Sun and Darkness

Wash. Post ’s Weisman, Shear repeated GOP’s false claim about Obama and Israel without providing context showing it was false

In a May 14 Washington Post article, staff writers Jonathan Weisman and Michael D. Shear wrote: “Republican surrogates have relentlessly tried to portray [Sen. Barack] Obama as anti-Israel, just this week plucking one sentence out of an extended interview with the Atlantic Monthly to accuse him of calling Israel ‘a constant sore’ that infects U.S. foreign policy.” But Republicans did not “pluck[] one sentence” out of the Atlantic interview; they plucked out two words, and Weisman and Shear did not provide the context in which Obama used the words “constant sore” to show readers that the attack is false. Indeed, in his May 12 interview with Atlantic magazine national correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg, Obama used the words “constant wound” and “constant sore” in referring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not Israel. Further, Weisman and Shear did not note the Obama campaign’s or Goldberg’s responses to the Republican attacks, both of which noted they are false.

Indeed, Washington Post “fact checker” Michael Dobbs noted on May 14 that “a fair-minded reading of Obama’s remarks shows that his comment has been taken completely out of context … It is pretty clear from this passage that Obama is not calling Israel a ‘constant wound.’ Indeed, he specifically says ‘no, no, no’ when asked whether Israel is a drag on America’s international reputation. He is referring to the overall Israeli-Palestinian problem, including continued Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.” Weisman and Shear did not mention Dobbs’ “fact check.”

Additionally, Weisman and Shear wrote that Republican strategist Scott Reed said that “[p]ersonal attacks … may work when times are good, but in an election year marked by economic recession, an unpopular war and an unpopular president, the candidate waging a frivolous campaign could face a backlash.” As evidence, the Post cited “the sacking of McCain’s convention chief, Douglas M. Goodyear, after his past ties to the military junta in Burma came to light.” But as Weisman and Shear themselves noted, Goodyear was “sack[ed]” for his ties to the “military junta in Burma,” not “[p]ersonal attacks” during a political campaign. Moreover, in purporting to note McCain’s stance on personal attacks, Weisman and Shear did not report that the McCain campaign suspended a staff member who reportedly distributed a video — titled “Is Obama Wright?” — that, as the Politico’s Jonathan Martin reported, “splices together the most inflammatory language of [Obama's former pastor] Jeremiah Wright with a series of other issues that have arisen in the campaign” and “includes footage of Malcolm X, the U.S. Olympians who raised their hand in the black power salute and the song ‘Fight the Power.’ “

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Further, an April 24 article in The Hill reported that McCain asserted about a

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