“MEDIA MATTERS Watch” : Media Matters’ Falsehoods Exposed!

Desperately trying to defend Hillary Clinton from her own lies, an April 24, 2006, Media Matters post accuses author Thomas D. Kuiper, author of "I’ve Always Been A Yankee Fan": Hillary Clinton in Her Own Words, of "fabricated quotes."

In fact, a close look at the text of the book itself reveals that Kuiper did no such thing. The only fabricating comes from Media Matters. For example,

1. Media Matters writes,

Kuiper’s claim that [Hillary] Clinton said her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, was jogging around the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, is false.

Oh, really? Even Media Matters admits that Hillary Clinton said this on the September 17, 2001, edition of NBC’s Dateline:

"She’d gone, what she thought would be just a great jog. She was going to go down to Battery Park, she was going to go around the towers. She went to get a cup of coffee and — and that’s when the plane hit."

"Towers"? "Battery Park"? Where does Media Matters think Hillary was talking about? Paris? Hillary clearly and explicitly left her listeners the impression that Chelsea was getting a cup of cofee on a jog when the planes hit the World Trade Center.

2. Media Matters writes,

On page 138 of I’ve Always Been a Yankees Fan, Kuiper quoted Hillary saying in 1995: "So when I was born, she [Clinton’s mother, Dorothy Rodham] called me Hillary, and she always told me it’s because of Sir Edmund Hillary."

Of this quote, Kuiper wrote in the book:

First Lady Hillary Clinton explaining that she was named after famous explorer, Sir Edmund Hillary (The New York Times, 04/03/95). Only problem — Hillary Rodham was born five years before Edmund Hillary became famous by scaling Mt. Everest in 1953. The year she was born [1947], Edmund Hillary was an obscure beekeeper in New Zealand.

As the quote indicates, however, Clinton herself did not claim "to be named after Edmund Hillary," as Kuiper said in the press release. Rather, she explained that her mother told her she was named for the explorer.

Uhhh … "Her mother told her"? Ugh. This is parsing at best; dishonesty at worst.

"Fabricated Quotes"? Sorry, Media Matters. If this is the best that the left can come up with to attack Kuiper’s book, the author has done a marvelous job and should be congratulated!

Before the ink could barely dry on it, a study by Media Matters about Sunday morning talk shows was discredited.

In the study, MM tries to make the laughable claim that Sunday morning network talk shows are overly stacked with conservatives. A cursory look at the study reveals that MM’s findings are simply bogus. For example,

1. The "study" is stamped as covering the years 1997-2005. Hmmm. Notice that they conveniently omitted the first term of President Clinton! Betsy Fisher from Meet the Press noted this to Media Matters, and showed that the omitted years contained far more Democratic guests than Republicans. Doh! Fisher properly concluded that the study was "intellectually dishonest." (By the way, Media Matters’ lame excuse for omitting 1993-1996 was that "there were gaps in the Lexis-Nexis data." Ugh.)

2. MM also wants you to believe that if a guest has an "R" (Republican) next to his name, that automatically makes him a "conservative." Well, the most frequent guest on all Sunday shows has been Sen. John McCain, who is loved by the Sunday shows because he so frequently criticizes the Bush administration. The same with Sen. Chuck Hagel, who, when sitting with Dem Sen. Joe Biden, often agrees with him. Watching Hagel and McCain together has often been like watching two Democrats. (Laura Ingraham has taken note of this. Her radio show calls the Sunday-morning Biden-Hagel pairing a "Bagel.") A Republican critcizing Bush is a dream for the lib mass media.

"Intellectually dishonest" Media Matters is discredited again.

Have you ever wondered what kind of person would work at such a lowly and deplorable organization such as Media Matters? Here’s a clue:

Katie Barge resigned in disgrace from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) in the fall of 2005. The FBI investigated that Barge, along with another woman named Lauren B. Weiner, unethically and illegally obtained the credit report of Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, a Republican who is a candidate for U.S. Senate. The two apparently were in the sleazy business of doing "opposition research" for the DSCC. Barge was head of research for the DSCC. ("This sort of dumpster diving shows Marylanders that Democrats are willing to engage in this campaign from the gutter," Republican Dan Ronayne told the Washington Post in March 2006 (emphasis added).)

Who is Katie Barge? you ask. Barge is former research director at Media Matters. Media Matters once posted on its site that Barge "brings a wealth of research experience to Media Matters for America from the range of research positions she has held on presidential, gubernatorial, and senatorial campaigns. Most recently she worked in the research department on Senator John Edwards’ presidential campaign. Barge is a graduate of Wesleyan University." (Source:SourceWatch: Katie Barge).

Now you have an idea of the slop that works at Media Matters.

In 1992, Gov. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania was an obvious candidate for a speaker position at the DNC Convention in New York City. As governor of a large and influential state, he had just come off a victorious re-election in 1990.

There was one problem: Casey wanted to deliver a pro-life speech denouncing abortion. Bill Clinton and his cronies had already forged a rock-solid alliance with NARAL and the pro-choice lobby. The "Rock for Choice" campaign was actually a pro-choice "Rock Against Bush" crusade. 

Allowing Gov. Casey to speak against abortion would have been a nightmare for the DNC. It’s really no wonder they didn’t allow Casey to take the stage. The "unity" theme would have been shot instantly.

So what happened at the convention itself? In an embarrassing and disgraceful display, pro-choice Democrats set out to publicly humiliate the fine Gov. Casey.

Democrats have been trying to do damage control ever since. Their line: "We didn’t deny a speaking spot for Casey because he was pro-life. We denied him because he did not endorse Clinton." (Relax, MM. That’s not a real quote.)

Here’s what Media Matters won’t tell you: That "he-didn’t-endorse-Clinton" explanation was debunked years ago. Kathleen Brown spoke at the conevention, and she didn’t endorse Clinton either!

Media Matters is refuted on this one.

Here is the true story and all you need to know about The Truth About Gov. Bob Casey and the 1992 DNC Convention (from TheMediaReport.com).