WND Headline Lies about Illegal Immmigrants
Topic: WorldNetDaily

The headline on a Sept. 9 WorldNetDaily article reads, "Study proves illegals likely to commit crimes." Not only is that a false statement, it doesn't even reflect what the article actually says (emphasis ours):

A new study reveals 75 percent of illegal aliens who have been deported will commit another crime within a year of returning to the U.S.

The nonprofit Rand Corporation study followed inmates released from Los Angeles County jail in 2002, according to a Los Angeles Times report. The report revealed aliens who have been deported are far more likely to commit a crime – with 28 percent likely to be arrested three or more times after their release.

Thirty-two percent of illegal aliens who had never been deported were arrested within a year, and 7 percent were arrested more than three times.

The study did not examine all illegal immigrants -- only those who already have a history of crime. WND is lying by conflating a criminal population with a general population. The article fails to compare the illegals' recidivism rate what that of native criminals.

Finkelstein's Double Standard on Mind-Reading
Topic: NewsBusters

In a Sept. 10 NewsBusters post, Mark Finkelstein took a whack at Howard Fineman for claiming that "Barack Obama was not making fun of Sarah Palin when he talked about some Republican putting 'lipstick on a pig,'" asserting: "Short of sodium pentathol, or Carnac-like gifts, how can Howard possibly know what was in Obama's mind when he uttered his lipstick line?"

But earlier in the day, Finkelstein was doing his own share of mind-reading, declaring, "Obama knew darn well what he was saying."

So, are only conservatives allowed to read minds, or what?

New Article -- Out There, Exhibit 47: Shocked By the Non-Shocking
Topic: NewsBusters
NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard has an uncanny ability to be surprised by things that aren't very surprising at all. Read more >>

Aaron Klein Desperate Obama Smear Watch
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Aaron Klein does a fine job of shilling for the McCain campaign in a Sept. 10 article desperately trying to keep the "lipstick on a pig" non-controversy alive by trying to suggest that a blog post on the Democratic Party website headlined "McCain's Selection of Palin is Lipstick on a Pig" somehow inspired Barack Obama's statement.

Klein fails to see that the post in question is the exact opposite of what Republicans have accused Obama of doing -- the post states that Sarah Palin "is a red herring, lipstick on the Republican pig," while Obama was baselessly accused of calling Palin the pig.

Klein credits "talk radio host John Batchelor" for this discovery but fails to disclose that he and Bachelor have frequently collaborated in the past (including that dubious interview trying to tie a Hamas endorsement around Obama's neck), or that Batchelor, like Klein, is an Obama-hater.

Not only does Klein baselessly claim that "Some say Obama's 'lipstick' comment was aimed at Palin in response to her joke at the Republican National Convention," he adds, "Others suggested Obama's second quip, regarding 'old fish,' may have been aimed at McCain's age." Who are "some" and "others"? Klein doesn't really say. 

WND was quick -- if not eager -- to do the McCain campaign's duty with an earlier story on the "lipstick" remark. 

We'll ask again: If Joseph Farah doesn't want John McCain to get elected, why are his WorldNetDaily employees working so hard to get McCain elected? Does Farah have some sort of wink-wink, nudge-nudge deal with McCain, or what?

Weyrich Falsely Suggests Catholic Criticism of Pelosi Isn't Partisan
Topic: Free Congress Foundation

In a Sept. 9 column printed at CNSNews.com, Paul Weyrich stated that "a group of [Nancy] Pelosi’s fellow House Members" wrote a letter criticizing her claim that "the Catholic Church has not been able to agree when life begins." Weyrich added: "While partisan differences are typical of doing business in the House, it is highly unusual for Members to deliver such a pointed attack on another Member’s version of her religion."

Nowhere does Weyrich note that all 19 House members who signed the letter to Pelosi are Republicans, which undercuts Weyrich's suggestion that the letter wasn't borne of "partisan differences."

NewsBusters' New Motto: Lies Are Truth
Topic: NewsBusters

We've already noted that NewsBusters is spinning away Sarah Palin's lies. It's also performing the same service for John McCain.

A Sept. 10 post by Michael M. Bates defends as an "accurate assertion" a McCain ad falsely claiming that Barack Obama's support for a comprehensive sex education law means he supports "'comprehensive sex education' to kindergartners" and, thus, "Learning about sex before learning to read." After engaging in the apparent scare tactic of describing a sex ed curriculum for kindergarteners that includes "proper anatomical names" for body parts, Bates howled: "Do parents want government schools providing proper anatomical names to their 5-year-olds?"

Similarly, Ken Shepherd, in a Sept. 10 post, claims that Time's Joe Klein is "just plain wrong" to criticize the McCain ad "because the legislation Obama voted for would have authorized kindergarteners to be taught about STDs." Shepherd fails to note that the law in question also stated that "course material and instruction shall be age and developmentally appropriate." Does Shepherd really think that teachers are going to teach kindergarteners about STDs?

Hey, NewsBusters: Clinging to slivers of semi-truth in a sea of lies doesn't make those lies suddenly true.

Speaking of Sticking to the Script ...
Topic: NewsBusters

In a Sept. 10 NewsBusters post, P.J. Gladnick complains about an Associated Press article that accuses Sarah Palin of a sticking to a "basic script" on the campaign trail. In response to the article's pointing out that she decided to sell a state plane by "put[ting] it on eBay" is misleading because the plane didn't actually sell on eBay, Gladnick responded: "Palin never claimed the jet sold on eBay. However she did list it on the auction site just as she stated."

Gladnick is not the only NewsBusters writer sticking to the script on that claim:

• "Lastly, let us dispense with the meme from the left that Palin 'lied' about selling the jet on ebay. Governor Palin never said she SOLD the plane on ebay. She said she PUT the plane on ebay." -- Warner Todd Huston, Sept. 10
• "Palin, in fact, did not lie or mislead about anything.  She simply said she put the plane up on eBay." -- Kerry Picket, Sept. 7
• "Palin never said she sold the jet on ebay. She says she put it up to sell on ebay. And she did. But it didn't sell there." -- Warner Todd Huston, Sept. 6

Conservatives do know how to stick to a script, don't they? And at NewsBusters, the script is to spin away every false and misleading statement Palin makes.

Ponte Rants Against Oprah
Topic: Newsmax

A Sept. 8 Newsmax column by Lowell Ponte is one long rant against Oprah Winfrey, suggesting she's "a misogynist, a hater of women" for not allowing Sarah Palin to be on her show. Ponte misleadingly claimed that "Oprah has used her program repeatedly to showcase, promote, and lionize Barack Obama"; in fact, while Winfrey has endorsed Obama, he hasn't appeared on her show since October 2006, before he became a presidential candidate.

Nevertheless, Ponte rants on, claiming that "Some might say that Oprah is a traitor to her gender, a turn (petty) coat whose support for Obama destroyed Hillary’s chance in 2008 to become America’s first female president." He doesn't say who "some" are. Ponte also gets in some less-than-factual licks on Obama, asserting without evidence that "Obama promises to unleash capricious and partisan government censors on talk radio when he becomes president."

'Many' = One
Topic: CNSNews.com

In a Sept. 10 CNSNews.com article on Barack Obama's comment that "You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig," Susan Jones baselessly asserts that "many people think he was making a sly reference to Sen. John McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin." Jones quotes only one person (a number far less than "many") making the claim -- former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift, a Republican -- but she fails to mention that Swift is a member of the McCain campaign's Palin "truth squad."

UPDATE: Jones repeats the baseless claim in another Sept. 10 article: "[M]any Americans viewed the comment as a sly reference to Sen. John McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin." But again, she quotes nobody who isn't a Republican or aligned with McCain's campaign.

NewsBusters Even Defends Palin's Lies
Topic: NewsBusters

Even when Sarah Palin is caught in a lie, the ConWeb will defend her.

A Sept. 9 NewsBusters post by Tom Blumer seeks to draw attention away from the fact that Palin's claim that she "told Congress 'thanks but no thanks' on the bridge to nowhere" is a bald-faced lie by pointing to a statement by Alaska Democrats noting that the bridge was "officially abandoned" under Palin. Blumer then asserts: "We can quibble about specifics. But the fact is that Palin was governor when the project was abandoned, and no amount of spinning can change that."

Blumer neglects that Congress stopped the earmark for the bridge in November 2005, more than a year before Palin took office and that Palin was a supporter of the bridge when she ran for governor. As Josh Marshall points out, "She couldn't say 'No Thanks' because Congress had already said 'Forget It'." Oh, and Palin never returned the money for the bridge, instead spending it on other projects.

But that's just a "quibble" to Blumer.

Newsmax 'Analysis' Gets Palin's Troopergate Wrong

A Sept. 8 Newsmax "analysis" -- credited only to "Newsmax Staff" -- purported to make the case that Sarah Palin is the victim of "smears." It states:

Meanwhile, the media has been elevating minor controversies in Palin’s home state of Alaska to national “scandals.” For example, the firing of a state trooper who allegedly Tasered his own 10-year-old son has been elevated to an international human-rights case.

That description of the "troopergate" controversy is completely wrong. The trooper in question hasn't been fired; Palin has, however, fired the trooper's boss, the state public commissioner, for not firing the trooper -- who is embroiled in a bitter divorce battle with Palin's sister -- purportedly upon Palin's demand. Further, the trooper has already been disciplined by state officials over the Tasering incident and others; he has said that the trooper's stepson (not his son, as Newsmax claimed) "wanted to feel the Taser in the same way that troopers tested the device on themselves during training," the device was set on test, and "When it was over he thought it was great and wanted to do it all again. He was bragging about it and telling everyone in the family about it."

Plus, you have to love Newsmax's sudden concern over "elevating minor controversies ... to national 'scandals.'" Isn't that what Christopher Ruddy and Newsmax (not to mention other right-wingers) did to the Clintons regarding Whitewater?

Klein Misleads About Obama -- So What Else Is New?
Topic: WorldNetDaily

A Sept. 8 WorldNetDaily article by Aaron Klein is written in a way to suggest that Barack Obama's statement that Hezbollah and Hamas are "going down a blind alley with violence that weakens their legitimate claims" means that Obama believes that those groups' attacks against Israel are "legitimate."

Obama immediately affirmed Hezbollah is "not a legitimate political party." Instead, "It's a destabilizing organization by any common-sense standard. This wouldn’t happen without the support of Iran and Syria."

He continued by stating Hamas and Hezbollah violence weakens the groups' "legitimate claims."

Hamas' official charter calls for the murder of Jews and destruction of the Jewish state. It also calls for Muslims to "pursue the cause of the Movement (Hamas), all over the globe."

The terror group has carried out scores of deadly suicide bombings, shootings and rocket attacks against Israelis.

Hezbollah claims it is fighting to liberate its "lands," purportedly referring to the Shebaa Farms, a small piece of territory it says is Lebanese but is being held by Israel. The group regularly makes threats against Israel and has carried out numerous terror attacks targeting Israel and the West, including the U.S.

Klein, of course, has no evidence that Obama sides with Hamas and Hezbollah -- because there isn't any, as he very well knows. Still, that won't stop Klein from rehashing yet again a Hamas official's endorsement of Obama in a radio interview with him, as he does here. Klein claims that Obama "previously was embroiled in controversy" over over the Hamas endorsement without noting that the "controversy" was fabricated by Klein himself, along with right-wing radio host John Batchelor -- we've yet to hear either of them explain why someone from Hamas would speak to someone who is aggressively anti-Hamas or whether the Hamas guy knew he was playing into Klein's and Batchelor's anti-Obama agenda.

UPDATE: Joseph Farah buys into his reporter's false implications:

But I for one would really like to know which of the claims of Hamas and Hezbollah are "legitimate" in the eyes of Barack Obama. I think it's a very important question.

Is it Hamas' belief that the U.S. Rotary and Lions Clubs are secret societies doing the bidding of the International Zionist Conspiracy?

Is it Hamas' institutionalized anti-Semitic strain that runs throughout Hamas ideology, including its charter, which doesn't just call for the destruction of Israel, but for the killing of all Jews?

Is it Hezbollah's view that Israel represents the vanguard of the United States of America in the Middle East – "the hated enemy that must be fought until the hated ones get what they deserve"?

This makes it a little harder for Klein to claim that he wasn't suggesting Obama thinks every evil thing about Hamas and Hezbollah is "legitimate."

Newsmax False Headline Watch
Topic: Newsmax

A Sept. 9 Newsmax article (actually, an associated Press article) carries the false headline: "Obama: Palin Like 'Lipstick on a Pig.'"

In fact, as the article itself states: "Obama's campaign said he wasn't referring to Palin; he had been talking about McCain immediately before the lipstick comment." 

UPDATE: Newsmax has curiously replaced the AP article with one from Reuters, yet keeping the same false headline. The Reuters article is a little more ambiguous, claiming that Obama's statement "may have been misinterpreted by the audience." An updated version, under a more accurate headline, is now located here.

Mychal Massie Thesaurus Watch
Topic: WorldNetDaily

In his Sept. 9 WorldNetDaily column, Mychal Massie works in not only his favorite 50-cent word, "erebusic," but also "opprobrious."

The funny thing is that Massie spends his column running to the defense of the "uneducated women" that the "elites" in the media purportedly look down on. If Massie is trying to appeal to the "uneducated," why is he throwing around showoff words like "erebusic" and "opprobrious"?

Kincaid Endorses Misogynist's Views
Topic: Accuracy in Media

In a Sept. 9 Accuracy in Media column, Cliff Kincaid approvingly cites Marc Rudov, who claimed that women who are critical of Sarah Palin are "fascist feminists." Kincaid described Rudov's column, posted on right-wing NewsWithViews.com, an "insightful article"; of Rudov's claim that Palin "has achieved success while expressing love and admiration for her husband, anathema to the misandrist underpinning of fascistic feminism," Kincaid added: "Palin can never be forgiven for this. That is why she must be destroyed."

But Kincaid avoids posting the parts of Rudov's article that are, shall we say, less than insightful:

Feminism, which took root in the late 19th century as an equality movement for women’s suffrage, has evolved into a militant, totalitarian train of entitlement, misandry, superiority, and privilege. To maintain the façade of pursuing equality, the National Organization for Women, self-designated voice for the “slighted” gender, presents a neverending, monolithic image of female victimhood. To achieve this monotony, NOW mandates that its badge-wearing acolytes talk, think, and act according to the the NOW playbook. I’m sure that Mussolini is smiling, wherever he is.

[...]

Women have amassed such unequal power since getting the right to vote in 1920 that they will destroy anyone attempting to remove said power or expose its fraud.

[...]

Joe Biden is the candidate who appeals to women? Gee, why is that? Could it be that Joe Biden is the father of VAWA, the unconstitutional Violence Against Women Act, the passport for female-on-male violence and false claims of male violence? Yes, that’s the same Joe Biden. The same Joe Biden who admitted in a 1990 Senate Judiciary hearing (Serial No. J-101-80; pp. 171-172), the precursor to VAWA, that he grew up with an abusive sister who was permitted to hit him with absolute impunity — no retaliation allowed, even in self-defense — and he still has the bruises to prove it.  Sounds like Stockholm Syndrome to me. This is the VP candidate who appeals to women?

[...]

Considering that NOW is a fascist organization, a so-called feminist like [Sen. Barbara] Boxer portraying Palin as a dictator is laughable.

[...]

Plenty of conservative women have benefited from the handiwork of liberal feminists. Joe Biden could not have succeeded in his mission to villanize American men, via his unconstitutional VAWA, without the overwhelming support of his Republican colleagues in the Senate and House — both genders — and in the Oval Office, both Clinton and Bush.

Finally, it is ludicrous to think that only liberal women falsely accuse men of rape and domestic violence, fraudulently get their husbands to raise and support children fathered through extramarital affairs, and exercise their Roe v. Wade rights. In fact, conservative women do all of those things.

Additionally, Rudov is on record as:

• Claiming that "that most American women are as shallow as" the characters on "Sex and the City."
• Asserting that if "the woman is complaining that the man doesn't work enough around the house," it may be because "she said 'I do' at the altar and 'I don't' in the bedroom."
• Said of Hillary Clinton: "The woman is not called a B-word because she's assertive and aggressive; she's called a B-word because she acts like one."
• Described the downside of a woman president: "You mean besides the PMS and the mood swings, right?"
• Claimed, against statistical evidence, that "women are equal-opportunity domestic abusers."

Does Kincaid think these misogynistic attitudes by Rudov are "insightful," too?