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.

In a September 3 interview, World News anchor 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 Alaska home town, she "learned that earmarks are bad" when she became governor and said, "No more for my state." Rather than challenge the claim, Gibson asked an unrelated question. 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, and other media outlets have noted her earmark requests as governor. The Seattle Times reported on September 2 that the request was "more, per person, than any other state."

ABC News did not air that part of the interview on the September 3 broadcast of World News, much less note that McCain promoted a false claim. The exchange was made public only in a transcript ABC News posted on its website. According to the transcript, Gibson said in the interview, "Earmarks...[Palin] got $27 million in earmarks for her small town. You have talked about them in pernicious terms that you campaign. So why are they OK for them?" McCain replied:

And then she learned that earmarks are bad. I know lots of people that are converts. And then when she became governor, she said, "No more for my state." She said, "We don't want the 'Bridge to Nowhere.' "

She, of course, understood, over time, how terrible and pernicious these earmarks are and how great an evil they are, and I'm glad she took the position that she did, against the old bulls in her own party.

Gibson also left unchallenged McCain's claim that Palin said, "We don't want the 'Bridge to Nowhere.'" The Seattle Times article reported that after "appear[ing] to embrace" the "so-called 'Bridge to Nowhere' " during her run for governor, "A year later, as criticism of earmarks mounted, Palin began to speak out against earmarks" but nonetheless kept the federal money for Alaska's earmarks and used the funds for other projects.

—D.C.P.