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Media Covered Heinz Kerry 'Shove It' Comment on 187 More Occasions than Bush 'Can't Win the War on Terror' Comment
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- While reporters obsessed for days over Teresa Heinz Kerry's relatively insignificant request that a right-wing reporter "shove it," they've devoting much less coverage to George W. Bush's stunning flip-flop on one of the most important issues facing America today -- whether or not we can win the war on terror.
On Sept. 1, Salon.com senior writer Eric Boehlert wrote: "The Bush machine is running one of the dirtiest -- and most effective -- campaigns in modern history" and noted that the "compliant media" has adopted a "double standard" when it comes to President George W. Bush versus Senator John Kerry.
From the September 1 article, published on Salon.com:
Nowhere has that that (sic) double standard been more apparent than when contrasting the way the media have covered the two parties' conventions. Compare the coverage of Bush's colossal blunder on Monday -- telling NBC's Matt Lauer that he didn't think the war on terror was winnable -- with Teresa Heinz Kerry's trivial "shove it" remark during the Democratic Convention in Boston last month. So far, Bush's gaffe has garnered far less coverage than Heinz Kerry's.
Media Matters for America reviewed coverage for the days following Teresa Heinz Kerry's exchange with the editorial page editor of a right-wing newspaper (whom she told to "shove it") and the three days following Bush's remark that "I don't think we can win" the war on terror (a statement that flatly contradicted a remark he had made one month prior, and that, according to USA Today, he then attempted to "adjust"). MMFA found that the media covered Heinz Kerry's comment on 187 more occasions than they covered Bush's comment in the three days following each incident.
And while media coverage of Bush's remark quickly dropped off -- just three days after he flipped on August 30 and two days after he flopped on August 31, saying that "we will win" the war on terror -- the same was certainly not true for Heinz Kerry's remark, as the following chart illustrates:
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Day 1:
Heinz Kerry/"shove it" Daily Total 97
Cumulative Total 97
Bush/war on terror unwinnable Daily Total 75
Cumulative Total 75
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Day 2:
Heinz Kerry/"shove it" Daily Total - 241;
Cumulative Total - 338;
Bush/war on terror unwinnable - Daily Total - 190
Cumulative Total 265
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Day 3:
Heinz Kerry/"shove it" Daily Total 227
Cumulative Total 565
Bush/war on terror unwinnable - Daily Total - 113
Cumulative Total 378
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Day 4:
Heinz Kerry/"shove it" Daily Total 116
Cumulative Total 681
Bush/war on terror unwinnable - Daily Total 19 (see Note)
Cumulative Total 397
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Day 5:
Heinz Kerry/"shove it" Daily Total 66
Cumulative Total 747
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Day 6:
Heinz Kerry/"shove it" Daily Total 43
Cumulative Total 790
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Day 7:
Heinz Kerry/"shove it" Daily Total 59
Cumulative Total 849
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Day 8:
Heinz Kerry/"shove it" Daily Total 41
Cumulative Total 890
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Day 9:
Heinz Kerry/"shove it" Daily Total 37
Cumulative Total 927
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Day 10:
Heinz Kerry/"shove it" Daily Total 36
Cumulative Total 963
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Day 11:
Heinz Kerry/"shove it" Daily Total 20
Cumulative Total 983
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Day 12:
Heinz Kerry/"shove it" Daily Total 15
Cumulative Total 998
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Methodology:
Based on searches of the LexisNexis database of "All News" conducted Sept. 2. Totals for "Heinz Kerry/"shove it" include all hits that return for the search: Teresa Heinz Kerry and "shove it" for July 26-August 6 (Heinz Kerry made the comment on the night of July 25). Totals for "Bush/war on terror unwinnable" include all hits for the search: Bush and "I don't think we can win it" for August 30-September 2 (Bush made the comment on the morning of August 30).
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=35594 |
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