Text 1579, 306 rader
Skriven 2006-06-29 19:25:00 av ROSS SAUER (1:123/140)
Ärende: Conservatives and Murtha
================================
So when some "conservatives" smear Murtha, afterwards, they "cut and 
run" from the truth.

Several conservative media figures have issued corrections for reporting 
Murtha misquote; what about all the others?

Summary: After attacking Rep. John P. Murtha over a statement by him 
that was misreported and subsequently corrected by the South Florida Sun-
Sentinel, some conservative media figures have not issued corrections 
for their repetition of the error.

On June 25, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 
reported that while delivering a speech to a small Miami crowd, Rep. 
John P. Murtha (D-PA) claimed that the "American presence in Iraq is 
more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or 
Iran." The Sun-Sentinel did not offer a direct quote of Murtha's alleged 
comments. The same day, at around 2 p.m. ET, Internet gossip Matt Drudge 
posted the story on his website, The Drudge Report. The following day, 
numerous conservative media figures reported the comments that Murtha 
had allegedly made, some using them as a basis to launch vicious attacks 
against Murtha or even suggest that Congress should censure him. The Sun-
Sentinel has since issued a correction, stating that Murtha was actually 
citing a recent Pew Research Center poll covering the United States and 
14 European, African, and Asian countries. The survey found that 
respondents in 10 of the 14 foreign countries polled said that the U.S. 
presence in Iraq is seen as a greater threat to global security than 
North Korea and Iran. While Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund and 
Fox News anchor Brit Hume noted the correction after reporting the 
story, many other conservative media figures who touted the Sun-Sentinel 
report have yet to do so.

After the weblog Think Progress first noted the Sun-Sentinel's error, 
the newspaper issued the following correction on June 28 to its report 
on Murtha's speech: 

Correction: An article in Sunday's editions misinterpreted a comment 
from U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., at a town hall meeting in North Miami 
on Saturday. In his speech, Murtha said U.S. credibility was suffering 
because of continued U.S. military presence in Iraq, and the perception 
that the U.S. is an occupying force. Murtha was citing a recent poll, by 
the Pew Global Attitudes Project, that indicates a greater percentage of 
people in 10 of 14 foreign countries consider the U.S. in Iraq a greater 
danger to world peace than any threats posed by Iran or North Korea. 

Several conservatives have noted the Sun-Sentinel's correction. During 
the "Political Grapevine" segment on the June 26 edition of Fox News' 
Special Report, host Brit Hume reported that the Sun-Sentinel had 
claimed Murtha "says the American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to 
world peace than from nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran." On the 
June 28 edition of Special Report, with on-screen text that read "Murtha 
Mischaracterized," Hume corrected the error: 

HUME: The South Florida Sun-Sentinel is now officially backing off a 
Sunday report claiming that anti-war Congressman Jack Murtha called the 
U.S. presence in Iraq a greater threat to global security than Iran or 
North Korea, a story we mentioned here on Monday. Instead, the paper 
says in a correction that Murtha was citing a recent global Pew poll 
showing that more people worldwide think the U.S. is a threat than think 
that of Iran or North Korea. 




In addition, in the June 26 edition of his "On the Trail" Wall Street 
Journal column, John Fund also cited the Sun-Sentinel report, adding 
that "Mr. Murtha has been sticking his foot in his mouth a lot lately." 
OpinionJournal.com appended a "clarification" to the end of the column 
noting the Sun-Sentinel correction.

However, many conservative media figures who noted Murtha's purported 
statement have not issued corrections, and many conservative pundits who 
used the report to smear Murtha have not apologized for their remarks.

Think Progress flagged these comments by Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, 
Fox News political analyst Newt Gingrich, and MSNBC host Tucker Carlson: 

Bill O'Reilly, Fox News, 6/26:

Murtha has lost all perspective and did months ago, but his message is 
firmly entrenched in America's far-left precincts. ... [T]hat kind of 
extreme thinking, based on little evidence, by the way, is putting all 
Americans in danger.

Tucker Carlson, MSNBC, 6/26:

What is really going on here, and you know it as well as I, is that Jack 
Murtha has been intoxicated by the amount of publicity that he has 
gotten from his anti-war crusade, and he has become progressively more 
unreasonable, progressively more left-wing as the days go on, and he is 
in the thrall of people who, I think, have hostility towards the United 
States.

Newt Gingrich, Fox News, 6/26:

For an American congressman to say that is beyond any acceptable 
behavior, and I would hope the Congress would move to censure him. 

The following conservative media figures also used the Sun-Sentinel 
report to attack Murtha and have not retracted their remarks: 

Discussing the Sun-Sentinel report during his June 26 radio show, Neal 
Boortz compared Murtha to Lee Harvey Oswald and Charles Whitman, who 
shot dozens of people from atop a tower in Austin, Texas, in 1966. 
Boortz said that "Moonbat" Murtha "has lost his mind," later adding that 
"the Democrats need to get ready to throw this man under the bus."
On the June 26 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, guest host Mike 
Gallagher, discussing Murtha's alleged comments with Gingrich and co-
host Alan Colmes, asked: "Is this guy having some kind of mental 
meltdown? Is he crazy like a fox or just plain crazy?" Gingrich added 
that "the most logical explanation" for Murtha's supposed comments is 
that "it's conceivable that Murtha woke up one day a year ago and said, 
'You know, if I don't start bashing America, and bashing the military, 
and repudiating everything I've stood for my whole life, these guys 
aren't going to allow me to be chairman of the committee that spends the 
money.' "
On the June 26 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, Republican 
Strategist Jack Burkman claimed that with Murtha's comments, as 
originally reported by the Sun-Sentinel, "did nothing but disparage our 
troops." 
In addition to the examples noted by Think Progress, these conservative 
media figures reported the Sun-Sentinel story as fact and have not 
issued corrections: 

On June 26, Greg Pierce of The Washington Times reported that "[t]he 
U.S. presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear 
threats from North Korea or Iran, Rep. John P. Murtha told an audience 
of more than 200 in North Miami on Saturday afternoon."
Similarly, on June 28, a Washington Times editorial discussing Murtha's 
alleged comments, stated: "[T]hat's a pretty spectacular claim to make, 
not to mention spectacularly silly." The Washington Times has yet to 
issue a correction to either Pierce's story or the editorial.
Guest-hosting for Rush Limbaugh on the June 26 edition of his nationally 
syndicated radio show, Paul W. Smith asserted: "Imagine Murtha saying 
that the U.S. poses the top threat to world peace. The U.S. poses the 
top threat to world peace. American presence in Iraq is more dangerous 
to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran. That 
according to Rep. John Murtha. Imagine that." Chicago Sun-Times 
columnist Mark Steyn replied: "Well, that guy has flown the coop." 
From the June 26 edition of Cox Radio Syndication's The Neal Boortz 
Show:

BOORTZ: Jack Murtha has lost his mind. The Democrat from Pennsylvania, 
Jack Murtha, now, ladies and gentleman -- you know, he's the one that 
was calling the Marines murderers before, shooting down civilians in 
cold blood. Now he says that the United States of America is the 
greatest threat to world peace. That we, not the strange little gargoyle 
in North Korea. You know, the one that goes out there and kidnaps 
Japanese movie stars and has them brought to Pyongyang to be his sexual 
slaves. The one that now claims nuclear weapons and wants to fire off a 
rocket toward the United States. No. Or the madmen, the mad mullahs of 
Iran and their drive to develop nuclear weapons and their statements 
that Israel ought to wiped off the face of the map. No. No. It is the 
United States that is the greatest threat to world peace, according to 
Moonbat Murtha from Pennsylvania. So we'll certainly have something to 
say about that.

[...]

BOORTZ: Jack Murtha has -- the Democrats need to get ready to throw this 
man under the bus. Jack Murtha says that our troops are a worse threat 
to world peace, that the United Nations is more -- excuse me, the United 
States is more of a threat to world peace than North Korea or Iran. He's 
the new Cindy -- the male Cindy Sheehan. That the United States is a 
greater threat to world peace -- how do you like those Democrats, folks? 
That we are the greatest threat to world peace out there, the United 
States. Jack Murtha. And don't give me this, "Oh, he's a former Marine." 
So was Lee Harvey Oswald. So was Charles Whitman. Being a former Marine 
does not give you all that much moral authority where you can make 
statements like that and be completely free of any criticism. 

From the June 26 edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show: 

SMITH: Imagine Murtha saying that the U.S. poses the top threat to world 
peace. The U.S. poses the top threat to world peace. American presence 
in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North 
Korea or Iran. That according to Rep. John Murtha. Imagine that.

STEYN: Well, that guy has flown the coop. And to be honest, I think it's 
a measure of the complete intellectual bankruptcy of the Democratic 
Party that he is being promoted on [NBC's] Meet the Press and all these 
other TV shows as if he's some great font of wisdom.

You know, as one always has to say in this situation -- one respects his 
service in Vietnam. That's not the war we're fighting now, and given the 
way, you know, Bob Dole got no credit for what he went through in World 
War II when he ran for president, I'm a little suspicious of this way 
that the only military service that counts with the left these days is 
service in a cause America lost with great, great problems for the world 
and the years afterwards. 

From the June 26 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume: 

HUME: Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman John Murtha, who has called 
for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and their removal 
to Okinawa, Japan, now says the American presence in Iraq is more 
dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran. 
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that Murtha not only said that, 
but also denounced what he called the military's cover-up of the deaths 
of Iraqi civilians at the hands of U.S. Marines in Haditha at a town 
meeting in Miami this weekend, despite a Pentagon report last week that 
found no evidence of a knowing cover-up. 

From the June 28 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume: 

HUME: The South Florida Sun-Sentinel is now officially backing off a 
Sunday report claiming that anti-war Congressman Jack Murtha called the 
U.S. presence in Iraq a greater threat to global security than Iran or 
North Korea, a story we mentioned here on Monday. Instead, the paper 
says in a correction that Murtha was citing a recent global Pew poll 
showing that more people worldwide think the U.S. is a threat than think 
that of Iran or North Korea. 

From the June 26 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes: 

GALLAGHER: Thanks for watching Hannity & Colmes. I'm Mike Gallagher, 
filling in tonight for Sean.

Well, Congressman John Murtha is once again drawing fire for comments he 
made over the weekend while speaking in Florida. Murtha once again 
called for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and said 
that the United States is more dangerous to world peace than either Iran 
or North Korea.

We continue now with former speaker of the House and Fox News 
contributor Newt Gingrich.

Mr. Speaker, there's something very definitely going on with Jack 
Murtha. He goes from calling U.S. Marines cold-blooded murderers before 
there was even a preliminary investigation of Haditha to this latest 
outrage. Is this guy having some kind of mental meltdown? Is he crazy 
like a fox or just plain crazy?

GINGRICH: Well, you know, it may be that Murtha thinks the Democrats are 
going to gain control of the House and that only if he appeases the hard-
line left in the Democratic Party will he be able to become the chairman 
of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

If you look at what's happening to Senator Joe Lieberman in Connecticut, 
where a hard-core anti-war Democrat is giving him a very tough race in 
the primary, and you realize how much more left-wing the House 
Democratic Caucus now is, it's conceivable that Murtha woke up one day a 
year ago and said, "You know, if I don't start bashing America, and 
bashing the military, and repudiating everything I've stood for my whole 
life, these guys aren't going to allow me to be chairman of the 
committee that spends the money."

I'm not saying that's the case --

GALLAGHER: Right.

GINGRICH: -- but it's the most logical explanation.

However, notice that attacking America first is something that Dick 
Durbin [IL] did, the Democratic whip in the Senate, who compared the 
United States to Stalin's Russia, to Pol Pot's Cambodia, and to Adolf 
Hitler's Nazi Germany, and Murtha has now said something which almost no 
rational American can believe.

GALLAGHER: Right. It's so left. It's so active -- I mean, it's like a 
male Cindy Sheehan. I mean, this is something that's way, way, out of 
touch with mainstream Americans, even, I would think, even for 
Democrats. 

From the June 26 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country: 

SCARBOROUGH: In tonight's Scarborough Country "Showdown," Democratic 
Congressman John Murtha at it again this weekend in Florida. While 
repeating his call to bring home U.S. troops, the congressman took it 
one step further according the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper, 
saying this, quote, "American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to 
world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran." That is an 
amazing statement. You know what? Democrats across America may generally 
agree with Congressman Murtha, but his own party in Washington seems to 
be running scared.

[...]

BURKMAN: Joe, I will tell you, I am so outraged. This is worse than 
[filmmaker] Michael Moore. For him to say this, he is openly disparaging 
our soldiers. And I'll tell you something else. This is a man -- It's 
time to go to John Murtha's background. This is a man --

SCARBOROUGH: Is he attacking soldiers or he is he attacking the 
president of the United States' strategy in Iraq.

BURKMAN: He is allowed to attack the president's strategy, but when he 
goes over the line and starts to question the character and fitness of 
the president and the character and fitness of our military men, which 
is what he is now doing, that opens the door to question his background.

[...]

BURKMAN: But if somebody like [fellow guest] Mike [Papantonio], who does 
nothing on his radio show and Air America but disparage our soldiers on 
a daily and weekly basis, that's what they do for a living. And if 
somebody like John Murtha -- you know John Murtha, is proud of his 
Vietnam War, his Marine record, but I'll tell you something else, he 
came out this weekend and did nothing but disparage our troops. 

© 2006 Media Matters for America.

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