CBS NEWS STANDS BY "MISTAKE" McCAIN

(Via Media Matters)

After first saying there was no editing error, CBS now claims that the splice didn't distort McCain's views. From the WaPo's The Trail:

The "CBS Evening News" interview began with Couric quoting Barack Obama as saying that "there might have been improved security even without the surge" and asking, "What's your response to that?"

But what viewers saw next was not what the Republican candidate said next, an out-of-order sequence that news organizations generally do not allow. McCain's earlier comment that "Senator Obama has indicated by his failure to acknowledge the success of the surge that he would rather lose a war than lose a campaign" was spliced into the second part of his subsequent answer, the editing break covered by a photo of McCain with Gen. David Petraeus.

Left on the cutting-room floor was McCain accusing Obama of "a false depiction of what actually happened" and adding: "Colonel MacFarland was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks. Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar Awakening. I mean, that's just a matter of history."

But the official, Col. Sean MacFarland, has said that Sunni leaders began cooperating against al-Qaeda months before President Bush's "surge" began. McCain aides say Couric did not ask him about the chronology.


In response to critics, CBS News Senior Vice President Paul Friedman noted Wednesday that the full transcript and video are available online. He added in a statement: "The report was edited under extreme time constraints and one piece of tape was put in the wrong order. Fortunately, this did not in any way distort what Senator McCain was saying."

Using the photo of McCain with Petraeus is shocking. This is nothing less than a campaign advertisement done by what the wingnuts consider to be a liberal media outlet.