CNN gave one Limbaugh explanation for "phony soldiers" remark, ignored his subsequent contradiction

http://mediamatters.org/items/200710200002?f=i_latest

On the October 19 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, national correspondent Susan Candiotti provided one of Rush Limbaugh's original explanations for his remarks characterizing U.S. service members who support U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as "phony soldiers," but she failed to note Limbaugh's subsequent, contradictory explanation of that comment. Describing the controversy surrounding Limbaugh's September 26 comments, Candiotti stated that Limbaugh "denied" he was "criticizing soldiers who are publicly opposed to the war," and "instead said that he was criticizing just one individual, someone who was actually convicted for pretending to be a soldier, who had bashed the war."

Indeed, on his September 28 nationally syndicated radio show, Limbaugh insisted he was "talking about one soldier with that 'phony soldier' comment, Jesse MacBeth." MacBeth pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for pretending to be an injured Iraq war veteran. Later in the September 28 broadcast, Limbaugh again asserted, "I was talking about one genuine, convicted, lying, fake soldier." But as Media Matters for America noted, Limbaugh actually referred to "phony soldiers," plural when he made the remark during his September 26 broadcast. Responding to a caller's statement that supporters of withdrawal "like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media," Limbaugh responded, "The phony soldiers" {emphasis added}. While Candiotti noted that Limbaugh had "used the term 'phony soldiers,' " she did not point out the contradiction.

Moreover, Candiotti did not mention that Limbaugh offered a different explanation later on his September 28 broadcast when a caller pointed out the contradiction. In response to a caller's question, "But you did say 'soldiers' in plural, though, didn't you?" Limbaugh asserted: "Yes, because there have been a number of these people, but they were not active duty -- I was not talking about anti-war, active duty troops. I was talking about people who've been exposed as frauds who never served in Iraq but claimed to have seen all these atrocities, {unintelligible}." And on October 2, Limbaugh described MacBeth as "the man I was referring to and others like him as 'phony soldiers.' " But those explanations were inconsistent with his earlier statements that he was referring to a single fake soldier. Indeed, the transcript (subscription required) of the September 28 broadcast that is posted on Limbaugh's website shows Limbaugh asserting: "I was talking about one soldier with that phony soldier comment, Jesse MacBeth" {emphasis in original}.

On The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer also ignored Limbaugh's contradictory statements:

last night. Except for a brief interlude of sanity, thanks to Cafferty (and even he had a letter from a wingnut) I thought I was watching Fox. Had to shut the idiot box off, for my blood pressures' sake.