Forty pages of sloppiness: The factual errors of Lewis Lapham's Gag Rule (7/15)

By Brendan Nyhan

Sloppy political tracts are nothing new, but this election year has seen an explosion of them. Harper's Magazine editor Lewis Lapham's Gag Rule stands out as an especially noteworthy example, packing a number of factual errors into a forty page opening chapter on attacks on dissent in the period from Sept. 11, 2001 through the war in Iraq. Disturbingly, many of these recapitulate previous errors from columns in Harper's that were recycled in the book. (Read the whole column.)

7/15/2004 06:07:42 PM EST |

Kerry spin extends to Edwards (7/12)

By Ben Fritz

With John Kerry's selection of Senator John Edwards as his running mate, the Bush/Cheney re-election campaign immediately brought an old bit of spin to bear against its new opponent.

In a press release put out Tuesday, the same day Kerry announced his choice, the Bush campaign stated, "Senators Edwards And Kerry Voted Against Body Armor For Our Troops," "Senators Edwards And Kerry Voted Against Health Care For Our Troops As Well As Support For Their Families," and "Senators Edwards And Kerry Voted Against Increased Combat Pay And Armored Humvees."

Although no citations are provided, the charges echo some made against Kerry earlier this year. Those accusations were based on the Senator's vote against the $87 billion supplemental appropriations bill to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan passed last October, which Edwards also voted against. Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie confirmed this in a Tuesday appearance on MSNBC's Hardball. After he stated, "He voted against funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, providing them the body armor and other means necessary for them to do their jobs," host Chris Matthews asked, "That was the vote -- that was the what was the $87 billion for the occupation?" and Gillespie responded, "Yes." Gillespie then made essentially the same charge on CNN's Capital Gang Saturday.

As we have previously noted, this $87 billion appropriations bill had a number of other provisions beyond the ones cited by the Bush campaign. But by naming them individually, the campaign deceptively makes it look like Edwards and Kerry voted against them as individual items.

The deceptive attacks against the Kerry-Edwards team continued beyond Gillespie's remarks and the campaign's press release. Senator Mitch McConnell said on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes Wednesday, "They voted for the war, both of them, and then voted against paying for it. In other words, they voted to give the president the authority to go to war and then wouldn't provide the body armor and the other things that were necessary to equip the..." And on CNN Tuesday, Bush-Cheney campaign manager Ken Mehlman stated, "The American people want to make sure we support our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, both Kerry and Edwards voted against providing them the body armor and other support they need."

Republicans can certainly criticize Kerry's and Edwards' vote against the funding, but making it appear to be specifically about body armor or any other single issue is highly misleading.

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Related links:
-AP buys Bush spin on Kerry's defense record (Brendan Nyhan, 3/18/04)

7/12/2004 12:11:32 AM EST |

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