Rep. Tom Tancredo's advice that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay should consider stepping aside while ethics charges against him are resolved received wall-to-wall coverage on the Sunday morning news shows - which all but ignored Tancredo's main point: that the DeLay allegations "lack merit" and were "trumped-up."
In a statement posted to his official Web site Friday, the Colorado Republican emphasized that he believed the DeLay scandal was a bogus partisan witch hunt: "I believe that all of the charges against Tom DeLay I have seen to date lack merit. I believe they are being leveled in the hopes of bringing him down, and with him the Republican majority," he began.
Only then did Tancredo suggest that it "may be a productive move" for DeLay to take a "temporary" leave of absence, saying:
"However, if the majority leader were to temporarily step aside so that these trumped-up charges can be dealt with in a less hostile environment, as they have proven to be an unnecessary distraction, it may be a productive move."
But that didn't stop the media from misreporting Tancredo's comments, suggesting that the Colorado Republican wanted DeLay to permanently resign.
Of 29 mainstream press reports on Tancredo's statement generated by a Lexis Nexis search, 14 omitted his "temporarily" qualifier.
None of the headlines so much as hinted that Tancredo's statement was anything but a call for DeLay's permanent resignation.
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