McCain camp answers Andrea Mitchell smear

Via Politico.com, news that the McCain folks won't take media bias lightly. 

Below is a copy of the letter written to NBC in the wake of Andrea Mitchell's charge on Meet The Press yesterday:

August 17, 2008
Mr. Steve Capus
President, NBC News
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112

Steve:

We are extremely disappointed to see that the level of objectivity at NBC News has fallen so low that reporters are now giving voice to unsubstantiated, partisan claims in order to undercut John McCain.

Nowhere was this more evident than with NBC chief correspondent Andrea Mitchell's comments on "Meet the Press" this morning. In analyzing last night's presidential forum at Saddleback Church, Mitchell expressed the Obama campaign spin that John McCain could only have done so well last night because he "may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama." Here are Andrea Mitchell's comments in full:

Mitchell: "The Obama people must feel that he didn't do quite as well as they might have wanted to in that context, because what they are putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama. He seemed so well-prepared." (NBC's "Meet The Press," 8/17/08)

Make no mistake: This is a serious charge. Andrea Mitchell is repeating, uncritically, a completely unsubstantiated Obama campaign claim that John McCain somehow cheated in last night's forum at Saddleback Church. Instead of trying to substantiate this blatant falsehood in any way, Andrea Mitchell felt that she needed to repeat it on air to millions of "Meet the Press" viewers with no indication that 1.) There's not one shred of evidence that it's true; 2.) In his official correspondence to both campaigns, Pastor Rick Warren provided both candidates with information regarding the topic areas to be covered, which Barack Obama acknowledged during the forum when asked about Pastor Warren's idea of an emergency plan for orphans and Obama said, "I cheated a little bit. I actually looked at this idea ahead of time, and I think it is a great idea;" 3.) John McCain actually requested that he and Barack Obama do the forum together on stage at the same time, making these kinds of after-the-fact complaints moot.

Indeed, instead of taking a critical journalistic approach to this spin, Andrea Mitchell did what has become a pattern for her of simply repeating Obama campaign talking points.

This is irresponsible journalism and sadly, indicative of the level of objectivity we have witnessed at NBC News this election cycle. Instead of examining the Obama campaign's spin for truth before reporting it to more than 3 million NBC News viewers, Andrea Mitchell simply passed along Obama campaign conspiracy theories. The fact is that during Senator Obama's segment at Saddleback last night, Senator McCain was in a motorcade to the event and then held in a green room with no broadcast feed. In the forum, John McCain clearly demonstrated to the American people that he is prepared to be our next President.....

We are concerned that your News Division is following MSNBC's lead in abandoning non-partisan coverage of the Presidential race. We would like to request a meeting with you as soon as possible to discuss our deep concerns about the news standards and level of objectivity at NBC.

Sincerely,

Rick Davis
Campaign Manager
John McCain 2008

Comments

[Charley]

Maybe NBC if their so biased should replay the clips of John McCain saying "I don't know much about the economy" and "I'd rather lose an election than lose a war" McCain has yet to define victory in Iraq. There is no victory in Iraq, they are not fighting us.

[Mommynator]

Ah, the trolls seem to have a particularly odious odor today.

Take things out of context to smear an honorable person.

No victory in Iraq? No progress?

Well, I guess all the people who have moved back, live there, reopened and opened businesses, have better amenities and lives might disagree with that. People who locked themselves up or fled for fear of alQaeda and other terrorists - they also might disagree with you.

They don't love us, but they know we've given them a chance for something better.

And if McCain knows nothing about the economy when that quote was again taken out of context, he appears to have studied and caught up with it now.

Which is more than the Messiah appears to be doing, running on the rhetoric that fuels the bus he's driving over his enemies and former friends.

[tim aka The Godless Heathen]

Oh yea Charley, ya’ really got McCain with “"I'd rather lose an election than lose a war”. Seriously? Nobody can that ignorant to not understand the thought behind that, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Yea Einstein, it’d be better for someone to aspire to win an election AND lose a war (like Obama). Effing idiot.

You really topped yourself with “There is no victory in Iraq, they are not fighting us.” So, using your dumb a$$ logic, if they were (still) fighting us than there would be victory? Brilliant, just wonderfully brilliant.

Lastly, you wouldn’t admit victory in Iraq if it was the most peaceful place on Earth, so who you trying to kid with your BS.

Next time if/when you come back here, ya’ better do better than this crap.

School is starting back up soon right?