Posted by
Mike Bates on Saturday, September 20, 2008 3:27:20 PM
Friday on CNN's American Morning, network correspondent
Alina Cho conducted a "reality check" of a
John McCain ad
that labels Barack Obama the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate.
These "fact checks" are increasingly popular in the mainstream media
this presidential year. Cho started:
ALINA CHO, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And a
whole team of researchers, John, the truth squad as you're calling it,
and we're starting today with a charge that the McCain campaign has
been making against Barack Obama's voting record. Out on the campaign
trail, John McCain has been calling Obama's record the most liberal in
the Senate. Many people have heard that. The charge was also leveled
early this month at an ad comparing Sarah Palin to Obama. Take a
listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The "Journal" says Governor Palin's credentials as an agent of reform exceed Barack Obama's. They are right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has a record of bipartisan reform.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's the Senate's most liberal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She took on oil producers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He gave big oil billions in subsidies in giveaways.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's earned a reputation as a reformer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His reputation, empty words.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Well there's the ad. Here's the reality check. The "National
Journal Magazine" which bills itself as a non-partisan publication did
report recently that Obama moved so far to the left last year that he
did rank the most liberal senator after ranking 16th and 10th most
liberal in his first two years in the Senate.
But the Americans for Democratic Action, a liberal activist group
disagrees. No surprise there. The group says when you look at Obama's
entire Senate voting record, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Ted
Kennedy actually have higher liberal ratings. So is Obama the most
liberal senator? The verdict, true, according to the "National
Journal." But this is the only source we could find. Other groups say
liberal but not the most liberal.
So, John as you can see, not always black and white and this is
where the campaigns seize on it and use to it their advantage as you
well know after covering politics for a very long time.
Using the words "not always black and white" may steer viewers to
conclude that the McCain ad is less than accurate. Cho's declaration
on the ad's veracity: "The verdict, true, according to the 'National
Journal.' But this is the only source we could find" is misleading.
The only source cited in the McCain ad was the National Journal, with a shot of the Web page designating Obama the most liberal senator in 2007 and the words "most liberal" captioned below it.
Cho states that that Americans for Democratic Action says other
senators have higher career liberal ratings. That may be true, but the
McCain ad didn't speak in terms of lifetime voting records. Moreover,
the reason for Obama's receiving a relatively low 75 percent rating from the ADA for 2007
is because he missed votes, probably because of campaigning. On every
single measure on which he did vote, Obama embraced the liberal ADA
position.
So where does "not always black and white" fit in? Clearly it doesn't apply to the McCain ad Cho did a "reality check" on.
And noting that the National Journal "bills itself as a non-partisan
publication," is a nice touch from CNN, which, as has been reported
multiple times on NewsBusters, identifies some obviously partisan
organizations as non-partisan merely because they "bill" themselves
that way.
This isn't the first media report - nor will it be the last - that
suggests a McCain ad is less than correct. That may well be right in
some instances, but it's worth our time to fact check the fact checkers
before buying into their findings.