Bad Deeds for 8-30-2008: Special “The Media Helps Spread Lies” Edition

 

On Fox & Friends, Millionaire Donald Trump Falsely Claimed That Obama Plans to Have “Everybody … Pay Double and Triple the Taxes” – During an appearance on Fox & Friends, Donald Trump claimed, “The worst thing that can happen [in this economy] is everybody has to pay double and triple the taxes, and that’s what [Sen. Barack] Obama is looking to do.” Fox & Friends co-hosts did not challenge Trump’s claim, even though it is false. Obama has proposed cutting taxes for low- and middle-income families and raising taxes only on households earning more than $250,000 per year in income.

 

On Fox, Huckabee Misrepresented Obama Plans for Health Care, Taxes – On the August 28 Fox News, Mike Huckabee falsely claimed that, under Sen. Barack Obama’s health-care plan, “the government will be in control,” and that “we’re going to be rationing it.” In fact, Obama has not proposed government-run health care. Indeed, Obama’s website specifically states that, under his proposal, individuals “will not have to change plans.” Huckabee then claimed that Obama will raise taxes, which has also been proven false.

 

Associated Press Misrepresents McCain’s Positions on Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, Abortion – On August 27, the Associated Press, in an article headlined “GOP takes hard line on abortion for its platform,” reported that “[Sen. John] McCain opposes gay marriage but also is against a constitutional amendment against it. He has expressed limited support for the rights accorded couples in same-sex civil unions.” The article also stated, “Apart from opposing a constitutional amendment to ban abortion, [McCain] is against most abortion rights and says he would favor overturning the Supreme Court decision affirming those rights.” In fact, McCain has expressed support for a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions and for a federal constitutional amendment banning abortion in most cases.

 

G. Gordon Liddy and Wesley Pruden Repeat Debunked Claim That Obama’s Birth Certificate is Non-Existent or Fake – G. Gordon Liddy asserted on his nationally syndicated radio show: “[W]e still don’t have a birth certificate for [Sen. Barack] Obama. There are claims that he was actually born in Kenya.” The Washington Times’ Wesley Pruden similarly wrote that a “summer-long controversy continues about when and where the senator was actually born” and falsely asserted that “[t]he Obama campaign has been reluctant to produce a birth certificate.” In fact, the Obama campaign, in addition to posting a copy of the birth certificate on the campaign website, reportedly provided the original to FactCheck.org, whose staff said in an August 21 article that they “have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate,” and concluded that the document does, in fact, exist, and that it “meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship.”

 

Fox News’ Carlson Repeated Falsehood That McCain Rarely Talks About His POW Experience – On Fox & Friends, Gretchen Carlson said that the “first time” Sen. John McCain “really did start sharing some personal moments” about his prisoner of war experience in Vietnam was during his August 16 appearance at a forum at Pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, adding that “most people would say that John McCain hasn’t talked enough about his POW experience.” In fact, McCain has discussed his POW experience, including “personal moments,” during the current campaign as well as on numerous previous occasions.

Regards,

Jim
Will you listen to your hopes or your fears?