Carlson Incorrectly Reports On Obamas' Sleeping Habits
On the September 6 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, host Tucker Carlson quoted Michelle Obama, wife of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), from a recent interview with Glamour as saying of her husband and children: "We have this ritual in the morning. They come in my bed, and Dad isn't there -- because he's too snore-y and stinky, they don't want to ever get into bed with him." Glamour left out a key word from Michelle Obama's quote; she had said, "They come in my bed, and if Dad isn't there ..." -- the addition of "if" turning her remark into a conditional statement that her children come into bed "if Dad isn't there." But Carlson went beyond Glamour's original error, asserting, based solely on the inaccurate quote, that "the Obamas do not sleep in the same bed, Mrs. Obama is saying." Later in the program, Carlson reported that he "just received a call from the Obama campaign taking issue" with his claim that Michelle Obama said "the Obamas do not sleep in the same bed." Carlson claimed to "know nothing about the Obama's bedroom habits beyond what Michelle Obama has told the rest of us," and reread the excerpt from the interview adding: "I don't know anything she hasn't told me. So if there's more they want to tell us about their bedroom habits, this is the show to tell us on."
Even after Glamour edited the posted transcript, CNN's Political Ticker blog posted the inaccurate version of Michelle Obama's quote in a September 7 entry, despite linking to the updated Glamour transcript:




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Media Matters For America | September 7, 2007 11:52 AM