A day after Barack Obama's speech in reaction to the bigoted and hateful rants of his long-time pastor, the network evening newscasts moved on -- with only ABC briefly mentioning the topic -- while NBC Nightly News, which has run just one clip of Jeremiah Wright and on Friday had instead featured a whole story about Obama's childhood friends cheering him on, centered a Wednesday night story around “a mistake” by John McCain. Anchor Brian Williams provided an ominous plug: “Did John McCain slip, or was his mistake intentional? His choice of words making news tonight.”
Kelly O'Donnell soon proposed: “Defense and national security are central to McCain's campaign. So a mistake he repeated this week has stood out. At least three times McCain incorrectly asserted that Iran is aiding al Qaeda.” After video of Senator Joe Lieberman whispering in McCain's ear, McCain corrected himself as O'Donnell explained: “The mistake, al Qaeda is a Sunni group while Iran is a Shia nation.” O'Donnell highlighted how “Senator Obama seized on the error,” concluding with the suggestion the one comment undermined McCain's image: “Leaving McCain to defend his expertise during a trip in which he intended to showcase it.”
As recounted in my Tuesday night NewsBusters posting, in covering Obama's speech NBC's Lee Cowan admired how "in the City of Brotherly Love, Barack Obama gave the most expansive and most intensely personal speech on race he's ever given," adding it reflected "honesty that struck his rival Hillary Clinton." Also on the NBC Nightly News, Washington Post editorial writer Jonathan Capehart asserted "it was a very important speech for the nation. It was very blunt, very honest" and so "a very important gift the Senator has given the country."
So far, the only Wright soundbite aired on NBC Nightly News ran on Saturday when viewers heard his "Not God Bless America, God damn America."
My March 15 NewsBusters item, “Instead of Wright, NBC Touts Childhood Pals: 'Good Luck Barry!',” reported:
Friday's (March 14) NBC Nightly News allocated a mere 22 seconds to Barack Obama's condemnation of what fill-in anchor Ann Curry vaguely described as "inflammatory remarks that his long time pastor made about Hillary Clinton and the nation," but instead of informing viewers of any of those remarks, such as Reverend Jeremiah Wright's suggestion that the U.S. deserved 9/11, the newscast then devoted three minutes to a celebratory piece about how excited Obama's childhood friends in Indonesia are about his candidacy.
In a story which began and ended with a picture of Obama's classmates in front of huge "Good Luck Barry!" lettering, reporter Ian Williams trumpeted the wonders Obama is doing abroad: "The fact that Obama lived in Jakarta and studied at this school has really captured the popular imagination. It's already working wonders for America's battered image here." A local commentator oozed over how "Obama's candidacy confirms the romantic ideals people like me have held since childhood that America's the land of opportunity."
Williams concluded with how "friends remember Barry playing barefoot in the paddy fields with a real spirit of adventure," and so now "hope there'll be no turning back on his journey to the White House. And Barry might attend their next reunion as President of the United States."...
ABC's World News provided the only Wednesday evening mention of Obama and Wright, in this brief exchange between Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos that followed a discussion about the problems facing Democrats in trying to count Florida and Michigan:
CHARLES GIBSON: One other subject I want to ask you about is the Obama speech from yesterday on which we reported so extensively. And I wonder how Republicans were reacting to it today.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: They think it's is a killer issue, Charlie. They have all year long believed that Hillary Clinton would be easier to beat in November. But that view is starting to change now after this Wright issue has come to the fore. There's some polling evidence to back that up. And that may turn out to be Hillary Clinton's best argument now in this nomination fight. She can go to the super-delegates and say, look at what's happened. Barack Obama has been damaged. He is no longer electable.
Hmm, maybe the fact it's “a killer issue” is why the networks were so reluctant to cover the topic and so quick to move on.
The Wednesday, March 19 NBC Nightly News story:
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Back to the presidential campaign briefly. John McCain's latest stop on his overseas trip, Israel where the talk was of neighboring Iraq and what the U.S. should do. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell is traveling with him.KELLY O'DONNELL: John McCain's visit to one of Judaism's most revered and usually solemn sights, the wailing wall, set off a commotion. A sign of intense interest in his visit. And the Iraq war was a focus during our interview.
JOHN McCAIN TO O'DONNELL: For nearly four years, we pursued a failed strategy. For the last year it's been a successful strategy.
O'DONNELL TO McCAIN: Do you believe in a first term, if elected, there would be a dramatic reduction in the number of U.S. forces engaged in combat in Iraq?
McCAIN: Oh, yes, sure.
O'DONNELL: But he declined to say how many U.S. troops would need to stay.
McCAIN: I can't give you a number and honestly the number doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is American casualties. My goal as President is to reduce and eliminate American casualties.
O'DONNELL: Defense and national security are central to McCain's campaign. So a mistake he repeated this week has stood out. At least three times McCain incorrectly asserted that Iran is aiding al Qaeda.
McCAIN IN IRAQ: That al Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran. That's well known.
O'DONNELL: Then after Senator Lieberman whispered in his ear.
MCAIN: I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al Qaeda. Not al Qaeda. I'm sorry.
O'DONNELL: The mistake, al Qaeda is a Sunni group while Iran is a Shia nation.
O'DONNELL TO McCAIN: People did notice that you made this comment and wondered was it simply a slip of the tongue?
McCAIN: I corrected it immediately. I corrected my comment immediately. But to think I would have some lack of knowledge about Sunni and Shia after my eighth visit and my deep involvement in this issue is a bit ludicrous.
O'DONNELL: But today, Senator Obama seized on the error.
BARACK OBAMA: Just yesterday we heard Senator McCain confuse Sunni and Shia, Iran and al Qaeda.
O'DONNELL: Leaving McCain to defend his expertise during a trip in which he intended to showcase it. Kelly O'Donnell, NBC News, Jerusalem.
—Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Those media jerks went from
March 20, 2008 - 13:18 ET by rbosqueThose media jerks went from defending Obama and his nutty pastor to nit-picking on a McCain slip up?
No bias here...move along...
rbo.. Yep...and this is
March 20, 2008 - 13:22 ET by bigtimerrbo..
Yep...and this is the third day of this on the msm....
Pathetic...McCain isn't my guy..but this really is getting beyond ridiculous.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
I'm only surprised she
March 20, 2008 - 14:54 ET by motherbeltI'm only surprised she didn't end on a note such as "causing some to wonder, again, if Senator McCain's age is going to be an issue."
Just Take it John
March 20, 2008 - 13:27 ET by allanfI saw Lee Cowan's report on the Today Show of March 19, 2008. It was disgraceful. The report described "controversial" remarks of Obama's minister. It should a 10 second clip of Reverent Wright talking about the Iraq War. It did not delve into the controversial remarks at all for views.
It is as close to journalistic malpractice as you can come.
Well now NBC is taking it a bit further. Apparently it will jump any misstep by McCain in an attempt to make him seem old. Peopel often interpose "Iran" and "Iraq" in speech. The names just differ in the last letter. That does not mean the concept is wrong.
Of course for Obama, NBC will provide cover.
I wonder if McCain who does not want to seem unfair will just take his medicine?
I hope you're right
March 21, 2008 - 00:36 ET by jessejfI think what you're trying to say is McCain's slip-up is not evidence of a deeper misunderstanding. That is, you believe McCain knows fully that asserting an Iran-Al Qaeda connection is rediculous, but he just misspoke. I certainly hope you're right, but I'm skeptical given the recent Republican track record.
It wasn't too long ago that Bush installed an Iraq-Al Qaeda link in America's mind, which is no less rediclous than an Iran-Al Qaeda link. I think it's very plausible that McCain knows as little about the Middle East as this "slip up" suggests. I think he has excellent expertise on the American Army, Navy and Air Force, but like most D.C. politicians, he's a complete dunce when it comes to Sunnis, Shias, Arabs and Persians. I just don't want any more idiots in the White House and making this same error 3 times suggests McCain is an idiot.
I'm a McCain supporter to an extent - i.e. I'm hopeful he could make a good president - but this is really quite frightening. We don't need another White House full of policy, tactics and strategy but devoid of any real understanding of the world.
Kill now. Name later.
March 20, 2008 - 14:37 ET by Red JeepSo now the MSM is quibbling over what the terrorists being trained in
Iraq are called? Typical MSM & Dim traitors. Let’s kill all the
terrorists in Iraq and their trainers in Iran then quibble over what to
call them.
Shia, Sunni, Shiite, Hezbooger, Hammas, whatever.
March 21, 2008 - 01:36 ET by R D HelmAlthough I think the MSM is over doing it here a little, as I believe Iran is either directly or indirectly aiding Osama's goons, I still think McCain's advanced years are a legitimate issue in this campaign.
Theme for Election '08: I want my mommy!
Iran's NOT ading al Qaeda?
March 20, 2008 - 14:50 ET by CobraMan"The mistake, al Qaeda is a Sunni group while Iran is a Shia nation."
So, I guess all the Iranian supplied explosives, weapons, ammunition, and training used by members of al Qaeda in Iraq was just a case of mistaken identity?
"Iran is supporting both Sunni and Shiite terrorists in the Iraqi civil war, according to secret Iranian documents captured by Americans in Iraq."
New York Sun Jan. 3, 2007
They have their story, and
March 20, 2008 - 15:19 ET by Ten7sThey have their story, and it suits their whims. So don't confuse them with the facts.
sources, officials, experts, analysts
March 21, 2008 - 01:30 ET by austinhook"Iran is supporting both Sunni and Shiite terrorists in the Iraqi
civil war, according to secret Iranian documents captured by Americans
in Iraq."
I heard more convincing leaks about the mobile bio labs -- who has the job of writing all this propaganda, anyhow.
Its fact son, no proaganda
March 21, 2008 - 11:54 ET by Dan The Man 2Its fact son, no proaganda about Iran supporting any terroist who wants it.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
Amazing ...
March 20, 2008 - 14:56 ET by Dave PierreNBC is flagrantly showing that they are determined to get Obama in the White House. This open campaigning and defending of Obama, while trumping up a 'mistake' by McCain, is really unbelievable.
Frankenlies.com: Al Franken debunked ...
McCain better dust off his
March 20, 2008 - 15:00 ET by CutterMcCain better dust off his old flak jacket, 'cause the MSM are providing Obama with covering fire.....
I dont know that this is as
March 20, 2008 - 15:04 ET by bassndudeI dont know that this is as bad as "speak with the President of Canada" gaff. Every third grader knows Canada dosent have a President.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
McCain corrected himself within seconds
March 20, 2008 - 15:16 ET by krendlerMcCain corrected himself within seconds (yes, with a quick prod from Lieberman) and these partisan hacks at NBC STILL want to make a huge deal about it?
Do they actually think McCain doesn't know the difference between al Qaeda (Sunni) and Shiite extremists and which side Iran is on? Of course they don't, but they don't give a $H*T. They're going to make a story out of it anyway, just like their Rock Star Obama is trying to do.
NBC/MS-NBC are an embarrassment to the notion of a free press. It's the equivalent of Obama getting 3 - 4 hours of free campaign ads every day for 18 straight months - and they're ads Obama doesn't have to be helf accountable for if they get too personal or are just flat out inaccurate.
NBC might as well just come out with a formal endorsement of Obama like many newspapers have done. Would raise very few eyebrows.
I can only imagine what NBC going to try to pull as November approaches. Will make the forged national guard documents of 2004 look mild in comparison.
Do you think that Hillary's
March 20, 2008 - 15:51 ET by CapitalismRulesDo you think that Hillary's "we had to avoid sniper-fire" mistake is getting the same treatment?
No- nor is this
March 20, 2008 - 17:00 ET by docbClinton Lie Kills Her Credibility on Trade Policy
)
What is the proper word for the claim by Hillary Clinton and the more factually disinclined supporters of her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination -- made in speeches, briefings and interviews (including one by this reporter with the candidate) -- that she has always been a critic of the North American Free Trade Agreement?
Now that we know from the 11,000 pages of Clinton White House documents released this week that former First Lady was an ardent advocate for NAFTA; now that we know she held at least five meetings to strategize about how to win congressional approval of the deal; now that we know she was in the thick of the manuevering to block the efforts of labor, farm, environmental and human rights groups to get a better agreement. Now that we know all of this, how should we assess the claim that Hillary's heart has always beaten to a fair-trade rhythm?
Now that we know from official records of her time as First Lady that Clinton was the featured speaker at a closed-door session where 120 women opinion leaders were hectored to pressure their congressional representatives to approve NAFTA; now that we know from ABC News reporting on the session that "her remarks were totally pro-NAFTA" and that "there was no equivocation for her support for NAFTA at the time;" now that we have these details confirmed, what should we make of Clinton's campaign claim that she was never comfortable with the militant free-trade agenda that has cost the United States hundreds of thousands of union jobs, that has idled entire industries, that has saddled this country with record trade deficits, undermined the security of working families in the US and abroad, and has forced Mexican farmers off their land into an economic refugee status that ultimately forces them to cross the Rio Grande River in search of work?
As she campaigns now, Clinton says, "I have been a critic of NAFTA from the very beginning."
But the White House records confirm that this is not true.
Her statement is, to be precise, a lie.
When it comes to the essential test of the trade debate, Clinton has been identified as a liar -- a put-in-boldface-type "L-I-A-R" liar.
Those of us who covered the 1993 NAFTA debate have frequently expressed doubts about the former First Lady's recent statements. We never heard anything at the time about her dissenting from the Clinton Administration line on trade policy. And we knew that she had defended NAFTA in the years following its enactment. But fairness required that we at least entertain that notion--promoted by the lamentable David Gergen, himself a champion of free-trade policies while working in the Clinton White House--that Hillary Clinton had been a behind-the-scenes critic. We had to at least consider the possibility that, at the very least, Clinton had been worried that advancing NAFTA would trip up her advocacy for health care reform, that she had made her concerns known and that she had absented herself from pro-NAFTA lobbying.
This was certainly the impression that Clinton and her supporters sought to create as she campaigned in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana--states where worried workers want to know exactly where the candidates have stood and currently stand with regard to trade issues.
But that impression was a deliberate deception.
And we must all now recognize that when Hillary Clinton speaks about trade policy, she begins with a lie so blatant--that she's been "a critic of NAFTA from the very beginning"--that everything else she says must be viewed as suspect.
This is what bugs me about McCain
March 20, 2008 - 15:42 ET by mattmHe says: "My goal as President is to reduce and eliminate American casualties."
Why wouldn't the goal be to win the WOT?
We don't have a military for the purpose of eliminating American casualties. Of course we want to minimize them, but that's not the 'goal.'
I can't see myself voting for this guy - MSM bias notwithstanding.
BTW - I don't think it's incorrect to say that Iran is helping Al Quaeda, is it?
mattm... Absolutely
March 20, 2008 - 15:50 ET by bigtimermattm...
Absolutely not!
That is the first thing I thought of, why should he retract that statement...he has all the info. more so than us out here, supposedly anyway...
Half of Osama's family fled to Iran and last I heard are still there...of course they have been working hand in hand with al Qaeda.
Plus he just fired a staffer (Dayton is his name) for putting out this video, which is true.
I guess words don't matter in this case.
I know, I know, some of you are going to say he is taking the so-called high road...what the heck is going to happen when it comes to the general if he doesn't fight, that well modulated soft voice of his isn't going to work forever...msm will see to that.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
Good for McCain!
March 20, 2008 - 15:57 ET by CobraManAs a veteran, I'm glad McCain wants to reduce and/or eliminate American causalities. The goal of any war, whether it be the war in Iraq or the general war on terror, is to MINIMIZE American causalities while MAXIMIZING enemy causalities and destroying their capacity to inflict harm upon others.
In no way does his statement show that he'll stop the war on terror, it only shows that he is aware that Americas will be put into harms way and he wants to make sure that they have a good chance of surviving when they do face the enemy in combat. That’s a laudable goal by any President.
If that's what he means,
March 20, 2008 - 16:23 ET by mattmIf that's what he means, I'm with you...but I'm not so sure that's what he means.
Based on his statement
March 20, 2008 - 16:38 ET by CobraManI can only base my opinion on the statement that you provided. That statement alone doesn't say anything about his intentions for the fight against terrorism. Since you haven't provided any other statement that would show that he doesn't intent to continue the war on terror, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this issue.
"Brain Dead Brian" Poster Child...
March 20, 2008 - 15:47 ET by Extirpaterfor what ails the Mostly Slanted Media [MSM].
We should have mercy on this Canadian export;
When one is victimizied by the Cranial Rectal Insertion {CRI], one's worldview becomes quite restricted.
There is no doubt that Iran
March 20, 2008 - 20:48 ET by CooltomThere is no doubt that Iran is funding and supplying HAMAS.
HAMAS is Sunni.
So much for the Sunni/Shia schism (say that fast three times)
Obama the FOOL, needs to read the 9/11 Commission
March 20, 2008 - 20:42 ET by Jack BauerThis is SO BOGUS by Obama. But McCain needs to come out swinging and not cringing. From the Democrat House Magazine...
FROM THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT LINKING SHITE IRAN TO SUNNI BIN LADIN... A FEW OF THE 64 REFERENCES
#1. PAGE 52
The bankruptcy of secular, autocratic nationalism was evident across the Muslim world by the late 1970s.At the same time, these regimes had closed off nearly all paths for peaceful opposition, forcing their critics to choose silence, exile, or violent opposition. Iran’s 1979 revolution swept a Shia theocracy into power. Its success encouraged Sunni fundamentalists elsewhere.
#2. PAGE 60.
In June 1996, an enormous truck bomb detonated in the Khobar Towers residential complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that housed U.S.Air Force personnel. Nineteen Americans were killed, and 372 were wounded. The operation was carried out principally, perhaps exclusively, by Saudi Hezbollah, an organization that had received support from the government of Iran (SHIA). While the evidence of Iranian involvement is strong there are also signs that al Qaeda played some role, as yet unknown.
#3. PAGE 61
Sudan’s Islamist leader,Turabi, who convened a series of meetings under the label Popular Arab and Islamic Conference around the time of Bin Ladin’s arrival in that country. Delegations of violent Islamist extremists came from all the groups represented in Bin Ladin’s Islamic Army Shura.Representatives also came from organizations such as the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
Turabi sought to persuade Shiites and Sunnis to put aside their divisions and join against the common enemy. In late 1991 or 1992, discussions in Sudan between al Qaeda and Iranian operatives led to an informal agreement to cooperate in providing support—even if only training—for actions carried out primarily against Israel and the United States.
Not long afterward, senior al Qaeda operatives and trainers traveled to Iran to receive training in explosives. In the fall of 1993, another such delegation went to the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon for further training in explosives as well as in intelligence and security. Bin Ladin reportedly showed particular interest in learning how to use truck bombs such as the one that had killed 241 U.S. Marines in Lebanon in 1983.The relationship between al Qaeda and Iran demonstrated that Sunni-Shia divisions did not necessarily pose an insurmountable barrier to cooperation in terrorist operations. As will be described in chapter 7, al Qaeda contacts with Iran continuedin ensuing years.
#4. PAGE 128.
Though intelligence gave no clear indication of what might be afoot, some intelligence reports mentioned chemical weapons, pointing toward work at a camp in southern Afghanistan called Derunta.On November 4, 1998, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York unsealed its indictment of Bin Ladin, charging him with conspiracy to attack U.S. defense installations.
The indictment also charged that al Qaeda had allied itself with Sudan, Iran, and Hezbollah.