On his Facebook page Friday, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ)denied he ever voted against strengthened background checks amid blacklash over his opposition to the bipartisan Manchey-Toomey background checks amendment.
Flake used his vote for a watered-down amendment offered by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to argue that he voted to expand background checks. In reality, the amendment would do little to expand background checks and in fact would weaken gun safety laws. Flake made the comments in response to an ad criticizing his opposition to Manchin-Toomey:
If you are anywhere close to a television set in Arizona in the coming days, you’ll likely see an ad about gun control financed by NYC Mayor Bloomberg.
Contrary to the ad, I did vote to strengthen background checks. I voted for the bipartisan Grassley Amendment, which included language from a bill I helped write which strengthened background checks for those with mental illness. The Grassley amendment also included language to increase prosecution of criminals and fugitives who circumvent the current background check system.
Mayor Bloomberg can spend millions trying to get me to support his view of background checks. That’s his call. But we Arizonans aren’t easily bullied. The legislation that would have done the most to keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them was the Grassley Amendment. And that’s the amendment I supported.
Flake has misrepresented his position on gun violence before. He once wrote to the mother of an Aurora shooting victim that “Strengthening background checks is something we agree on.” However, a month later, Flake voted against the Manchin-Toomey amendment to expand background checks.
What Flake voted for was a plan that would weaken gun laws by making it easier to buy and transport across state lines, helping people evade stricter laws. The central solution Flake cites from the Grassley plan — that states would share their mental health records and provides more prosecution of felons who seek guns — is only one step. It still does nothing to prevent people who take advantage of existing holes in the first place, like online sales. The Grassley amendment also would make it easier for some mentally ill people to obtain guns, by exempting patients who are involuntarily committed.
After his vote, Flake saw his approval rating tank. “Nothing like waking up to a poll saying you’re the nation’s least popular senator,” Flake wrote. “Given the public’s dim view of Congress in general, that probably puts me somewhere just below pond scum.” Flake’s colleague Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) is facing similar fire from constituents for her vote with the National Rifle Association.
The Supreme Court ruled today that the Affordable Care Act, the comprehensive health care reform package signed by President Obama in 2010, is constitutional. The Court upheld the law’s most controversial provision, the individual mandate, ruling that it is constitutional under the government’s authority to levy and collect taxes.
Republicans have falsely claimed the mandate was the “biggest tax increase ever in American history,” so of course, conservatives immediately jumped on the idea that the individual mandate was a massive tax hike on the middle class, reviving an argument Republicans have made since the law passed more than two years ago:
INDIANA SEN. DAN COATS (R) said “Right now we have something with a big tax and the American people who rejected that in 2010 are going to have a chance to break the tie in 2012.”
LOUISIANA GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R) said “Ironically, the Supreme Court has decided to be far more honest about Obamacare than Obama was. They rightly have called it a tax. Today’s decision is a blow to our freedoms.”
IDAHO SEN. MIKE CRAPO (R) touted that the mandate was ruled a tax. “Now, we’re back into that argument,” he said.
Watch Coates:
The mandate can indeed be characterized as a tax, as the Court found. But it is not a massive tax hike on the middle class, much less the biggest tax hike in American history. The tax imposed by the individual mandate amounts to either $695 or 2.5 percent of household income for those who don’t have insurance and are not exempt based on income levels. By comparison, the payroll tax cut extension Republicans repeatedly blocked earlier this year would have added 3.1 percentage points to the tax and cost the average family $1,500 a year.
The mandate, meanwhile, would hit a small amount of Americans — somewhere between 2 and 5 percent — according to a study from the Urban Institute. The number could be even lower depending on the law’s success: in Massachusetts, the only state with an insurance mandate, less than 1 percent of the state’s residents paid the penalty in 2009.
The majority of the Affordable Care Act’s other taxes, such as a payroll tax increase and a tax on high-cost health plans, are aimed at upper-income Americans. In exchange, millions of jobs will be created as new people enter the health care system and millions of people will gain access to affordable, quality insurance that they otherwise would not have. And, as we detailed earlier today, the Court’s decision to uphold the entirety of the law will have significant benefits for the nation’s economy.
Tell Congress that you stand with Obamacare by adding your name here.
UPDATE
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) characterized the mandate as a “middle class tax increase,” claiming that millions of Americans are going to have “an IRS problem.” Watch it:
Media have reported that Fox News will be renewing the contracts of Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, for multiple years and multiple millions of dollars. Based on O'Reilly and Hannity's previous years with the network, these extensions will likely result in several more years of blatant falsehoods and smears.
Fox To Extend Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly Contracts
Deadline: Fox News Is Finalizing "Multi-Year, Multi-Million Dollar Agreements" With O'Reilly And Hannity. From Deadline's Nellie Andreeva:
I've learned that Fox News Channel is finalizing new deals with its two biggest stars, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. The new multi-year, multi-million dollar agreements, which are expected to be completed by early next week, will take both hosts past their 20-year mark at the cable news network. [Deadline, 4/18/12]
NY Times: O'Reilly And Hannity "Are On The Verge Of Renewing Their Contracts Through The 2016 Election Season." From The New York Times:
Whether a Democrat or a Republican is inaugurated president next year, the conservative commentators Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity will still be in their respective studios, holding forth for the Fox News Channel.
The two men, whose contracts are up after the presidential election this year, are on the verge of renewing their contracts through the 2016 election season, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations. The people insisted on anonymity because the negotiations were confidential.
[...]
The news was first reported by the Web site Deadline.com on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, a Fox spokeswoman confirmed Deadline's report that the contracts for both men are expected to be completed by early next week.
The precise lengths of the contracts are unknown, as are the salary levels. But both men are already believed to make more than $10 million a year, on par with the top news anchors at the broadcast networks. [The New York Times, 4/19/12]
Hannity's History Of Falsehoods And Smears
HANNITY FED THE BIRTHER MOVEMENT
Hannity: "What's The Deal? Produce The Birth Certificate, It's Over, Done With." [Fox News,Hannity, 3/24/11, via Media Matters]
Hannity: Obama "Grew Up In Kenya." [Fox News, Hannity, 10/17/11, via Media Matters]
Hannity On Obama's Birth Certificate: "Can't They Just Produce It, And We Move On?" [Fox News, Hannity, 3/23/11, via Media Matters]
Hannity Said It's "Not True" That Obama Has Shown His Birth Certificate. [Fox News,Hannity, 3/25/11, via Media Matters]
Hannity Said Obama Was Born In The U.S., But Demanded That He "Show The Stupid Birth Certificate." [Fox News, Hannity, 4/5/11, via Media Matters]
Hannity Had No Problem With People "Asking To See The Birth Certificate." [Fox News,Hannity, 1/27/11, via Media Matters]
Hannity Fueled Obama Muslim Myth While Denying Fox's Role In Feeding Such Falsehoods. [Media Matters, 3/21/12]
Hannity Asserted That Obama "Went To A Muslim School." [Fox News, Hannity, 3/24/11, viaMedia Matters]
HANNITY LAUNCHED A VICIOUS ANTI-GAY SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST FORMER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL KEVIN JENNINGS
Hannity Escalated Anti-Gay Bigotry, Asked, "Does Kevin Jennings Support The Group NAMBLA?" [Fox News, Hannity10/7/09, via Media Matters]
Hannity Pushed Falsehood-Based Smear That Jennings Is "Indoctrinat[ing]" Kids About Homosexuality. [Media Matters, 10/9/09]
Hannity Lauded GOP Fruits Of His Smear Campaign Against Jennings. [Fox News,Hannity, 10/15/09, via Media Matters]
Hannity Repeatedly Falsely Claimed That Jennings Failed To Report The Statutory Rape Of A 15-Year-Old Student, And Even Advanced The Falsehood After It Had Been Conclusively Debunked. [Media Matters, 10/5/09, 10/7/09]
Hannity Repeatedly Brought Up Roman Polanski While Discussing Jennings. [Media Matters,10/8/09]
HANNITY HAS A HISTORY OF RACE-BAITING
Hannity Repeatedly Pushed Bogus Connection Between Obama And The New Black Panther Party. [Media Matters, 10/3/11, 4/10/12]
Hannity Predicted Use Of "Race Card ... Is Going To Be At An All-Time High" In 2012 Election. [Fox News, Hannity, 5/19/11, via Media Matters]
Hannity Asked: Is Obama's Problem That He's "In Over His Head" Or That He Believes In "Black Liberation Theology"? [Fox News, Hannity, 8/10/11, via Media Matters]
Hannity Smeared Former USDA Official Shirley Sherrod As Having Engaged In A "Racial Incident." [Media Matters, 7/20/10]
Hannity Has Hosted New Black Panther Fringe Group More Than 30 Times. [Media Matters,7/14/10]
Hannity Defended Beck's Claim That Obama Is A "Racist." [Media Matters, 3/10/10]
Hannity Asked: "Do The Obamas Have A Race Problem Of Their Own?" Then Continued To Smear Them. [Media Matters, 3/5/08]
Hannity Suggested That Obama "Associated" Himself With Farrakhan. [Media Matters,1/18/08]
HANNITY HAS FREQUENTLY PUSHED FALSEHOODS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT
Hannity: Global Warming "Doesn't Exist." [Fox News, Hannity, 11/19/10, via Media Matters]
Hannity Completely Missed Big Picture On Coal And Asthma. [Media Matters, 4/21/11]
Hannity: The "True Agenda" Behind Global Warming Is To Punish The U.S. And Redistribute Wealth. [Media Matters, 8/27/10]
Hannity Blamed "Environmentalists" For BP Spill Because They "Pushed Us Out There" To Drill In Deep Water. [Fox News, Hannity, 6/10/10, via Media Matters]
Hannity Advanced Falsehood To Claim Scientists Were "Fudging" Climate Data. [Media Matters, 12/4/09]
Hannity: "The Latest Buzz" Is "It's Not Global Warming, It's Global Cooling." [Fox News,Hannity, 6/24/11, via Media Matters]
HANNITY HAS A HISTORY OF FEARMONGERING ABOUT MUSLIMS
Hannity Used Segment On Cain's Plan To Keep Muslims Out Of His Cabinet To Fearmonger About Sharia. [Fox News, Hannity, 4/6/11, via Media Matters]
Hannity Drew Comparisons Between Building A Community Center And Burning The Quran. [Fox News, Hannity, 9/9/10, via Media Matters]
Hannity Falsely Claimed Muslim Cleric Rauf Wants To "Shred Our Constitution." [Media Matters, 8/12/10]
Hannity Defended Evangelist Franklin Graham's Attack On Islam. [Fox News, Hannity,4/22/10, via Media Matters]
Hannity Likened Restriction On Christian Leaflets At Michigan Muslim Festival To "Enforcing Sharia Law." [Fox News, Hannity, 6/24/10, via Media Matters]
HANNITY HAS HISTORY OF SMEARING OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS
Hannity Advanced Dubious Claim That State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh "Advocates The Use Of Sharia Law In America." [Media Matters, 9/10/09]
Hannity On "Demoniz[ing]" Hillary Clinton: "That's My Job." [Media Matters, 8/26/08]
Hannity: "Health Reform Czar" Nancy-Ann Deparle Is A Member Of "Obama's Shadow Government." [Media Matters, 9/9/09]
Hannity And Malkin Attacked Ron Bloom, Couldn't Decide If He's "Manufacturing Czar" Or "Green Jobs Czar." [Media Matters, 9/9/09]
O'Reilly's History Of Falsehoods And Smears
O'REILLY REPEATEDLY DEMONIZED ABORTION PROVIDER DR. GEORGE TILLER AND THEN LIED ABOUT IT AFTER TILLER WAS MURDERED
O'Reilly Repeatedly Referred To Tiller As "The Baby Killer." [Media Matters, 6/2/09]
In 2006, O'Reilly Sent His Producer To "Confront" The "Doctor Known As Tiller The Baby Killer." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 11/8/06, via Media Matters]
In 2007, O'Reilly Again Sent A Producer To Ambush The "Doctor Known As Tiller The Baby Killer." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 6/12/07, via Media Matters]
After Tiller Was Murdered, O'Reilly Repeatedly Falsely Claimed He Had Only Reported What Other Groups Called Tiller. [Media Matters, 6/2/09]
O'Reilly Subsequently Accused Joan Walsh Of Having "Blood On Her Hands" For Defending Tiller. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 6/12/09, via Media Matters]
In 2012, O'Reilly Was Still Claiming That "What Tiller Was Doing Was Murder." [Fox News,The O'Reilly Factor, 3/1/12, via Media Matters]
O'REILLY HAS A HISTORY OF USING NAZI ANALOGIES TO DEMONIZE OPPONENTS
O'Reilly: Liberals Who Support Gun Control Are "Totalitarians" Like Hitler. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 3/2/10, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly: Huffington Post Uses "Same Exact Tactics That The Nazis Used." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 3/5/08, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly: "I Don't See Any Difference Between [Arianna] Huffington And The Nazis." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 2/27/08, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly: Daily Kos Is "Like The Nazi Party." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 7/16/07, viaMedia Matters]
O'Reilly Compared Tim Robbins' Comments To Those Of "Von Ribbentrop In The Nazi Hierarchy." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 12/13/07, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly Compared Michael Moore's "Power" To What "Happened In Nazi Germany." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor,7/28/04, via Media Matters]
O'REILLY HAS A HISTORY OF MAKING RACIALLY CHARGED STATEMENTS
O'Reilly Dismissed Racist Chant As A "Sporting Arena Taunt." [Media Matters, 3/24/12]
O'Reilly Joked: How Will The Obama Administration Reach Out To African Americans? "Are They Going To Be On Soul Train?" [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 12/6/11, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly Asked, "[S]hould White Americans Be Concerned About Judge Sotomayor?" [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 7/13/09, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly, On His Now-Defunct Non-Fox Affiliated Radio Program, "Couldn't Get Over The Fact That There Was No Difference" Between Harlem Restaurant And Other New York City Restaurants. [Westwood One, The Radio Factor, 9/19/07, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly Warned Of Immigration Bill's "Unintended Consequences" -- Changing Ethnic Landscape. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 5/17/07, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly Said "White Americans Are Terrified" To Compliment Blacks Out Of Fear "They May Be Taken As Condescension." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 2/5/07, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly Opposed "Clustering" Of Mexicans. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 7/30/07, via Media Matters]
O'REILLY HAS FREQUENTLY PUSHED FALSEHOODS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT
O'Reilly Described Renewable Energy As A "Phantom," Said "God Controls The Climate."[Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 4/7/11, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly Claimed That Environmental Movement "Absolutely Did" Contribute To The BP Oil Spill Disaster. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 6/10/10, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly Hosted AccuWeather.com's Bastardi To Claim That "The Globe Is Actually Cooling." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 9/9/09, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly Said Question Of Whether Humans Are Causing Global Warming Is "All Guesswork." [Media Matters, 3/4/08]
O'REILLY HAS A HISTORY OF FEARMONGERING ABOUT MUSLIMS
O'Reilly: "For Every Muslim In The World That Wants Democracy And Wants Human Rights, There's One Who Doesn't." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 5/19/11, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly Pressed Trump On Whether There Is A "Muslim Problem In The World." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 3/28/11, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly: "There Are No Democratic Countries At All" In The Muslim World. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 2/18/11, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly Insisted That Extremism Is "A Muslim Problem." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor,10/25/10, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly Claimed "The Muslim Threat ... Is Real." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 10/25/10, viaMedia Matters]
O'REILLY HAS MADE ANTI-IMMIGRANT STATEMENTS
O'Reilly Scapegoated Undocumented Immigrants And Public Employees For California's Budget Problems. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 11/18/11, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly Proposed "More Prisons" To Curtail Undocumented Immigration. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 11/16/11, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly Smeared La Raza As "A Pretty Radicalized Group" That Opposes "Any Kind Of Border Security." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 7/27/11, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly: "The Constitution Is Being Misused" By The Parents Of "Anchor Babies." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 1/6/11, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly Warned Of Immigration Bill's "Unintended Consequences" -- Changing Ethnic Landscape. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 5/17/07, via Media Matters]
O'REILLY HAS ENGAGED IN ANTI-GAY RHETORIC
O'Reilly Was Accused Of "Equating Gays" With "Terrorists." [Media Matters, 6/3/10]
O'Reilly Advanced Myth That DADT Repeal Would "Cause A Lot Of Morale Problems."[Media Matters, 4/21/10]
O'Reilly Suggested That If Same-Sex Marriage Is Legalized, "Polygamy Is Then Going To Run Rampant." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 5/11/09, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly: Gay Marriage Could Lead To Goat, Duck, Dolphin, And Turtle Marriage. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 5/11/09, via Media Matters]
O'Reilly: "[T]housands" Of Gays In One Place "Can Be Confusing To Children." [Fox News,The O'Reilly Factor, 7/12/07, via Media Matters]
For nearly a year, we've been pointing out that one of the blatant lies Andrew Breitbart has told to defend his smear of Shirley Sherrod is the claim that the NAACP audience she was speaking to "applauded" her supposed "racism." Last week, Breitbart appears to have accidentally admittedly lying about that response on multiple occasions.
In a profile last week of Breitbart, The New York Times helped the blogger-provocateur lie by uncritically reporting his false defense, writing that "Mr. Breitbart said... the crowd applauded when Ms. Sherrod said she did not help" a white man save his failing farm.
After I pointed out that one could easily watch the original Sherrod smear clip and determine that no such applauding occurred, the Times issued a correction indicating that the audience "did not applaud, although Mr. Breitbart stated that they did." Eric Boehlert and Brad Friedman subsequently pointed to another possible error in the Times article, which the paper's public editor is currently reviewing (Friedman has also noted that the text of the article itself has been edited to hide Breitbart's lie).
After New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen said on Twitter that the Times' correction "doesn't go far enough," Breitbart responded with his typical wit and charm:
So according to Breitbart, his explanation of what happened is accurate because when he says "applaud," he doesn't mean that the audience was "clapping." He's just using "applaud" to refer to the "nodding approval and murmurs of recognition and agreement" he mentioned in his original Sherrodpost (which, as we'll explain below do not show racism on the part of Sherrod or her audience).
This explanation fails the laugh test (as a failed Hollywood type, Breitbart really should know that when you're referring to the actions of an audience, "applauded" means engaged in clapping), but the line of logic leads us somewhere interesting: presumably, anyone who said that Sherrod's audience had been "clapping" would be incorrect, right?
I'm sure you can see where this is going. Yes, Breitbart has used the terms "applauding" and "clapping" interchangeably in describing the audience's reaction -- and has even clapped his hands while saying the word "applauding."
Breitbart Has Repeatedly Said Sherrod's Audience Was "Clapping"
Here's Breitbart in an interview last July on ABC's Good Morning America:
What this video clearly shows is a standard that the tea party has not been held to, is that the NAACP shows people in the audience there applauding her when she discriminates against a white farmer. ... If you want to talk about people clapping racist behavior, that's exactly what you see in this video.
A few minutes later, he returns to this point:
The video shows racism, and when the NAACP is going to charge the tea party with racism, saying that people in the audience are racist, I'm going to show you that it happens on the other side. At an NAACP event, people are applauding racism.
Not only did Breitbart say the audience was "clapping," both times Breitbart refers to the audience "applauding" Sherrod's "racism," he claps his hands. Watch (clapping at 1:16 and 6:37):
The NAACP excoriated the audience for its clapping and its affirmation of her telling the story about how she sent the farmer to "one of his own" and how she patronized him initially.
According to Nexis, Breitbart has also said that the Sherrod audience was "laughing and applauding" [Fox News' Hannity, 7/20/2010] and that the audience "cheers" [NBC's Nightly News, 7/21/2010] during Sherrod's story. Needles to say, these characterizations are all a long way from the "nodding approval and murmurs of recognition and agreement" he initially cited.
What The Audience Did And What They Knew
After Breitbart began making these claims last July, CNN's Anderson Cooper and NBC's Chuck Todd both reviewed the tape. Cooper concluded that there "actually was no applause whatsoever during the speech when talking about the white farmer," while Todd found that "the reactions that Breitbart said were there are not there."
As Breitbart indicated in his original post, there are "murmurs of recognition and agreement," and even laughter, when Sherrod says of the white farmer who "was trying to show that he was superior to me," "what he didn't know was while he was taking all that time trying to show he was superior to me, was I was trying to decide how much help I was going to give him." At no point in the clip is there clapping from the audience (i.e., "applaud[ing]").
In a 2010 interview with Sean Hannity, Breitbart explained why he thinks the audience's reaction is so crucial:
BREITBART: Did the people in the audience know that there was going to be a point of redemption?
HANNITY: No.
BREITBART: The point is that the NAACP at a dinner honoring this person is cheering on a person describing -- describing a white person as the other. [Fox News' Hannity, 7/20/2010]
There's one major problem here. The audience did know there was "going to be a point of redemption."
The full video shows that Sherrod prefaced her story about the white farmer by explaining that she had originally made a commitment "to black people only" before learning better of it:
[16:34] SHERROD: God is good. I can tell you that. When I made that commitment [to working for change], I was making that commitment to black people -- and to black people only. But you know God will show you things and he'll put things in your path so that you realize that the struggle is really about poor people --
AUDIENCE: All right. All right.
SHERROD: -- you know. The first time I was faced with having to help a white farmer save his farm. He took a long time talking but he was trying to show me he was superior to me -- I knew what he was doing.
Is it possible that nearly a year after he first smeared Sherrod, and months after she sued him, Breitbartstill hasn't watched the full video?
Breitbart's Dishonest Crutch: What The NAACP "Admitted"
In his tweet, Breitbart defends his use of "applaud" by reporting that the "NAACP admitted audience's affirmative reaction." This is a talking point he broke out for his book tour, when numerous interviewers tried to pin him down on his Sherrod antics. Like most Breitbart talking points, it is deeply dishonest.
It is true that in a July 19, 2010, statement, the NAACP's Ben Jealous said he was "appalled" by Sherrod's "shameful" actions, and says that "the reaction from many in the audience is disturbing." But as the criticism of Sherrod in the statement indicates, it was released before the NAACP had reviewed the full video - including the context noted above, wherein Sherrod previews the white farmer story by indicating it was a story of redemption.
The next day, after reviewing video of the full Sherrod speech, Jealous said he had been "snookered" by Breitbart and that the clip posted on his site had been "deliberately edited to create a false impression of racial bias."
