On the October 6 edition of MSNBC's Race for the White House, host David Gregory showed
video from the previous weekend of Gov. Sarah Palin saying, "Our opponent is someone who sees
America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country," which
Gregory noted was a reference to 1960s radical Bill Ayers. Gregory then reported that Palin
"changed that language a little on the campaign trail today, but it was the same message."
However, Gregory did not note that in her original comments, Palin referred to an October 4
New York Times
article which, as Media Matters for America has repeatedly documented, reported that "the two men do not
appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and
actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called 'somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago,
when I was 8.' "
Gregory also aired a clip of Obama calling the McCain campaign's attacks "usual political
shenanigans and smear tactics," but did not note that the Obama campaign issued a statement
specifically rebutting Palin's claim. The statement reportedly
said: "In fact, the very newspaper story Governor Palin cited in hurling her shameless attack
made clear that Senator Obama is not close to Bill Ayers, much less 'pals,' and that he has
strongly condemned the despicable acts Ayers committed 40 years ago, when Obama was eight."
From the October 6 edition of MSNBC's Race for the White House:
GREGORY: We're below 30 now -- 29 days to go in the race for the White House. Welcome to the
program. I'm David Gregory.
My headline tonight: Panic attack from Wall Street to the campaign trail. The stock market
plummets once again. Here are the boards. The Dow Jones industrial average diving as much as 800
points at one point today before closing at just below 10,000. You see the numbers.
Meanwhile, Obama's stock is on rise. The latest NBC News electoral map shows Obama opening up a
nearly 100-point electoral vote lead and double-digit leads in key battleground states such as
Virginia and New Hampshire. But instead of addressing the financial crisis with plans of attack,
character attacks ruled the day. Senator McCain blasted Senator Obama at a rally in New Mexico,
while Governor Palin attacked Obama for his relationship with '60s radical Bill Ayers.
McCAIN [video clip]: Whatever the question, whatever the issue, there's always a back story with
Senator Obama. [break] What does he plan for America? In short, who is the -- who is the real
Barack Obama?
PALIN [video clip]: Our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around
with terrorists who targeted their own country.
GREGORY: That was Governor Palin over the weekend. She changed that language a little bit on the
campaign trail today, but it was the same message. Obama fired back at what he called Swift
boat-style attacks.
OBAMA [video clip]: I cannot imagine anything more important to talk about than the economic
crisis, and the notion that we would want to brush that aside and engage in the usual political
shenanigans and smear tactics that have come to characterize too many political campaigns, I
think, is not what the American people are looking for.
Recommandations
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and reject those that you are not interested in
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