On the July 2 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor , syndicated columnist Robert Novak falsely asserted that, during an appearance on the June 29 edition of CBS' Face the Nation, retired Gen. Wesley Clark joined a group of "Obama surrogates who have been questioning and attacking [Sen.] John McCain's credentials as a war hero." In fact, during his Face the Nation appearance, Clark praised McCain as a "hero" for "his service as a prisoner of war," while, as Zachary Roth wrote at the Columbia Journalism Review 's Campaign Desk blog, "question[ing] the relevance of McCain's combat experience as a qualification to be president of the United States." Novak further asserted that Clark's comments were part of "a really conscious effort to downgrade him [McCain] as a war hero," adding, "[S]o when you find five, six, seven surrogates, all questioning McCain's war record -- this isn't an accident. This is -- I am sure this is some talking points that were put out secretly in the Obama campaign. But Wesley Clark being such a clumsy, ham-handed person, he just went too far." However, contrary to Novak's assertion that Clark was using "talking points that were put out secretly" by the Obama campaign, Clark has been saying for months that McCain's military service alone does not make him qualified to be president, including while he was speaking on behalf of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. As Media Matters for America has ...
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