CBS News Cuts McCain Gaffe

Update: 1:25 pm The McCain campaign issued a statement yesterday regarding the gaffe itself, but did not address the CBS edit. Until now: (via email)

Tommy Christopher: CBS did not air the response to Katie Couric's question about the Anbar Awakening, matching it instead with another of Senator McCain's responses. Was this edit performed at the request of anyone in or connected to the Senator's campaign?

Tucker Bounds: no

CBS News issued the following statement to me, via email:

As all news organizations do with extended interviews, last night's Obama and McCain interviews were edited to fit the available time and to give the viewers a fair expression of the candidates' major differences. The full transcript and video were and still are available at cbsnews.com

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Well, that was worth the wait. My questions to them were whether the McCain campaign had requested the cut, and would they be running a correction on the evening news?

This non-explanation holds no water. You don't cut the gaffe answer to one question, and replace it with the answer to a completely different question. One could hardly be blamed for thinking CBS was trying to pay the GOP back for the Bush Air National Guard story.


John McCain did an interview with CBS News, in which he made a serious error in describing the timing of the Sunni Awakening. The interview aired last night on the CBS Evening News. Well, an interview aired. Just not that one.

Keith Olbermann pointed out the discrepancy on MSNBC's Countdown. Here's Keith's report, followed by my own reporting, including a curious memo from the McCain campaign from yesterday, entitled, "BARACK OBAMA VS. CBS ON THE SURGE."


I went to the CBS website to see the transcript for myself, and it turns out they have the transcript, the video of the full interview, and the edited version. Here's the question in...question, followed by McCain's completely false answer:

Couric: Senator McCain, Sen. Obama says, while the increased number of U.S. troops contributed to increased security in Iraq, he also credits the Sunni awakening and the Shiite government going after militias. And says that there might have been improved security even without the surge. What's your response to that?

McCain: I don't know how you respond to something that is such a false depiction of what actually happened. Colonel McFarlane (phonetic) was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks. Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening. I mean, that's just a matter of history. Thanks to General Petraeus, our leadership, and the sacrifice of brave young Americans. I mean, to deny that their sacrifice didn't make possible the success of the surge in Iraq, I think, does a great disservice to young men and women who are serving and have sacrificed.

Here is the video, as it was aired on CBS. You will notice that they rather sloppily cut in an answer to a different question.



Here is the full McCain interview. It is available on the website, but was seen by a microscopic fraction of those who saw the surgically enhanced version.


Now, I'm no tin-foil conspiracy nut, but a major network airing an answer to a different question, when the actual answer is grossly incorrect, would raise the eyebrows of a Botox addict.

On an ironic note, the McCain campaign sent out a memo yesterday morning, entitled "Barack Obama vs. CBS News on the Surge." The framing of these interviews as a boxing match is oddly prescient, given that it appears that CBS, intentionally or not, pulled a big punch against McCain.

I contacted CBS News for an explanation, and their spokesperson was not aware of the discrepancy, but assured me that it would be looked into promptly.

On the heels of the NY Times Op Ed flap, and its attendant cries of media bias, CBS News needs to act quickly to avoid any appearance that they were covering for McCain.