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 hosts let GOP Rep. Issa attack ACORN over embezzlement, but ignored NRCC embezzlement In separate interviews, Fox News hosts Bill Hemmer and Greta Van Susteren allowed Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) to attack the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) on the grounds that in 1999 and 2000, one of its leaders embezzled from the group. However, at no point did either Hemmer or Van Susteren note that in 2008, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) stated that its treasurer had embezzled more than $600,000 from the organization over the course of several years. Read More Limbaugh runs with smears to falsely claim Jennings endorsed sexual assault against student Rush Limbaugh advanced the thoroughly debunked smear that Department of Education official Kevin Jennings encouraged an illegal sexual relationship between a male high school student and an older man, taking the attack even further to baselessly assert that the student -- who Limbaugh falsely claimed was 15 years old at the time -- told Jennings that "an older man is forcing his way on me, sex and so forth," and that in response, Jennings "urged the 15-year-old to further the relationship." In fact, the student was of legal age at the time, and the accounts of the conversation Limbaugh used to advance the smear provide no evidence that the student said he was assaulted or that Jennings encouraged the student "to further the relationship." Read More Hannity cites rationing in U.K. to attack public option -- but U.S. insurance companies already ration care On his Fox News show, Sean Hannity attacked the public option by stating that "[e]verywhere socialized medicine has been tried it's failed. It ends up in rationing," and pointing to women with breast cancer in Great Britain who are denied drugs by "the government rationing body." But Hannity's attack that "the government option" would introduce rationing for "women with breast cancer" is undermined by the fact that private insurance companies in the United States already ration care; in fact, private insurers routinely deny care to cancer patients, often because they are found to have pre-existing conditions. Read More Conservative blogs falsely claim Obama is forcing Catholic college "to cover abortion" In an October 7 post, right-wing blogger Gateway Pundit falsely claimed that President Obama "is forcing a private Catholic institution to cover abortion in its insurance plan," and Ed Morrissey similarly wrote on HotAir.com that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) "demanded that a private Catholic college offer abortion" coverage. In fact, the EEOC -- in a letter of determination that did not address the issue of abortion -- stated that the institution, Belmont Abbey College, violated discrimination laws by denying employees health insurance coverage for "prescription contraceptive drugs." Read More Yet another outrageous smear of Jennings: Conservative media compare Jennings to Polanski As part of their smear campaign against Obama Education Department official Kevin Jennings, conservative media figures including Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter have compared Jennings to film director Roman Polanski, stating -- in the words of Fox News contributor Kirsten Powers -- that "there needs to be zero tolerance for this kind of stuff," specifically citing Jennings and "the Roman Polanski stuff." Thus, media conservatives are smearing Jennings -- who counseled someone who was of age at the time and who has said he did not have a sexual relationship -- with the outrageous suggestion that he is comparable to Polanski, who was charged with rape and pleaded guilty to having sex with a girl who was 13 at the time after allegedly plying her with drugs and alcohol. Read More Wash. Times posts doctored transcript to claim Jennings called for mandatory "LGBT course" for teachers Continuing her paper's witch hunt against Department of Education official Kevin Jennings, The Washington Times' Kerry Picket reprinted a doctored transcript -- originally posted by a conservative blog -- of 2008 comments by Jennings to falsely claim Jennings had said he wanted teachers to be required to "take an LGBT course" -- a claim also echoed by the Fox Nation. In fact, responding to an audience member who asked about how to combat stereotypes held by teachers based on race, gender, and ethnicity as well as sexual orientation, Jennings did not call for a mandatory "LGBT course," but rather called for a mandatory course on "issues of bias in the classroom" for aspiring teachers in order for them to be aware of "how biases can influence how you interact with your students." Read More Hannity falsely claimed Senate Finance health bill would add $1 trillion to deficit In discussing the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) score of the Chairman's mark, as amended, of the Senate Finance Committee's health reform legislation -- which found that the legislation would result in an $81 billion net reduction of the deficit over 10 years -- Fox News' Sean Hannity falsely asserted that the bill will add $1 trillion to the deficit. Hannity and his guests have demonstrated a pattern of misrepresenting or ignoring CBO analyses in order to attack progressive proposals. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.