Media Matters Daily Summary

Here are today's news items from Media Matters for America, click on the title or 'read more' to read the entirety of each story. Fox News now giving publicity to Republican Governors' "Tea Party 2.0" Following Fox News' aggressive promotion of the April 15 "tea party" protests, Greta Van Susteren did a segment on the forthcoming "Tea Party 2.0," and stated, "If you wanted to go to a tea party on April 15 but could not make it ... tomorrow's your big chance." Read More Politico dubiously suggests Republicans' opposition to Hayes is about Hayes The Politico dubiously suggested that Republicans rejected David Hayes' confirmation as deputy Interior secretary because of his purported "proposals to yank oil drilling leases on public lands." In fact, Republicans have reportedly said, "This is not about Hayes." Read More ABC report on interrogation hearing left out testimony on non-harsh methods' success Reporting on the testimony of a former FBI agent who "told Congress today that he witnessed CIA interrogation methods on terror suspects that were, in his words, 'borderline torture' " and "called the methods 'ineffective,' 'unreliable,' and 'harmful,' " ABC's Charles Gibson did not mention that the agent also testified about the success of non-harsh interrogation methods. Read More Moore falsely accused Frank of "involvement in giving a blank check to Fannie and Freddie" The Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore falsely accused Rep. Barney Frank of "involvement in giving a blank check to Fannie and Freddie," echoing the oft-repeated myth that Frank fought efforts to strengthen congressional oversight over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Read More Wash. Post buries lede, entire story in report on Soufan testimony After running a story on its front page about what congressional Democrats had been told about enhanced interrogation, The Washington Post buried a much shorter report on testimony by former FBI agent Ali Soufan. Read More Rove falsely smears Pelosi as "an accomplice" to torture In his Wall Street Journal column, Karl Rove claimed that because Nancy Pelosi was allegedly "informed" of the Bush administration's use of enhanced interrogation techniques, her non-action made her "an accomplice to 'torture.' " The claim is inconsistent with the definition of "accomplice," as well as with the reality of Pelosi's ability to affect the Bush administration's actions in any way. Read More Without Obama, Barnicle and Scarborough baselessly claim, Dems "are weaker" than Republicans Mike Barnicle and Joe Scarborough said that -- if, inexplicably, one doesn't consider President Obama -- Democrats are "weaker than the Republicans." In fact, recent polling on favorable/approval ratings of members of Congress show congressional Democrats with higher favorable/approval ratings than congressional Republicans. Read More Scarborough ignores experts who say torture undermines national security Joe Scarborough suggested that those who oppose the use of harsh interrogation techniques are "willing to sacrifice on national security." However, military and FBI interrogators have testified that those techniques are ineffective and detrimental to U.S. security. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.