A November 1 Associated Press article republished on CBSNews.com repeated the false claim that "nuclear option," referring to the Republican-proposed Senate rule change to prohibit filibusters of judicial nominations, is a Democratic term. The article on CBSNews.com reports: "[Senate Majority Leader Bill] Frist [R-TN] said he's ready to move against judicial filibusters, using what Republicans call the 'constitutional option' and Democrats term the 'nuclear option.' " Other versions of the AP article, however, do not ascribe "nuclear option" to Democrats. CBS presumably added the language to the AP article.

As Media Matters for America has noted on numerous occasions, the term "nuclear option," as it pertains to judicial filibusters, was originally coined by Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS). Republican strategists have since shunned the term as a liability and have instead urged the use of "constitutional option." A May 17 Washington Post article quoted Republican pollster Frank Luntz saying: "The implication of 'nuclear option' is way too hot and extreme."

This is how the AP article appears on CBSNews.com, under the byline "CBS/AP":

Frist said he's ready to move against judicial filibusters, using what Republicans call the "constitutional option" and Democrats term the "nuclear option." <'blockquote>

This is how every version of the same AP article appears in the Nexis database (and republished on the San Francisco Chronicle's website):

Frist said he's ready to move against judicial filibusters, using what Republicans call the "constitutional option," if Democrats force him to.

A Google News search indicated that CBSNews.com was the only outlet to feature this language.

Original Text

Commentary:
Other news organizations that have lied (or gotten it wrong) are National Public Radio (NPR), the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times. Republicans don't have to smear democrats, the media is doing it for them (nothing new).

The media continues to employ people of questionable character. People who simply "make things up." Reporters who lied about Whitewater and President Clinton were rewarded, not fired (every major reporter lied about Whitewater). Reporters who lied about WMD were rewarded, not fired (every major reporter lied about WMD). And they wonder why we think they'll all idiots.

It amazes me democrats haven't attacked the media more (Clinton recently started the attack) earlier this week. When lies are rewarded (hell, Bush was reelected after lying to us about WMD and surpluses) one wonders if rewarding success and truth will ever become the norm again.

I like the way "Media Matters" does this. They point out the error (lie) and watch for the media to correct itself. When the media is caught lying very few of them correct the record. Some like Rush and O'Reilly (the worst offenders) attack "Media Matters" because they dare to point out their mistakes (lies), much like Bush attacked anyone who dared to disagree with his lies (mistakes) about WMD and surpluses. It's more sad than appalling, but all these uncorrected mistakes lead one to think the media is intentionally lying. These lies have led to an idiot becoming president, a war for no reason, tax cuts that have created $2.3 trillion of debt and a congress that's so inept it can't balance its books.