MediaMatters: CBSNews.com article falsely claimed Obama knocked Edwards

[TeamJordan23]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200707200011

CBSNews.com article falsely claimed Obama knocked Edwards for "mak millions as a trial lawyer"

A July 18 CBSNews.com article on Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) July 18 speech about poverty in urban areas asserted, "At one point, Obama seemed to take aim at Edwards , who has tried to make poverty the main issue of his candidacy." The article quoted Obama -- "This kind of poverty is not an issue I just discovered for the purposes of a campaign; it is the cause that led me to a life of public service almost twenty-five years ago" -- and went on to make the following false assertion: "In fact, Obama pointed out he turned down lucrative offers at major law firms to return to the south side of Chicago as a community organizer, while Edwards went on to make millions as a trial lawyer before beginning his career in public service." But in the speech, Obama did not, in fact, mention turning down offers from law firms, and while the article suggested Obama criticized Edwards for making "millions as a trial lawyer before beginning his career in public service," Obama did no such thing. The full audio of Obama's speech is here.

The article quoted Edwards' campaign manager, Jonathan Prince, who responded to Obama's speech in part by saying: "I have no reason to think that Senator Obama was talking about Senator Edwards at all."

[Unreconstructed Lib]

1. This article was the work of an intern at CBS.

I sincerely hope that she is an aberration among the next generation of journalists.

[jmp]

2. Sure sounded like he was.

Obama has a nasty streak he tries to hide, but it seeps out every so often.