The NY Times does a little research and comes to the conclusion that Dobbs lied about his leprosy claims. As Matt Yglesias suggests, this isn't surprising since so many of the Limbaugh types do the same thing. Duncan thinks there should be more reporting of this type done and he's correct. I have an idea. How about the Sunday shows that feature politicians and journalists do a follow up show on Wednesday and fact check their guests. Cheney viewed MTP as a place where he could control the messaging to the American people about the run-up to the war. From the Libby trial we learned:

Flashed on the courtroom computer screens were her notes from 2004 about how Cheney could respond to allegations that the Bush administration had played fast and loose with evidence of Iraq's nuclear ambitions. Option 1: "MTP-VP," she wrote, then listed the pros and cons of a vice presidential appearance on the Sunday show. Under "pro," she wrote: "control message."

"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used," Martin testified. "It's our best format."

Here's the video evidence that shows Cheney lied to Borger when he was caught controlling the message:

Download (4721) | Play (4091) Download (2367) | Play (2378)

In ‘01, Cheney said this on MTP:

CHENEY: It‘s been pretty well confirmed that he did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April.

GLORIA BORGER, TV SHOW HOST: You have said in the past that it was, quote, “pretty well confirmed.”

CHENEY: No, I never said that. BORGER: OK.

If Russert wanted to shed himself from being a host for propaganda---he could do a follow up Meet the Press and hash out all the lies, misstatements and half truths that are being disseminated to the American public through his show. It's fairly easy to do. By documenting their inaccuracies he might be able to undo some of the damage that's being caused to our country and the world. Here's Chris Wallace actually doing some fact checking on Douglas Feith and his claims that he never linked an operational relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda that Cheney used to promote the Iraq war.

Download (4776) | Play (3852) Download (1889) | Play (2162)

I wrote this at the time: "Well, well, well, Chris Wallace jumped in and became a journalist. Why can't all these talk shows do something of this nature? Hold politicians accountable instead of allowing them to "control the message" on important issues."