MSNBC’s Bashir Distorts Gingrich’s Stance on NASA, Leaves Out Obama Ditched Moon Program
On his June 15 program, MSNBC's Martin Bashir misled viewers with claims that GOP presidential candidates, including and especially Newt Gingrich, were dead set on “grounding NASA.” Yet not once did Bashir remind viewers it was President Obama who has been criticized by Apollo program veterans for ditching the agency's project to send missions back to the moon. “Coming up, Newt Gingrich likes Tiffany diamonds but not manned space flight,” Bashir teased viewers before a commercial break at 3:10 p.m. Eastern. “Why do he and the other GOP candidates want to ground NASA?” he added. “Next, Newt Gingrich and other GOP candidates want to ground NASA. The latest salvo in a concerted war on science?” Bashir provocatively asked on the way out to commercial break at 3:25 p.m., echoing a favored meme of MSNBC hosts that Republicans are anti-science. Back from commercial break at 3:30, Bashir noted that aired a clip of President John F. Kennedy from May 25, 1961, laying out his goal for the U.S. to reach the moon by the end of the decade. “Now I ask you to contrast that with what Newt Gingrich said at Monday's debate,” Bashir snarled, showing a clip of Gingrich lamenting “bureaucracy after bureaucracy” and “failure after failure” in NASA's work since the moon landings of the late '60s and early '70s. “Of course we now know how Mr. Gingrich likes to spend his money, but in difficult times, how much can America spend on space exploration?” Bashir
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on June 15, 2011. Filed under