Join the Discussion
ABC's Gibson did not challenge earmark claim, much less inform viewers that McCain promoted a falsehood
Summary: In a September 3 interview, Charles Gibson did not challenge the claim by Sen. John McCain that after Sarah Palin obtained millions of dollars in earmarks as mayor of her home town, she "learned that earmarks are bad" when she became governor and said, "No more for my state." At no point did Gibson point out that as governor, Palin, by her own account, requested hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks for Alaska just this year. ABC News did not air that part of the interview on the September 3 broadcast of World News, much less note that McCain was promoting a false claim.
Read more
Threaded Comments: on / off
Posted by eweston8542983
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 6:38:06 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by DAWUSS
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 6:46:14 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by wzwriter in reply to DAWUSS
How many mods are going to bring things like this up during the debates?
Perhaps they should make it a requirement that both candidates be hooked up to lie detectors during the debate. You'd see the mackine hooked up to Gramps McCain blow up midway through.....
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 6:49:57 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by historygeek001 in reply to wzwriter
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 11:30:15 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by mefirst
mccain claims that palin said "we don't want the bridge to nowhere". no, she said we want the federal government to pay for it. watched the today show this morning, lauer was doing his best to talk her up. i only heard excerpts of her speech, but heard enough to know it was just the usual smugness and smarm that follows the bush playbook.
i can't believe anyone thinks this family belongs in the white house. she's another braindead mannequin repeating all the talking points. perhaps it would be a good reality show. the wasilla hillbillies, lots of cipherin' about the national debt, and cookin' moose stew down by the cement pond.
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 6:47:16 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by shaggles
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 7:11:42 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by Max Dharma in reply to shaggles
Media ignore "bridge to nowhere" falsehood in Palin speech, ....
Wallace did not challenge McCain's claim that Palin said ...
Without refuting it, AP, Bloomberg report Palin accusation that Obama ...
Boo - flying - hoo!
Everyone is being SO mean to Obama .. and it's all that evil Palin's fault!
I believe she's a witch, a witch I tell you!
It's a conspiracy !! She’s hypnotized the public!
Palin > golden boy obama
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 9:29:45 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by skeptical in reply to Max Dharma
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 9:35:01 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by snoopy in reply to Max Dharma
Well, I'm not surprised with what just happened during the republican convention...
McCain To Enter ‘Stage Right’ at GOP Convention
By Don Davis“I’M GOING TO BE BROUGHT OUT IN SHACKLES, IN A HANOI HILTON STYLE CELL, WHERE l’LL SINGLE-HANDEDLY OVERCOME MY NORTH VIETNAMESE GUARDS, THEN STOP AN ABORTION IN PROGRESS, AND FINISH UP BY DRILLING FOR OIL RIGHT THROUGH THE CONVENTION STAGE.”
Gidget and Geezer = B rated movie
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 10:21:24 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by eweston8542983 in reply to Max Dharma
Yah Micky picked up seven mil with his VP pick. Obama picked up eight mil. Yep its working really well for Micky.
So much so that I've finally made a contribution to Obama's campaign. And I'm sorry I'm not flush enought to send more.
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 10:22:21 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by NiceguyEddie in reply to Max Dharma
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 7:46:18 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by open_mind in reply to Max Dharma
Posted Saturday September 6, 2008 11:07:18 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by edenscape246494
The RNC- Pale in comparison, many puns intended
So I'm driving home last night and I remember the Palin speech was supposed to be on, I flip over to the sewer that is the low end of the am dial and I find Ann Coulter going on a tirade. She's basically strung together every debunked, exposed attack line the GOP dittoheads have been parroting all campaign long. Midway through another litany of overused invective the announcer comes on and I nearly swerve off the road when he informs me that this isn't Ann Coulter but in fact is Palin speaking at the convention. Jesus Tap Dancing Christ! Are the Righty's nuts? I've never seen a Christian lady lie so often in such a short period of time, all you need to do is google a news article or two and you can see that almost point for point the Palin speech was little more than a recap of the talk radio screed punctuated with laugh pauses. The only thing laughable is that the Rightwingnuts think this is gonna play with Independants. Now I know, I know, that the VPs job is to throw out red meat but when you start your speech with "pretty please mean old Liberal press of the East coast, don't hit me, I'm just a girl" it's a little hard to take your attack dog with lipstick schtick seriously. I mean, come on, if you can't handle questions from a domestic newspaper than how can you handle our countries enemies.
People are looking for change and a partisan personal attack speech is just more of the same divisive tactics we've seen now for more than eight years. For such an outsider she sure did look comfortable playing Dick Cheney in high heels, complete with Pinnochio's long nose.
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 7:14:04 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by ukobserver
A bit off-topic but l thought you would be interested to read a view on Sarah Palin from a British commentator from Liverpool who doesn't work for Murdoch or The Guardian!! Be warned, it's not very flattering.
Sarah Palin: She ticks every box in the "Neo-Con book" and then some
By Brian Reade 4/09/2008
Taking an interest in British politics may seem as pointless as giving a manic depressive a 10-year subscription to Suicide Monthly, but it could be worse.
Imagine if your mum or gran had swooned at a GI's offer of some nylons in the 40s and you were now watching your country's Presidential election on the TV over a box of Dunkin' Donuts propped on your 56in gut.
Imagine witnessing a people incapable of letting a politician start a sentence without thumping their left nipple and weeping, or end a sentence without shrieking like a boyband groupie who's just stood on a nail.
How could you take seriously big business pumping billions of dollars into the coffers of political puppets schooled to say nothing controversial, just words like "choice" and "change"?
It's bad enough watching Democrats con themselves into believing that if a black First Lady gets to choose the White House drapes the world will be turned on its head.
But the Republicans have truly exposed the American electoral system for the sham it is. Has a more frightening political photofit than Sarah Palin ever been manufactured by spin doctors?
She ticks every box in the Neo-Con book and then some. She could not be more of an evangelical right-winger if she banged her tambourine on a white hood.
She's a gun fanatic who is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. An abortion-hater, who has five kids. A God-fearing Christian who backs teaching creationism in schools. A hardnosed careerist who was so driven at school they called her Sarah Barracuda. An unflinching patriot whose soldier son Track (like siblings Trig, Bristol, Willow and Piper, given a dog name in best redneck tradition) may soon be fighting for Uncle Sam in Iraq.
The Miss Congeniality beauty pageant runner-up who married her high school Action Man and turned hockey mom is aimed at the hearts of all-American women. Not to mention the loins of all-American men, due to looking like a secretary strip-a-gram who, once the door's shut, will lose the glasses and straddle you.
The fact that she's done nothing but govern, for five minutes, a state with the same population as Bristol (that's the city, not her daughter) is irrelevant.
Her inexperience like her skeletons have been ignored because, sat next to the grey pensioner John McCain, they look like a Fox News anchor team. The sage and the eyecandy. Reassuring and homely.
And here, in a nutshell, is the pointlessness of the race for the White House. The nation's ruling party has teamed up a couple who had met only once before and who have little in common, apart from being anti-Commie and ProLife. And they are selling them as the best people to run the world for the next four years because they have the same age/gender balance as Trevor McDonald (think Ted Koppel) and Julie Etchingham (think Katie Couric).
Suddenly hearing Gordon Brown and Hazel Blears droning on about 30 per cent five-year loans for first-time buyers all seems quaintly reassuring.
McCain is the sage and she is the eye-candy
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 8:04:07 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by skeptical in reply to ukobserver
UK,
Thanks for posting that. That is by far, the best summary of this craziness that I have seen yet.
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 8:43:04 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by mary59 in reply to skeptical
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 9:18:21 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by DAWUSS in reply to ukobserver
Wonderful insight from the other side of the puddle. Good read during a WAS-NYG commercial break.
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 9:12:29 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by historygeek001 in reply to ukobserver
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 11:41:10 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by MayberryDrunk
http://mediamatters.org/items/200806290001?f=s_search
Interesting, considering it was back in June.
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 8:10:17 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by NiceguyEddie in reply to MayberryDrunk
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 9:53:41 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by Max Dharma
That's all you need to know.
Palin > Obama
PS. If you want to “challenge someone” on what they USED to believe, lets challenge Obama on his drug use .. or is it good enough that he no longer feels that way.
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 9:10:31 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by skeptical in reply to Max Dharma
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 9:23:36 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by jawill11 in reply to Max Dharma
when she became governor and said, "No more for my state."
That's all you need to know.
Too bad you didn't follow your own advice because that is all you need to know to understand what MMFA stated with evidence. When McCain said that, he was lying. MMFA provided evidence of how Palin loved earmarks up until apparently last week, not when she entered the Governor's office, as McCain falsly stated.
Obama = Palin10
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 9:26:38 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by jawill11 in reply to jawill11
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 9:29:30 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by loonz in reply to jawill11
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 9:37:40 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by walstib in reply to Max Dharma
SHe said no to the bridge but kept the money.
Game, set, match.
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 10:16:18 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by shaggles in reply to Max Dharma
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 1:24:43 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by Max Dharma
MMFA *wants* to steer you away from recognizing how well Gov Palin did last night; and the way they choose to do it is through innuendo and false assertions.
g/j MMFA, but keep in mind:
Palin > Obama
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 9:16:04 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by mary59 in reply to Max Dharma
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 9:19:22 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by pete592 in reply to mary59
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 9:36:43 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by mary59 in reply to pete592
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 11:14:12 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by pete592 in reply to mary59
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 12:40:29 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by skeptical in reply to Max Dharma
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 9:24:47 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by pete592 in reply to Max Dharma
NO, THEY ARE NOT "NON-ISSUES."
Why? Because Palin made them issues in her first speech AND her second.
She's selling herself as the enemy of earmarks, BUT HER RECORD SAYS COMPLETELY THE OPPOSITE.
Here's some more fun 'word math' for you. This time an equation containing two constants:
Palin = LIAR
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 9:35:16 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by snoopy in reply to Max Dharma
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 12:20:18 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by DAWUSS
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 10:03:44 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by wolf kotenberg in reply to DAWUSS
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 10:06:56 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by DAWUSS in reply to DAWUSS
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 10:16:25 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by walstib in reply to DAWUSS
though I am loathe to respond to you...
love the green screen!
technology is scary.
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 10:18:21 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by neon desert in reply to walstib
When I first clicked it on, I saw the green screen, and my first thought was "they're replaying his old speech". Then when I realized that I was seeing it live, I thought "What did they learn from that first speech that would make them think this was preferable?"
Then, when the camera panned out showing that the green behind McSame was the grass in front of the White House, I thought "Holy cow, these guys truly are morons. They never learn."
Doesn't fill me with warm fuzzies that McSame can deal with the intricacies of running the country.
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 12:16:26 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by DAWUSS in reply to DAWUSS
Some quick observations:
Where's the Flag Lapel Pin? (and more so, the outrage behind its absence?)
I think McCain ripped off Michelle Obama over the whole "be a government worker, run for office, be a teacher, be a soldier" theme, and there was some things that made me say "yeah, right...", such as his segment of our school system.
And I caught the "Obama tax increase" line a few times as well, along with the George Bush awkward smiles after statements (the "Did that come out right?" smile)
Other than that it wasn't a bad speech at all. I think his strongest point was how he was able to connect to US soldiers fighting a war based on his personal experience. And I also have to give him kudos for being sportsmanlike about Obama and his supporters before comparing himself with Obama (even though there were a couple GOP propaganda points embedded in there). He still didn't do much to win me over, however. I'm still in the "Uncommitted" column.
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 11:14:49 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by neon desert in reply to DAWUSS
I thought the best part was when he was talking about Palin, and said "She has worked with her hands and nose.....and knows..."
Priceless.
Although, after giving it some thought, we could use a good hunting dog in the white house.
Also really enjoyed the "Mavrick" banner. Good stagecraft to make sure everyone nose...heh heh...knows that we're definitely not dealing with elites here.
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 11:49:49 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by DAWUSS in reply to neon desert
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 11:55:21 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by neon desert in reply to DAWUSS
Dang! The colonel scooped me by 10 minutes.
But I still got the "worked with her hands and nose" exclusive.
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 12:06:26 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by Col. Harlan Sanders in reply to neon desert
"worked with her hands and nose"
Damn, I heard that one too! There was just too much comedy to remember. Does it worry you that you notice the same crap as I do?
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 12:59:25 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by neon desert in reply to Col. Harlan Sanders
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 1:17:38 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by Brabantio in reply to neon desert
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 12:06:36 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by Brabantio in reply to DAWUSS
"I think McCain ripped off Michelle Obama over the whole "be a government worker, run for office, be a teacher, be a soldier" theme, and there was some things that made me say "yeah, right...", such as his segment of our school system."
Actually, he ripped off Michelle Obama when he said he fell in love with his country while a prisoner in someone else's. So he didn't love his country before then? If Michelle wasn't patriotic because she was "really" proud of her country for the first time, McCain wasn't patriotic until it was tortured into him. Brilliant work, guys. I guess that explains our policies as well. We torture terrorist suspects, which makes them love their home countries, and we can't let them go because if we do they'll go back and get widespread support as leaders just because they were tortured. We can't have that.
More seriously, I don't think he'll get a bounce from this speech. He's trying to grab some of Obama's "change" message, but Obama is hitting the 90% point too hard for McCain to get away with it. People just aren't going to buy reform from someone who has agreed with so many disastrous policies. He didn't deliver particularly well, and selling himself on his POW status is already wearing thin. I might be wrong, but I just don't see how this is going to sway a significant chunk of the electorate.
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 12:01:01 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by foghornleghorn in reply to Brabantio
We torture terrorist suspects, which makes them love their home countries
Torture can also make you believe that 2+2=5.
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 11:26:38 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by walstib
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 10:20:22 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by eweston8542983
Above printed without translation.
Roberta who?
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 10:25:35 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by Col. Harlan Sanders in reply to eweston8542983
I think Roberta is grampy's mommy.
My favorite part of McSame's call to public service was within a few seconds of his urging Americans to teach an illiterate adult to read ( a line he stumbled on trying to follow that newfangled teleprompter), the camera went to a supporter with a sign that read "The Mavrick" (sic)
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 11:40:48 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by Col. Harlan Sanders in reply to Col. Harlan Sanders
Good news for Sarah Palin; She is now in second place in the most vapid major political speech in U.S. history Derby.. I was almost wishing for a childish BS-based "zinger" or that annoying voice, just to keep me from going into a coma.
After Grampy's speech, the Nu-Country guy (and I say that because no self-respecting redneck plays a Flying-V) played the theme song "Raising McCain", the boneheaded choice for an anthem that conjures up images of exhumation of a corpse, followed by the sound system playing Heart's "Barracuda".
I think the message was "Ignore the old man in front of the curtain, think about the shrill naughty librarian who talked about the younger version of McCain last night"
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 11:48:02 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by DAWUSS in reply to Col. Harlan Sanders
The article on the first comment page has it nailed down - "he's the sage, she's the eye-candy"
I know - pretty soon we'll have Megan Kelly, Michelle Malkin and Sarah Palin all together on FOX News for all of YouTube people to redistribute
Posted Thursday September 4, 2008 11:53:24 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by neon desert in reply to DAWUSS
McCain the sage?!? If you're talking about the aromatic high plains plant that is sometimes used as an herb for food, it would be a little more easy to understand.
But this is a guy who several times during his speech mentioned that he was itchin' for a fight, or would get in a fight for fun. I'm not sure that I consider that to be such a great trait for a C in C with his finger on the button. Not a whole lot of cranial exercise went into the addition of that to his speech. Then again, if your base is war-mongers and people who don't mind sending other people's kids overseas to get shot at, maybe it wasn't such a bad move after all.
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 12:26:36 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by Col. Harlan Sanders in reply to neon desert
The old Republicans did seem to climax (metaphorically, of course) with the chanting of the word "fight". "Stand up" seemed to be a pretty inspirational goal for most of them as well.
I shouldn't laugh. Every year, I have to fight harder to stand up, And when I get off the couch , I make that "oof" noise that I used to laugh at my dad for making.
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 1:03:54 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by neon desert in reply to Col. Harlan Sanders
Unfortunately, I know what you mean.
With the realization that my athletic limit these days is walking from the cart to the green without resting, I've lowered my aspirations to a more reasonable level. My next goal is the title of "curmudgeon".
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 1:29:40 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by sn0wy25914
What we should be talking about are reports like this:
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.summer.shootings.2.810166.html
I'd say we should get our own house our own base working to solve problems. We vilify, and rightly so, the Repubs for this war... Who's fault, maybe wrong term, but who's "people" are WE responsible for ?
Here we have our team that derides the "war on terror" in Iraq, but yet it is our party that is suppose to stand for the urban areas of America, to help and lift, to support and understand. Seems we have work to do and a Nation that is so divided.
We talk a great game about unity, we say we are willing to work across party lines, Sen Obama has pledged that, however all we do is tear into one another here. I sure could not see myself, Snoopy or the Conl sitting at a table and trying to work a compromise with AA or ProudConserv
So what do we do ? Force them to come over to us period ?
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 9:36:04 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by Col. Harlan Sanders in reply to sn0wy25914
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 10:40:25 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by Easy to refute wingnuts in reply to Col. Harlan Sanders
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 2:21:09 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by cha24ampong3472
Posted Friday September 5, 2008 3:41:32 PM EDT / Flag this comment