Bad Deeds for 6-5-2008

McCain Tries to Mislead on His Hurricane Katrina Record – Unlike last month’s photo-op where the media let him get away with his make-believe Katrina record, Maya Rodriguez with the New Orleans CBS affiliate news brought a dose of reality to McCain’s town hall in Baton Rouge on Wednesday:

Rodriguez: Senator, my understanding is you have voted twice against the creation of commission to investigate the levee failures around New Orleans, and my question is: Why have you voted against that creation of that commission?

McCain: I’ve supported every investigation and ways of finding out what caused the tragedy. I’ve been here to New Orleans. I’ve met with people on the ground. I’ve met with the Governor. I’m not familiar with exactly what you said but I’ve been as active as anybody in efforts to restore the city. …

Despite his claims otherwise, the reporter was correct, and McCain’s record on Katrina is not at all what he would have you believe.

McCain Voted Twice Against Establishing A Commission To Study The Response To Hurricane Katrina. [ 9/14/2005, 2/2/2006]
McCain Opposed Granting Financial Relief To Those Affected By Hurricane Katrina. [9/15/2005]
McCain Voted Against Five Months of Medicaid For Hurricane Katrina Victims. [11/3/2005]
McCain Voted Against Emergency Funding Bill, Including $28 Billion for Hurricane Relief. [5/4/2006]

 

Secret Plan to Keep Iraq Under US Control – A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November.

The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilize Iraq’s position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country.

But the accord also threatens to provoke a political crisis in the US. President Bush wants to push it through by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated. But by perpetuating the US presence in Iraq, the long-term settlement would undercut pledges by the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, to withdraw US troops if he is elected president in November.

 

Fox News Reports Fake Story as Fact (Nothing Surprising About That) -In an April 2007 prank, a middle school student tossed a slab of leftover Easter ham onto a table surrounded by Somali Muslim youngsters, knowing the Muslims would be offended. Muslims consider pork unclean.

A few days later, a parody story spoofing the ham controversy was posted online. The story attributed numerous made-up quotes to Superintendent Leon Levesque, including the need to teach kids that “ham is not a toy” and references to developing an “anti-ham response plan.”

The spoof was reported as fact on “Fox and Friends” on April 23. After Levesque contacted Fox, the network aired a retraction.

Among other things, the anchors had quoted Levesque as saying, “All our students should feel welcome in our schools, knowing that they are safe from attacks with ham, bacon, pork chops or any other delicious meat that comes from pigs.” The anchors also told viewers several times, “We are not making this up.”

U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby, who sits in Portland, concluded Tuesday that Fox News was unprofessional in reporting false and “outrageous quotations” without confirming their accuracy, but did not act out of malice.

The Fox co-hosts “were certainly gullible,” Hornby wrote, adding that portions of the fake story were “so absurd that they should have raised the defendants’ truth-seeking antennae and caused them to question the accuracy of the article.”

Regards,

Jim