Fact Checking The Sunday Shows - June 6, 2010

This Week

CLAIM: Sen. Cornyn Minimized And Misrepresented Rep. Mark Kirk's Record Of Exaggerating His Military Experience

SEN. JOHN CORNYN: Mark Kirk made clear that his company or his organization got that medal and not him personally, and he apologized for any misunderstanding. I think the problem with Mr. Blumenthal was, when he misrepresented his service in Vietnam, he uh, had a press conference the uh, shortly thereafter and said he had misspoken. Y'know, that's like shooting yourself in one foot and reloading and shooting yourself in the other foot. I think, y'know, people are human. They make mistakes. They oughta admit it and uh, hopefully people will forgive them and they can move on.

FACT: Rep. Kirk Has Repeatedly Overstated His Laudable Service Record

Kirk Has Embellished At Least Five Aspects Of His Service Record. According to the Chicago Tribune:

For the first time, Kirk on Thursday said assertions he came under enemy fire while flying reconnaissance missions over Iraq in 2000 may not be true because there is no record of whether his aircraft was being fired upon. While speaking from the U.S. House floor in October 2003, however, Kirk was more certain: "The last time I was in Iraq, I was in uniform flying at 20,000 feet and the Iraqi Air Defense network was shooting at us."

Kirk also revealed that a letter he sent to his congressional district in 2009 described him as a veteran of Operation Desert Storm - the first Gulf War to chase Iraq out of Kuwait in the early 1990s - although he did not participate in that war.

Kirk said his congressional staff erred years ago when they claimed he was the only member of Congress to "serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom," the invasion of Iraq after 9/11, when in fact he served stateside. Kirk noted the statement, on his Web site, was fixed in 2005 when the mistake was discovered.

Kirk acknowledged he overstated his role when he previously said he commanded the Pentagon's war room during one stint of duty. Instead, he said, he was responsible for the intelligence side of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Military Command Center. Another officer was in charge of the armed forces.

The controversy over Kirk's military record took off last week when he acknowledged that he did not receive the Navy's award for intelligence officer of the year in 1999.

Kirk, who joined the Navy Reserve in 1989, has repeatedly described the honor as an individual award from the Navy for his actions during the war in Kosovo, known as Operation Allied Force. But late last week, amid media inquiries to the Navy, Kirk corrected his resume to show he actually received a different award.

[Chicago Tribune, 6/3/10]

See Political Correction's extensive Kirk fact-check here

See NBC Chicago's timeline of the Kirk campaign's response to the scandal here

CLAIM: Sen. Cornyn Claimed That Israeli Blockade Of Gaza Does Not Disrupt Humanitarian Aid

SEN. JOHN CORNYN: So this was pretty clearly a premeditated provocation, and it's unfortunate that lives were lost. Uh, I think uh, y'know, it should've been a situation like it had been before. If the uh, if the people organizing this flotilla had been committed to a peaceful activity as opposed to a prov-- provocation, uh, this would not have occurred, and Israel would have been able to examine the contents of the flotilla and they would have been delivered to the people in Gaza who needed help.

FACT: Israel Will Not Allow Building Materials, Certain Foodstuffs, And A Wide Variety Of Goods That Have Nothing To Do With Violence

Israel Indiscriminately Prohibits Goods From Entering Gaza. According to Gisha, a Jaffa-based Israeli human rights organization, as of May, the following items were prohibited from entering the Gaza Strip.  According to the group, the partial list "is based on information from Palestinian traders and businesspersons, international organizations, and the Palestinian Coordination Committee, all of whom 'deduce' what is permitted and what is banned based on their experience requesting permission to bring goods into Gaza and the answers they receive from the Israeli authorities (approved or denied)." [Gisha, accessed 6/3/10]

Prohibited Items:

See Foreign Policy Matters's full examination of the Israeli blockade here

Fox News Sunday

CLAIM: Gov. Barbour Implied The Gulf Oil Spill Is Not A Big Deal

GOV. BARBOUR: Well the truth is, uh, Chris, we've had virtually no oil. Uh, if you're on the Mississippi gulf coast anytime in the last 48 days you didn't see any oil at all. We've had a few tarballs, but we've had-we have tarballs every year as a natural product of the Gulf of Mexico. 250,000 to 750,000 barrels of oil seep into the Gulf of Mexico through the floor every year. So tarballs are no big deal...

The biggest-the biggest negative impact for us has been the news coverage. There's been no distinction between Grand Isle and Venice and the places in LA that we feel so terrible for, that have had oil washing up on 'em, but to the average viewer to this show thinks that uh, the whole coast from FL to TX is ankle-deep in oil. And of course it's very, very bad for our tourist season. That's the real economic damage. Our first closure of fisheries in Mississippi waters came just earlier this week, after about 45 days. So it may be hard for the viewer to understand, but the worst thing for us has been how our tourist season has been hurt by the misperception of what's going on down here. The MS gulf coast is beautiful. As I tell people, the coast is clear, come on down.

FACT: The BP Gusher Dwarfs Yearly Oil Seepage In The Gulf To Such An Extent The Comparison Is Silly

USGS: BP's Well Already Spilled Between 18 Million And 39 Million Gallons Of Crude. According to the Associated Press: "Two teams of scientists calculated the well has been spewing between 504,000 and more than a million gallons a day. Even using the most conservative estimate, that means about 18 million gallons have spilled so far. In the worst-case scenario, 39 million gallons have leaked. That larger figure would be nearly four times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster, in which a tanker ran aground in Alaska in 1989, spilling nearly 11 million gallons." [Associated Press, 5/27/10]

FACT: Barbour's Efforts To Downplay The Spill Mimic BP's Response

Barbour's Comments Echo BP CEO's Assessment That It's "A Very Big Ocean." According to Mother Jones: "BP has made every effort to downplay the size of the spill so far, with CEO Tony Hayward last week assuring folks that the spill was 'relatively tiny' compared to a 'very big ocean.' Meanwhile, BP's reps have been fighting off media coverage on the scene. A boat chased a CBS news crew off a Louisiana beach last week. Our own Mac McClelland was barred from an oil-slicked beach by a local sheriff today and referred to a BP 'liaison.' As many have pointed out, the company has can a very good reason to shield the public from the reality of the spill, as it could save the company millions in court." [Mother Jones, 5/21/10]

BP Has Barred Journalists From Reporting On Oiled Beaches. According to Mother Jones: "BP has been skittish about letting the public see footage of the oil spill. We already know that the oil giant kept alarming video of the leak under wraps until senators demanded copies. But here's something even more problematic: yesterday, CBS shot this video of BP contractors and the Coast Guard chasing their news cameras away from an oil-slicked beach, supposedly at the behest of BP. 'These are BP's rules,' one man on the boat tells the camera crew. 'These are not our rules.'" [Mother Jones, 5/19/10]

FACT: While MS Is Not The Hardest Hit Of The Gulf States, The Effects Of The Spill Are Far Worse Than Barbour Suggests

MS Islands Hit By Oil Are "The Only Wilderness In The State." According to the Los Angeles Times: "National Park Service officials are responding to tar balls and mats of oil washing up along the shoreline in parts of Gulf Islands National Seashore, a string of barrier islands off the coasts of Mississippi and Florida. Joan Anzelmo of the park service on Sunday confirmed impacts on Horn and Petit Bois Islands in Mississippi, Perdido Key in the Florida panhandle, and Ft. Pickens and Opal Beach in Pensacola... The two Mississippi islands are federally designated wilderness, which, among other things, restricts motorized access. On Petit Bois, park staff are using small tracked vehicles to move equipment around.  [Park Service Official Katie] Lawhon said she was on Petit Bois on Wednesday and saw 2¼ miles of shoreline hit by oil. Louie Miller of the Sierra Club in Mississippi said Petit Bois and Horn Islands are all the more precious because, along with a small tract of forest land, they represent the only wilderness in the state. 'That's it; that's all we've got,' he said. 'Those islands are unique to the northern gulf and in pristine condition.'" [Los Angeles Times, 6/6/10]

Ship Island MS Also Hit With Oil, Dead Sea Life. According to Treehugger.com: "Yet another shore appears to have been hit with oil from the Gulf spill: Ship Island, Mississippi. I'd barely gotten back to Louisiana from Dauphin Island, AL, where hundreds of dead catfish were washing up, when I got word that oil was spotted on the Mississippi island. The nonprofit Below the Surface was on the scene, and they suggested I come down and check it out with them. Once there, we did indeed find oil had washed ashore -- as well as a dead baby dolphin and a sea turtle." [TreeHugger.com, 5/16/10]

[ThinkProgress.org, 5/14/10]