Bozell Demands AP Correction on Rush Limbaugh Comment

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell has sent a letter to the Associated Press demanding a correction to a story critical of Rush Limbaugh’s comment about Sen. Ted Kennedy and healthcare reform.

Limbaugh said last week on his radio show that President Barack Obama’s healthcare proposal will be named in memory of “liberal lion Teddy Kennedy,” who is battling brain cancer.

“Before it’s all over, it’ll be called the Ted Kennedy Memorial Healthcare bill,” Rush said.

The AP story quoted Brian Wolff, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, who called Limbaugh’s remark “outrageous” and “reprehensible.”

Wolff’s words were taken from the DCCC’s own Web site, which charged that Limbaugh “crossed the line” and sought to “demonize a patriotic Senator.”

But the AP story “omits a key fact: It was Democrats themselves who first suggested this naming, not Rush Limbaugh,” Bozell noted.

He cited a Fox News article on Jan. 13 that reported: “A spokesman for one of the architects of a national healthcare bill said that any legislation that emerges would be named after Kennedy.”

Jude McCartin, a spokesperson for Sen. Jeff Bingaman — a New Mexico Democrat who sits on Kennedy’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — was quoted as saying: “[Kennedy] wouldn’t name it for himself, but the majority of the body working on the legislation would say he’s devoted his life to it. Now that we’re on the verge of doing something major, the naming of the legislation should reflect his longstanding involvement.”

Bozell said in his letter to AP’s Washington bureau chief Ron Fournier: “Is this not extremely relevant to the story? And is there any reason it was omitted?

“The DCCC posted a deceptive blog and statement by Wolff on its Web site that accused Limbaugh of demonizing Sen. Kennedy. We’re not surprised as it is the kind of tactic we’ve come to expect from the Democratic leadership.

“But if your bureau used this posting for content, as appears to be the case, you owe both an apology to Rush Limbaugh and an immediate update to correct the record.”