During the Bush Administration, Meet the Press was Dick Cheney’s favorite show for spreading rightwing lies, especially before the invasion of Iraq (aluminum tubes, Prague meeting, etc.). MTP never demanded corrections of those lies and never banned guests like Cheney who lied to them.
Under the Obama Administration, Meet the Press continues to let rightwingers spread lies without consequence.
On August 16, rightwing lobbyist Dick Armey told a flat-out lie:
“[W]hen MoveOn.org ran those ads that compared President Bush with, with Adolf Hitler, I thought it was despicable.”
As Steve Benen writes,
“Five years ago, MoveOn.org invited people to put together homemade television ads for the presidential campaign, and anyone could just post their idea to the group’s site. Some unknown person put together an ad comparing Bush to Hitler, and put it on the MoveOn.org site without the group’s knowledge. MoveOn pulled the submission. When Armey said MoveOn “ran those ads,” he was lying.”
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019510.php
It’s long past time for Meet the Press to stop rightwing lies. It should immediately adopt three policies:
1. Challenge lies by rightwing guests during the show by demanding evidence
2. Demand corrections from rightwing guests after the show
3. If rightwing guests fail to provide evidence or provide corrections, ban them from all future shows
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