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MSNBC's O'Donnell issues "clarification" for falsely claiming McCain "called for Don Rumsfeld's resignation"
Summary: A day after falsely claiming that Sen. John McCain "called for Don Rumsfeld's resignation," MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell issued a "clarification," saying: "Yesterday, I suggested that John McCain had called for Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation in the past. In fact, what McCain had said repeatedly was that he lacked confidence in Rumsfeld. But he did not directly call for Rumsfeld to step down back when Rumsfeld was still in office."
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Posted by manndan
Posted Thursday March 27, 2008 6:37:15 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by steeve
No kudos for the press, of course.
For you and me such a thing would be a mistake, but for them it's a full time job with very high pay. If they had a tenth of the professionalism of any other profession, Media Matters would have no need to exist.
Posted Thursday March 27, 2008 6:39:41 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by Limit Corp. Ownership in reply to steeve
O'Donnell was shocked...shocked...really, absolutely shocked--
When the memo she used for the story---from the RNC---was not factually correct.
Posted Thursday March 27, 2008 6:46:19 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by jeffcolsoh
I'd give Noron a point or two, but she SAID it, she didn't "suggest" it. "Suggested" makes it sound less definitive.
Posted Thursday March 27, 2008 6:46:40 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by Dem02020
Gee that's great.
You do realize, that in the absence of fact-checkers and other gadflies like MMFA, this beauty contest runner-up toothpaste commercial model former cheerleader, is free to repeat her spin/misinfo/lie as often as she (or her employer) likes...
But in the present environment of the Internet Wire (the People's true Press!), a citation such as MMFA's, does provoke a "clarification" such as her's, and make for a temporary stop...
That's great.
Posted Thursday March 27, 2008 8:09:44 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by eweston8542983
Posted Thursday March 27, 2008 10:43:48 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by eddy3957 reregistered in reply to eweston8542983
Posted Friday March 28, 2008 1:30:02 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by roundhouse
It's a small difference but it's the first step in a long journey.
Posted Thursday March 27, 2008 10:51:38 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by BottleBlonde
This is another example of how Media Matters shows when a media source echoes what they said. They said she was wrong, she echoes their comment by admitting (well, sort of) her error.
This is the same thing they do when Keith Olbermann has his worst person in the world awards, covering it because it is repeating the same point they made.
Posted Thursday March 27, 2008 11:48:47 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by bunnygit
" This is another example of how Media Matters shows when a media source echoes what they said. "
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To me it seems that Media Matters are just following up on the original story . It seems appropriate to me to announce the retraction .
Posted Friday March 28, 2008 6:25:55 PM EDT / Flag this comment