with Chris Hayes after being largely ignored by the media following their recent conclusion that Republicans are responsible for the current "dysfunctional" Congress.

On today's edition of his show, Hayes announced that Mann and Ornstein would make their "long-awaited, controversial first appearance on a national Sunday news program" to discuss their Washington Post op-ed and new book detailing the causes of political gridlock in Washington.

As The Washington Post's Greg Sargent and others have noted, Mann and Ornstein have been shut out of the Sunday morning talk shows since their April 29 op-ed. Moreover, as Media Matters' has reported, the top five national newspapers failed to mention Mann and Ornstein's recent observations about the dysfunction in Congress even though they regularly quoted the pair in past news articles.

Media Matters also found that in the months following the publication of Mann and Ornstein's 2006 book, The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (which was critical of both Democrats and Republicans), the two frequently appeared and were quoted on cable news shows, suggesting that the media is now giving Republicans a pass to avoid appearing biased.

Oliver Willis: Dinesh D'Souza's Lies About Obama, Now In Movie Form

Oliver Willis — Sun, 27 May 2012 13:17:17 EDT

The marketing materials for the upcoming film 2016: Obama's America claim that it "takes audiences on a gripping visual journey into the heart of the world's most powerful office to reveal the struggle of whether one man's past will redefine America over the next four years." If the movie is anything like its source material, we can expect it will be a mostly fraudulent journey.

The movie is based on Dinesh D'Souza's book The Roots Of Obama's Rage, which received high praise from people like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, neither of whom have shown any qualms about promoting outright lies, distortions, and outlandish claims in the past.

The New York Times reports that the film is partially financed by billionaire investor Joe Ricketts, who previously considered financing a multimillion dollar political ad campaign linking the racially charged rhetoric of Rev. Jeremiah Wright to President Obama.

Media Matters staff: Breitbart Blogger Launches Sexist Attack On Salon's Joan Walsh

Media Matters staff — Sat, 26 May 2012 16:55:06 EDT

Dan Riehl is a right-wing blogger who posts regularly at Breitbart.com. Today on Twitter, he attacked Salon.com editor at large Joan Walsh with references to oral sex:

Marcus Feldman: One Of Bolling's Conspiracy Theories Shot Down By Fox's Own Special Report

Marcus Feldman — Fri, 25 May 2012 22:19:21 EDT

Fox News' flagship news program Special Report today debunked one of the many conspiracy theories that Eric Bolling has trafficked in. Bolling made the bogus suggestion that the Obama administration's Labor Department is understating the weekly first-time unemployment insurance claimants that it reports because those numbers have been consistently revised upwards in subsequent months.

In a clip played on Special Report, Bolling said of the unemployment figures: "Forty-seven for forty-seven at the plate would be a pretty darned good batting average. It's uncanny how they're all revised in the direction that would be favorable to the administration."

That's a bizarre conspiracy theory. If the Obama administration was cooking the books on unemployment numbers, wouldn't those numbers look better than they do?

And Special Report made it clear that Bolling's conspiracy theory was totally baseless. Fox News chief Washington correspondent James Rosen showed a clip of Bush administration Labor Secretary Elaine Chao noting that the initial numbers are based on only "60 to 80 percent" of the required data. Chao added: "[A]gain I'm not surprised that it is being adjusted upward, because they are getting more information."

Rosen also observed that during the first term of the Bush administration, the DOL had revised initial jobless claims upwards in 40 out of 47 weeks.

Maybe Special Report should make this a regular segment. After all, Bolling has peddled plenty of outlandish conspiracy theories for the show to debunk.

Jill Fitzsimmons: Marc Thiessen Distorts Success Rate Of Clean Energy Investments

Jill Fitzsimmons — Fri, 25 May 2012 17:25:00 EDT

In his latest Washington Post column, Marc Thiessen of the American Enterprise Institute suggested that President Obama is being hypocritical when he points out Mitt Romney's jobs record at Bain Capital because some clean energy companies have struggled after receiving government loans or grants from the Obama administration. In fact, the failure rate for federal green energy investments is far lower than that of private venture capital investments in clean energy, and the majority of the loan guarantees are low-risk.

As evidence of President Obama's "massive public equity failures," Thiessen cherry-picked clean energy companies that have faced any sort of financial difficulty after receiving Department of Energy loan guarantees or other federal support. But these companies represent a small fraction of loan guarantee recipients, many of which are paying back the loans ahead of schedule.

An independent review of the loan guarantee program by a former Bush administration official concluded that the risk to taxpayers is far lower than the Department of Energy had planned for. The report echoed a Bloomberg Government analysis which found that 87 percent of the loans are low-risk, and that even if all 10 of the higher risk projects defaulted, DOE would still have nearly half a billion dollars left in the fund set aside by Congress to cover losses.

By contrast, CleanTechnica noted in October that private venture capitalists take far greater risks when investing in clean energy:

Timothy Johnson: TEAMMATES: NRA News Introduces ALEC's Voter ID Successor Group

Timothy Johnson — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:52:00 EDT

Just one day after the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) disbanded its Public Safety and Elections Task Force that was responsible for model voter ID and "Kill At Will" self-defense legislation like that linked to Trayvon Martin's death, a new organization emerged to carry the torch for the implementation of voter ID laws nationwide.

In an April 18 press release, the innocuous-sounding National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) heralded "the formation of a 'Voter Identification Task Force,' intended to continue the excellent work of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in promoting measures to enhance integrity in voting." According to NCPPR chair Amy Ridenour, "conservatives will kick up our support for voter integrity programs. We're putting the left on notice: you take out a conservative program operating in one area, we'll kick it up a notch somewhere else. You will not win. We outnumber you and we outthink you, and when you kick up a fuss you inspire us to victory."

NCPPR's press release ominously concluded with a claim that NCPPR was prepared to pull a metaphoric gun on its political opponents: "Unlike [ALEC critic] the Center for American Progress, the National Center for Public Policy Research eschews the use of violent references such as 'War Room.' We are, however, inspired by a particular passage in the 1987 movie 'The Untouchables': 'They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way.' Indeed." So much for eschewing violent references.

It was only fitting then that the National Rifle Association, the former private sector co-chair of ALEC's disbanded Public Safety and Elections Task Force, would give NCPPR free publicity. During the May 22 edition of NRA News' Cam & Company, NCPPR adjunct fellow Horace Cooper appeared to discuss his organization's voter fraud hysteria.

Shauna Theel: Wash. Times ' Failed Fact-Check Of Obama's Wind Energy Speech

Shauna Theel — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:54:00 EDT

A Washington Times article purported to correct President Obama's statement that an Arkansas wind turbine factory was put on hold because Congress delayed extending key wind energy tax credits. The article asserted that the real cause was "a patent dispute" with General Electric. But Mitsubishi, the company building the plant, has specifically said that it would begin operations if the Production Tax Credit were extended.

While the patent dispute may have been one factor in Mitsubishi's decision, Mitsubishi cited weak demand for wind turbines in its statement on why it is not going to begin operations at its recently completed Arkansas factory. As the business journal SNL Electric Utility Report noted in its report on Mitsubishi's decision, a large reason for that currently weak demand is uncertainty over whether the PTC will be extended:

One contributor to the tepid market for new wind turbines in the United States has been that Congress has so far declined to extend the production tax credit for wind energy beyond the end of this year. If the credit is allowed to expire, the wind market is expected to drop sharply. [SNL Electric Utility Report, 4/9/12, via Nexis]

Furthermore, in March, Mitsubishi said that if the PTC were extended, it would go ahead with plans to hire 330 long-term workers to operate the plant:

"We need a market to operate our factory. Right now, the market is not so good. We have a site but cannot operate it," says Yoshinori Ueda, assistant general manager of MHI's [Mitsubishi Heavy Industries] wind turbine business. "If we have the PTC, we will go ahead."

Matt Gertz: NO DISCLOSURE: WSJ , Fox Defended ALEC Without Noting News Corp. Is A Member

Matt Gertz — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:53:51 EDT

The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal and employees of Fox News have repeatedly shielded the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) from criticism without disclosing that parent company News Corp. is a member of that organization.

Since mid-April the Journal has defended ALEC, a shadowy conservative organization backed by corporate giants that tailors model bills for state legislatures, in two editorials and also published two op-eds attacking the group's critics. Fox News likewise highlighted the criticism of ALEC in at least five April segments, with Bill O'Reilly describing its opponents as "very, very vicious" and questioning whether they were engaging in "blackmail." The network even hosted ALEC's communications director to defend the group. In none of those segments or articles was News Corp.'s ALEC membership mentioned.

This morning the Center for Media and Democracy, which rigorously monitors ALEC, was a member of ALEC's Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force as of April 2010. Adam Peshek, who staffs ALEC's Education Task Force, told Education Week that News Corp. has been a member of both ALEC's Education Task Force and Communications and Technology Task Force since January 2012.

ALEC has come under fire in recent months for promoting model state legislation for restrictive voter ID laws and Kill at Will self-defense laws similar to the Florida statute cited in the Trayvon Marton killing. Progressives have responded by urging legislators, corporations, and organizations affiliated with ALEC to cut their ties. At least 19 corporate or non-profit members and 54 state legislators have left the group as a result of the campaign.

News Corp.'s conservative media entities have pushed back against this campaign, claiming that progressives are "playing the race card" as part of a "remarkable political assault," and lauded companies that have yet to disassociate themselves from ALEC. But they have not disclosed that their own parent company is one of those ALEC members.

In 2010 News Corp. drew criticism -- including from shareholders -- following the disclosure that the company had donated $2.25 million to GOP-linked groups including the Republican Governors Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. After that information was revealed, Fox News offered only intermittent disclosure of those donations during their reports on gubernatorial races and the chamber.

The company subsequently adopted "a new policy to publicly disclose corporate political contributions annually on News Corporation's corporate web site." Any ALEC membership fees paid by News Corp. are not indicated in their disclosure of corporate political contributions for 2011, which lists only contributions to candidates for office and political action and party committees.

Oliver Willis: Corsi: If Obama Wins, "People Like You And Me Will Be In Thought Education Camps -- If They Allow Us To Live"

Oliver Willis — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:13:00 EDT

On Thursday, WorldNetDaily correspondent and leading birther conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi appeared on 9/11 truther Alex Jones' radio show to engage in yet another round of paranoid ranting disconnected from reality.

Corsi appeared with Jones via Skype from Hawaii, where he is supposedly working with the "cold case posse" organized by Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio to investigate Barack Obama's birth certificate. If you thought Corsi's book, Where's The Birth Certificate, which was published a few weeks after Obama released his long-form birth certificate, was the end of the story -- you would be very wrong.

Eric Schroeck: Fox & Friends Never Misses A Chance To Demonize Muslims

Eric Schroeck — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:53:34 EDT

Fox & Friends, a home for rampant Islamophobia, returned to demonizing Muslims this week by literally sounding the siren over the Los Angeles Police Department's recent decision to change the way it stores suspicious activity reports that end up being unrelated to terrorism. The LAPD's move came in response to privacy concerns from Muslim leaders and other advocacy groups.

While LAPD officials have called the groups' concerns a "legitimate point" and stated that its suspicious activity reporting program will be "as robust as it is now," Fox & Friends claimed that the LAPD is "bowing to the demands of Muslims and relaxing their terrorism programs" and asked if they're "putting political correctness before safety."

Here are the changes the LAPD is implementing, according to the Los Angeles Times:

The department, after coming under fire from civil liberties and community groups, will no longer hold on to so-called suspicious activity reports that the LAPD's counter-terrorism unit determines are about harmless incidents.

Until now, the department stored the innocuous reports in a database for a year. That gave rise to worries among critics of the reporting program that personal information about people who had done nothing wrong could be entered inappropriately into the federal government's vast network of counter-terrorism databases and watch lists.

[...]

Once completed by an officer, a [Suspicious Activity Report] is forwarded to the department's Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau, where officers conduct a follow-up investigation to assess if there is a threat. Under the new procedures, hard copies of SARs will be destroyed and electronic versions deleted once officers conclude that the reports had no significance.

As before, information about suspicious activity will be forwarded to a regional analysis center for further vetting and, if necessary, onward for investigation by federal authorities.

And, really, that's it. Reports of suspicious activity deemed harmless will immediately be deleted from the LAPD's terror database in response to privacy concerns. The LAPD's deputy chief called it a "legitimate point" and the Times noted that the change "will have a relatively small impact." Despite this, Fox & Friends devoted two segments over two days to fearmonger about the change.

Eric Boehlert: Ailes' Whopper: Fox News Employs 1 Conservative, 24 Liberals

Eric Boehlert — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:35:00 EDT

Didn't see that one coming did you?

According to the Fox News chairman, that's how the payroll math adds up inside Fox News: The channel has just "one" conservative opinion host on the air, but employs 24 liberal contributors.

Ailes made the head-scratching pronouncement during two recent campus lectures. The first came at the University of North Carolina [emphasis added]:

Well, first, I separate out news from programming. If you're talking about programming, we noticed that all the talk shows on the other networks basically had progressive or liberal talk show hosts. We have one conservative on FOX News, Sean Hannity. Quite open about it, that's what he is, that's what he does, that's his framework, that's where he comes from. Others tend to be libertarians or populists or you can't really tell.

Last week, according to reports from Ailes' lecture at Ohio University, the Fox chairman boasted about the array of progressives he employs:

Ailes defended his network, saying he was not politically biased compared with competitors MSNBC and CNN. Ailes said he employs 24 "liberals," which distinguishes him from those networks who feature fewer dissenting opinions.

You see the point Ailes is pushing? It's that contrary to Fox's carping critics, the cable channel actually is a bastion of liberal opinion makers and viewers have to look hard to find the one conservative host.

For the record then, according to Ailes none of these Fox News opinioin hosts are "conservative":

Eric Bolling (compares Obama to drug dealer)

Steve Doocy (calls Rick Santorum "Mr. Spectacular")

Brian Kilmeade (asks why Obama is "so determined to bring us down")

Gretchen Carlson (announces voters "love love love" Herman Cain's tax plan)

Andrea Tantaros (former Republican aide; says "thank God" Tea Party members in Congress are "driving a lot of the policy in Washington")

Neil Cavuto (says Robert Reich is a "sanctimonious twit" for suggesting the rich should pay more in taxes)

Dana Perino (former Bush White House press secretary; claims Obama administration doesn't "really want any success" on the economy)

Bill O'Reilly (calls Senator Al Franken "a despicable gutter snipe")

Marcus Feldman: Bolling's Fact-Free Attack On Wage Equality Legislation

Marcus Feldman — Fri, 25 May 2012 00:34:19 EDT

Today, as guest-host for Your World with Neil Cavuto, Bolling did a segment with Young America's Foundation's Kate Obenshain attacking gender wage equality legislation. Senate Democrats are advocating for the passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act, legislation designed to combat gender wage discrimination suffered by women in the workplace.

Rather than discuss the merits of the legislation, Bolling and Obenshain spent most of their time attacking the motives of the senators and members of the Obama administration championing the legislation.

The closest they came to a substantive discussion of the need for pay equity legislation was mentioning a Rasmussen Reports poll that found that 73 percent of employed adults found that their own workplace is "free of gender discrimination."

Even leaving aside the issue of whether asking people whether there is gender discrimination in their own workplace has anything to do with whether people believe that employment discrimination exists in the country as a whole, why does it matter what polling says? What really matters is whether there is a wage gap. And on that subject, the data is clear.

Data from the U.S. Census shows that women's earnings represent only 77 percent of what men earn. This pay gap extends across all backgrounds, ages and levels of achievement, as demonstrated by the American Association of University Women. Even accounting for industry, occupation, and a plethora of other factors, research has indicated a persistent discrepancy between wages.

Furthermore, even Bolling's and Obenshain's attempt to attack the people championing workplace equity is flawed. Obenshain's claim that Senate Democrats do not practice the pay equity they preach has already been debunked. And her claim that Obama's economic policies have disproportionately impacted women negatively is equally flawed.

Adam Shah: Fox's Bolling Pushes To Deny Tax Credit For American Citizen Children

Adam Shah — Thu, 24 May 2012 23:29:17 EDT

Today, Fox's Eric Bolling hyped legislation that would deny tax credits to families with American citizen children and misrepresented the position of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on the issue.

There have been some reports of people fraudulently claiming the tax credit based on children who do not live in the United States. But rather than pushing for a solution to the fraud, Bolling hyped legislation that would stop all undocumented immigrant parents from claiming any portion of the tax credit for their children, even if those children are American citizens.

Undocumented immigrants are required to pay federal income taxes, just as citizens and other immigrants must do. Federal tax law currently allows families that earn below a certain income level to take a Child Tax Credit for each citizen or resident alien child in the family, and at some income levels, the tax credit is refundable, meaning that some taxpayers claiming the Child Tax Credit will receive a refund check from the government that is greater than the amount of tax that was withheld from their paychecks.

Undocumented immigrants also can -- and often do -- have U.S. citizen children. This is due to the fact that the Constitution states that all people born in the United States are automatically entitled to citizenship regardless of the immigration status of their parents.

The legislation at issue, introduced by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), would require anyone claiming the Child Tax Credit to have a valid Social Security number, which is unavailable to undocumented immigrants. It contains no exception for immigrants with American citizen children. And it blocks undocumented immigrants from claiming any part of the Child Tax Credit, not merely the part that is refundable.

During the segment, Bolling falsely claimed that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who recently objected to Vitter's attempt to have the Senate pass the bill by unanimous consent, "wants to block efforts" to make it illegal for people to commit Child Tax Credit fraud.

In fact, Reid actually noted that the tax code is already very clear that "the child tax credit is not available for children living outside the United States" and that the legislation in question "takes a sledgehammer to a problem that deserves some very fine tuning and a scalpel." Reid added that Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) is working with the IRS "to determine if its procedures are strong enough to stop" Child Tax Credit fraud, and said that if the procedures are not strong enough, "then it is up to Congress to plug any loopholes that may exist."

Terry Krepel: Limbaugh Rewrites His History Of Attacks On Michael J. Fox, Gets Fox's New Remarks Wrong

Terry Krepel — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:45:37 EDT

Back in 2006, Rush Limbaugh responded to an ad that actor Michael J. Fox had made, in which he endorsed Missouri Senate candidate Claire McCaskill over her support for embryonic stem cell research, by accusing him of "exaggerating the effects of [Parkinson's] disease." Limbaugh also claimed "either he didn't take his medication or he's acting," mimicked Fox's tremors, and falsely accused the actor of doing ads only for Democrats. Limbaugh later apologized -- then suggested Fox had deliberately taken too much medication to induce the tremors displayed in the ad.

Limbaugh waded back into that controversy again on his May 24 radio show -- this time by getting Fox's latest remarks wrong and minimizing his own role in attacking Fox in 2006.

Limbaugh cited an article at the anti-abortion website LifeNews to claim that Fox, in Limbaugh's words, "is admitting that stem cells -- nothing to him. Right here, I have it, LifeNews.com, Michael J. Fox admits embryonic stem cells likely will not cure him." Limbaugh insisted that this proves his earlier claim that embryonic stem cell research "was not even about curing Parkinson's or Alzheimers" but "a way to promote abortion."

In fact, not only did Fox not specifically reference embryonic stem cell research in his recent comments -- adult stem cells are a different avenue of research -- but he didn't say that there was "nothing" to it. Fox said that stem cell research is "part of a broad portfolio of things that we look at," other avenues of research have become "as much or more promising," and that he's "glad" to have promoted stem cell research in the face of those who tried to shut it down for "ideological reasons."

Eric Hananoki: Fairleigh Dickinson: Fox's Response To Our Survey Is An "Unfortunate" And "Unfounded Attack"

Eric Hananoki — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:08:00 EDT

Earlier this month, Fairleigh Dickinson University released a PublicMind survey finding that "NPR and Sunday morning political talk shows are the most informative news outlets, while exposure to partisan sources, such as Fox News and MSNBC, has a negative impact on people's current events knowledge. ... the study concludes that media sources have a significant impact on the number of questions that people were able to answer correctly. The largest effect is that of Fox News."

Fox News' public relations department reacted characteristically to the findings. Instead of critiquing the survey on its merits, Fox lashed out at the "weak academic program" at FDU's undergraduate school, reportedly telling the Hollywood Reporter:

This month, FDU released another of its PublicMind polls touting that "this nationwide survey confirms initial findings" of ill-informed FNC viewers, and an FNC spokesperson blasted the findings and turned the tables on the university, pointing out that its own students don't exactly measure up academically. (FDU was No. 585 on a Forbes ranking of 650 U.S. colleges.)

"Considering FDU's undergraduate school is ranked as one of the worst in the country," said the FNC spokesperson, "we suggest the school invest in improving its weak academic program instead of spending money on frivolous polling - their student body does not deserve to be so ill-informed."

Fairleigh Dickinson issued a statement to Media Matters calling Fox News' attack "unfortunate" and "unfounded":