Caplis contradicted his own track record by asserting he "speak[s] the truth about Barack Obama"

Summary: Discussing Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, 630 KHOW-AM host Dan Caplis responded to a caller who termed Caplis' frequent attacks on Obama "vitriol" and "swill" by asserting that "everything I say is backed up with fact, and logic, and reason, and nothing has been personal." Caplis previously made a similar claim, but Colorado Media Matters has pointed out that he has misrepresented facts or smeared Obama on his program numerous times.

Responding to a caller who labeled Dan Caplis' frequent attacks on Sen. Barack Obama "vitriol" and "swill," Caplis stated on his April 18 630 KHOW-AM broadcast that "it's fascinating how the Obamaholics try to intimidate anybody who bothers to tell the truth about Barack Obama." Caplis further asserted, "I'm gonna continue to speak the truth about Barack Obama. ... And everything I say is backed up with fact, and logic, and reason, and nothing has been personal." However, Colorado Media Matters has documented numerous instances in which Caplis has made false or misleading statements about Obama.

On March 12, Caplis similarly claimed that he puts "more facts out there about Barack Obama than you will find on any other show around here," as Colorado Media Matters noted.

From the April 18 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Caplis & Silverman Show:

CALLER: Hey, I've got a question for you. With all the vitriol you've been puttin' out about Obama -- I mean, it's almost like he's a black supremacist, a racist; he's anti-Christian, he's anti-American. He's the worst thing that could ever happen to America. What if somebody picked up a gun and assassinated the man? Some weak-minded individual listed to all your swill and went out and decided it was good for America to kill him? What would be your responsibility?

CAPLIS: Well, my response to that, [caller], is nice try. I mean, I should just publish my email. It'd be a best-seller, because it's fascinating how the Obamaholics try to intimidate anybody who bothers to tell the truth about Barack Obama, and I've been doing this for --

[crosstalk]

CAPLIS: I'm not done yet, Tom. But what I'm saying is that this is hilarious, you know, the depths people will stoop to. And I see it every day here from the people who say, you're a bigot or a racist, or you're against hope, or you're a muckraker, or hey, what if somebody hurts the guy? These are all just people trying to censor and intimidate the truth about Obama from being reported. And it's fascinating, 'cause I haven't seen this phenomenon before in other elections. And, you know, we could try to figure out where it comes from. But the bottom line is, I'm not gonna be intimidated. I'm gonna continue to speak the truth about Barack Obama. And it's fascinating now to watch, slowly but surely, the rest of the media start to very reluctantly catch up. But for months and months and months I've been saying, "Hey folks, you know, look behind the façade. Here are the facts." And so, when a caller like this suggests any kind of vitriol or this or that, he's lying. I mean, you can choose to see it any way you want to. But the tape is there, and the tape is the tape. And everything I say is backed up with fact, and logic, and reason, and nothing has been personal. And it's there, and if you want to cite any specific -- and we'll go back to this caller in a second -- you want to cite any specific, bring it on. Show it to me, and I'll be happy to talk about it. But no, bottom line is, I'm never going to accept that kind of logic.

Contrary to Caplis' claim that everything he says about Obama "is backed up with fact, and logic, and reason," Colorado Media Matters has documented the following instances in which Caplis misrepresented facts while discussing Obama on his program:

• Discussing part of the April 16 Democratic primary debate between Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, Caplis on April 17 claimed that "the only reason" Obama does not wear a U.S. flag lapel pin is because "he has a fundamentally dim and negative view of this country. And he does not want to be put in that category that you get put in when you proudly wear the flag." In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted, in October 2007, Obama said that he had decided to stop wearing a U.S. flag lapel pin during the run-up to the Iraq war because it had become "a substitute for, I think, true patriotism," and that "after a while, you start noticing people wearing a lapel pin, but not acting very patriotic."
• On March 4, Caplis baselessly asserted that, through the intervention of the since-indicted Chicago businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko, Obama bought his house "for 300 grand less than market value." In fact, according to a February 18 Bloomberg News article, "[t]he couple who sold Barack Obama his Chicago home said the Illinois senator's $1.65 million bid 'was the best offer' and they didn't cut their asking price because a campaign donor bought their adjacent land, according to e-mails between Obama's presidential campaign and the seller."
• On two straight broadcasts, Caplis attacked Obama and questioned his "judgment" for having worn the traditional attire of a tribal elder during an August 2006 visit to Kenya. On his February 25 program, Caplis questioned why Obama would "put on similar clothing to the outfit worn by the man who personally ordered thousands of Americans, including women and kids, to be burned to death," a reference to Osama bin Laden. On February 26, Caplis again used the bin Laden analogy in stating, "Unfortunately, the man who personally ordered the burning to death of thousands of Americans in New York City, including women and children, also wears that clothing." Caplis omitted news reports noting that the attire is common to the nomadic people of the region Obama visited and that it has no religious significance.
• Parroting other media commentators, Caplis asserted on February 13 that Obama is "obviously" the "most liberal senator in the Senate," adding, "[T]hat's objective criteria applied there." Caplis did not cite the source of his "objective criteria," which apparently was the National Journal's 2007 vote ratings, and failed to mention that a highly respected study by political science professors Jeff Lewis and Keith Poole ranked Obama as tied with Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) as the 10th "most liberal" senator in 2007.
• Discussing remarks made on August 12, 2007, by Obama's wife, Michelle Obama, addressing allegations that her husband is not "black enough," Caplis asked on his August 14, 2007, show: "[H]as anybody ever actually accused" Obama of not being "black enough"? Caplis further asked, "[O]r is that something his campaign keeps stirring up?" However, in stating, "[A]s far as I can see, nobody is saying that. Nobody's leveling that allegation," Caplis ignored comments he made on his July 25, 2007, program, when he and co-host Craig Silverman discussed a question asked during the July 23, 2007, CNN/YouTube Democratic presidential debate about whether Obama is "black enough." In fact, during the discussion, Caplis called it "[k]ind of an offensive question on its face."

• During his February 22, 2007, broadcast, Caplis touted the results of a flawed poll about the Iraq war to argue that Obama is "out of touch" because his stated position on Iraq war policy is aligned with the Iraq Study Group, which Caplis baselessly claimed "never caught on in America."

Caplis cited the results of a poll "by a Republican polling group" claiming that 57 percent of Americans "want to stay in Iraq and finish the job." Presumably Caplis was referring to the results of a February 5-7, 2007, Public Opinion Strategies poll that, as Media Matters has noted, not only reportedly was dismissed by another Republican pollster as "designed to register certain responses," but also conflicted with nonpartisan national polling concerning Iraq at the time.

• Echoing conservative smears on his January 19, 2007, program, Caplis repeated information that he attributed to a Fox News article about Obama's having attended a radical Muslim seminary, or radical madrassa. Although CNN debunked the myth three days later, Caplis never addressed the discredited story.

As Colorado Media Matters has noted, despite his history of providing misinformation, Caplis has claimed that he backs up his arguments with "facts, and logic, and history."

—C.H.