| 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. Beck's accusation that progressives have "co-opted" civil rights movement rings hollow
On his Fox News show, Glenn Beck claimed that the civil rights movement "has been co-opted by progressives." However, Beck routinely uses both the civil rights movement and its rhetoric for his own political agenda, such as his claim that his August 28 rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial will "reclaim the civil rights movement." Read More Fox falsely claims government is not forecasting future movement of oil spill
Fox & Friends aired a computer simulation by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) illustrating one possible scenario of the oil spill's future movement and criticized the Obama administration because the simulation "was not done by the federal government," which Steve Doocy claimed doesn't "even know where the oil's going to go in the future." In fact, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is producing daily forecasts of oil movement, and NCAR is a federally sponsored research institution. Read More Rove continues to mislead on CBO's health care estimate
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Karl Rove dubiously claimed that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found it "would cost $115 billion more than estimated." In fact, the higher cost estimate would only be spent if Congress separately appropriates it, just as Congress would have to do for any other spending bill, and moreover, the White House has said that this money would have to be offset by other cuts. Read More Strassel pushes baseless charge that White House violated Hatch Act in Sestak matter
In a Wall Street Journal column, Kimberley Strassel forwarded the baseless claim that the White House violated the Hatch Act by offering a position on a panel to Rep. Joe Sestak. Indeed, both Loyola law professor Richard Hasen and former Bush ethics lawyer Richard Painter have disputed this charge. Read More Right-wing pundits ludicrously blame oil spill on environmentalists
Sarah Palin and other right-wing media personalities have blamed the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on environmental activists, baselessly claiming that their opposition to coastal drilling has pushed oil companies to drill deep-water wells. This analysis ignores that deep-water regions feature vast oil reserves that make such drilling potentially lucrative. Read More CBS makes a mess of Kagan's record as Thurgood Marshall clerk
On the CBS Evening News, Jan Crawford distorted memos Elena Kagan wrote as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, falsely painting Kagan as outside the mainstream.
Read More After decrying "criminalizing politics," conservative media falsely claim WH's "garden-variety politics" broke laws
Conservative media have claimed the White House's controversial conversations with Rep. Joe Sestak and Andrew Romanoff -- which have been described by experts as "garden-variety politics" -- constituted criminal activity. But when Bush administration official Scooter Libby was investigated, tried, and convicted, conservative media decried it as "criminalizing politics." Read More | 
Posts
