MSNBC's Witt aired McCain ad without noting misleading claims about visiting wounded troops,

[Leo 9]

MSNBC's Witt aired McCain ad without noting misleading claims about visiting wounded troops, Afghanistan hearings, military funding

Summary: On MSNBC Live, Alex Witt aired an ad from Sen. John McCain asserting that Sen. Barack Obama "made time to go to the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras." But in neither segment did Witt or her guests note that Obama reportedly previously visited wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center without the media, or that although Obama decided not to visit Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, he reportedly made phone calls to wounded soldiers there. Nor did they challenge any of the other misleading claims in the ad.

During the 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. hours of MSNBC Live on July 27, anchor Alex Witt aired an ad from Sen. John McCain asserting that Sen. Barack Obama "made time to go to the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras." But in neither segment did Witt or her guests, McClatchy Newspapers chief Washington correspondent Steve Thomma and Hill blogger Bob Franken, note that Obama reportedly previously visited wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center without the media, or that although Obama decided not to visit Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, he reportedly made phone calls to wounded soldiers there. Nor did Witt or her guests note that according to Obama spokeswoman Linda Douglass, "We told military officials explicitly that Senator Obama had absolutely no intention of bringing any members of the media or photographers in with him to visit the wounded warriors." In addition, while the ad asserts that Obama "made time to go to the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops," the accompanying footage shows Obama playing basketball during his July 19 visit with U.S. troops at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, which neither Witt nor her guests noted.

During the 8 a.m. segment, Thomma asserted that "Obama had a gaffe here by canceling a long-planned trips to visit these wounded troops in Rammstein, Germany." He added, "I think he looked a little weak in the process, and it was a gaffe." During the 9 a.m. segment, Franken said, "I think that the Obama people blew it. Plain, simple, period." He also asserted, "And the McCain ad I think is going to draw a little bit of blood because I believe in the case of Barack Obama, if you live by the photo op, you die of the photo op, or in this particular case, the lack of a photo op."

By contrast, in a July 26 post on his blog Political Punch, ABC senior national correspondent Jake Tapper wrote:

The McCain campaign provides no evidence for the assertion that being told he couldn't bring media had anything to do with the trip's cancellation.

Oddly, when discussing Obama's trip to the gym, the ad uses footage of Obama playing basketball with US troops in Kuwait over the weekend.

snip

http://mediamatters.org/items/200807270003?f=h_top

[book_worm]

1. I've stopped watching cable news, how big of an issue is this becoming?

[Leo 9]

2. Republican Hagel Blasts McCain Attacks on Obama

Political Punch
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper

Republican Hagel Blasts McCain Attacks on Obama
July 27, 2008 12:20 PM

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb, this morning criticized two attacks his friend, fellow Republican, fellow Vietnam veteran and Senate Russell Building next-door neighbor Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., launched against Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, this week.

On CBS's Face the Nation this morning, host Bob Schieffer asked Hagel about McCain's claim that "Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a campaign."

"I think John is treading on some very thin ground here when he impugns motives and when we start to get into, 'You're less patriotic than me. I’m more patriotic,'" Hagel said. "I admire and respect John McCain very much. I have a good relationship. To this day we do. We talk often. I talked to him right before I went to Iraq, as a matter of fact. John’s better than that."

Schieffer also asked about McCain's new TV ad in which he says Obama in Europe "made time to go to the gym but canceled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras."

Hagel, who accompanied Obama on their official trip to Afghanistan and Iraq but broke off in Jordan, said, "the congressional delegation that you referred to ended when we parted in Jordan. At that point, it was a political trip for Senator Obama. I think it would have been inappropriate for him and certainly he would have been criticized by the McCain people and the press and probably should have been if on a political trip in Europe paid for by political funds - not the taxpayers -to go, essentially, then and be accused of using our wounded men and women as props for his campaign...I think it would be totally inappropriate for him on a campaign trip to go to a military hospital and use those soldiers as props. So I think he probably, based on what I know, he did the right thing."

Hagel said he wasn't sure about all the details of the controversy, but "we saw troops everywhere we went on the congressional delegation. We went out of our way to see those troops."

Hagel said of McCain's ad, "I do not think it was appropriate."

- jpt

snip

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/republican-hage.html

[Leo 9]

3. Fox's Henneberg falsely claimed Obama's campaign said he didn't visit troops at Landstuhl because...

Mon, Jul 28, 2008 8:03pm ET

Fox's Henneberg falsely claimed Obama's campaign said he didn't visit troops at Landstuhl because Pentagon prohibited cameras

Summary: Discussing Sen. John McCain's criticism of Sen. Barack Obama for not visiting wounded soldiers in Germany, Fox News' Molly Henneberg asserted that the "Obama campaign originally said the candidate thought it would be, quote, 'inappropriate' to visit wounded troops as part of a campaign-funded trip, but later they said that the Pentagon said they couldn't go without media cameras." In fact, the Obama campaign did not say that Obama decided not to visit because the Pentagon barred media from accompanying him.

On the July 28 edition of Fox News' Happening Now, while discussing Sen. John McCain's criticism of Sen. Barack Obama for not visiting wounded soldiers at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, correspondent Molly Henneberg asserted that the "Obama campaign originally said the candidate thought it would be, quote, 'inappropriate' to visit wounded troops as part of a campaign-funded trip, but later they said that the Pentagon said they couldn't go without media cameras." In fact, the Obama campaign did not say that Obama decided not to visit because the Pentagon barred media from accompanying him. According to Obama spokeswoman Linda Douglass, "We told military officials explicitly that Senator Obama had absolutely no intention of bringing any members of the media or photographers in with him to visit the wounded warriors" at Landstuhl. ABC senior national correspondent Jake Tapper and Time national political correspondent Karen Tumulty both noted in reference to a McCain campaign ad, which similarly asserts that Obama canceled the visit because "the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras," that the McCain campaign has provided "no evidence" to support that assertion.

As Media Matters for America has noted, while Obama did not go to Landstuhl, in recent weeks he did reportedly visit wounded troops -- without media present -- at a casualty unit in Iraq and at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and also reportedly made phone calls to wounded soldiers at Landstuhl following his canceled visit there.

From the July 28 edition of Fox News' Happening Now:

GREG JARRETT (co-host): Molly, one of the things we're hearing is that John McCain's campaign continues to hit Barack Obama for essentially not visiting troops in Germany. What's the latest salvo on that?

snip

http://mediamatters.org/items/200807280007?f=h_latest

[Leo 9]

4. To answer your question, the right wing media is milking it for all it's not worth.

In many cases mainstream is not challenging them on that.


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