GOP Party Chair Mark Racicot: When they are not talking about bashing the president, they are talking about things that are just completely untrue. I mean even the fine presentation given by Mr. Obama last night was not factually correct. He was talking about the fact that we need to take care of the troops. That we need to make certain that reservists receive health care. Those are the things that the bill that John Kerry voted against provided for.

Racicot alleges that Obama lied, but offers no plausible examples. Yet Anderson Cooper, interviewing him, doesn’t call him on it.

Racicot: And quite frankly, I have seen no evidence that they want to be confined by the truth of the matter. They just simply haven’t addressed the issues in a way that’s factually accurate.

Again, Cooper doesn’t press Racicot to give specifics.

Ralph Reed: I think what you have, Wolf, is the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate, John Kerry, who picked the fourth most liberal member of the U.S. Senate, John Edwards.

As almost everyone covering the campaign knows, this charge is inaccurate. The ratings Reed refers to are for 2003 only, and because Kerry and Edwards were on the campaign trail, they participated in only a small number of votes. (For more details, see this explanation by Campaign Desk Asst. Managing Editor Bryan Keefer on Spinsanity.) But again, Blitzer doesn’t contradict Reed.

Reed: You can’t serve in the U.S. Senate for 19 years, vote for higher taxes 350 times…and not have your opposition talk about it.

Once again, Blitzer allows Reed to make misleading claims (see FactCheck.org’s explanation) without clarification.


2) An equal obsession Kerry’s vote against the $87 billion to fund the Iraq war, along with a complete inability to report accurately on the issue:

Greenfield: Undecided voters who were thinking about maybe replacing Kerry, will feedback to you unprodded. I was for the 87 billion before and I voted against it, a line the Republicans are use in their campaign. That was probably the most effective shot aimed at John Kerry.

Blitzer: But you know the criticism, general, that we keep hearing, he voted to go to war in Iraq and that after the War, he voted against the $87 billion to pay for the body armor, to pay for the support of the troops in Iraq.

Aaron Brown: Does he at some point have to explain — Senator Kerry sometimes is all about nuance and President Bush sometimes is all about black and white. It’s good and evil. It’s just — Senator Kerry at some point have to explain in ways that most people in the country understand, his thinking on that $87 billion vote.

Joe Klein: this $87 billion vote not to vote for the $87 billion to continue the action in Iraq, is a very difficult vote to explain.


3) The need for conflict is also forcing CNN to find instances of intra-party disagreement and make them out to be controversial — hence an obsessive focus with the fact that Kerry’s unwillingness to bring the troops home from Iraq immediately conflicts with the views of what CNN has decided is a majority of delegates:

Cooper: The war in Iraq flares as Democrats convene, but will anyone say the I-word, Iraq, here tonight?

Cooper: And welcome back. As we have seen here this week, the Democrats are making a big show of unity, celebrating togetherness, trying to project an optimistic view of the future. But some days the reality of the outside world intrudes. Today is one of those days.

Cooper: Iraq, however, is not a word you hear mentioned much here in Boston.

Cooper: you said it is time to bring the troops home. John Kerry is not talking about bringing the troops home.

Cooper: Why aren’t we hearing the word Iraq used on the speech? We did a little count — of 108 speeches, only 13 speeches have used actually the word Iraq.

J. King: When Jesse Jackson was speaking, he talked about bringing troops home as soon as possible. Dennis Kucinich just speaking, saying bring the troops home as soon as possible. A great applause down here (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a great number of the delegates are wearing these green stickers that say, “end the occupation of Iraq.” So this is a very difficult balance the Democrats are trying to strike in this hall, trying to make the case it is imperative to their chances that John Kerry is ready to be commander in chief before an audience in this hall that is very much anti-war.

Blitzer: Are the delegates, in your estimation, more anti-war? They just want to get out of Iraq as quickly as possible, which is a different position than Senator Kerry has, which is don’t cut and run.

Candy Crowley: Obviously, it is against what John Kerry is now proposing in Iraq, but this is something that Kerry has been wrestling with since the very beginning of his campaign, and that is he has a very anti-war party and he does not necessarily have anti-war votes.

Woodruff: Obama was one of the earliest people out in the country to come out against the war. He told me today, I happened to talk to him. He said, “I disagreed with John Kerry on that vote.” And I said, well, what about the Democratic Party platform? It sort of fudges the issue of Iraq and says people of good will can disagree.

Kelly Wallace (to Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.): Finally, you endorsed, obviously, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. Strong opponent to the war in Iraq. Does John Kerry need to do more to articulate a plan to get U.S. troops out of Iraq? That’s what you hear from Democratic delegates, but you’re not hearing it on this stage.