CNN Misrepresents How Much Money Was Raised For Joe Wilson's Opponent Rob Miller

By Heather — September 11, 2009

CNN's Joe Johns apparently decided that their viewers didn't need to know just how much money has been raised for Rep. Joe Wilson's opponent for his House seat in 2010 during this segment from AC360. While it is true that Rob Miller raised $200,000 overnight, at the time this segment aired, Miller was already right about at the half million mark, and it's now pushing $700,000 and rising.

If he hits a million in a day or two maybe these guys will be forced to finally report it.

If you'd like to help that happen you can donate to Rob Miller here.

UDATE: It's now over $800,000 and counting and some numbers from Act Blue.

First post-Wilson contribution came in at 9:31 on 09.09.09
In the 27 hours following he raised ~675k from ~18k donors
In 27 hours he eclipsed the 48-hour high water mark for a single candidate (incl. Prez/Sen) on ActBlue
Nearest apples-to-apples thing is Tinklenberg post-Bachmann. Over that post-Hardball evening and the day after Tinklenberg raised 240k.
For almost 3 hours yesterday he was raising $1k/minute
Total 9-09 to 9-10 haul represents $7/second over that period.
Avg contribution: $36
Median contribution: $25

UPDATE II: Rob Miller just passed the $1 million mark and has posted a thank you diary at DailyKOS.

Transcript below the fold.

COOPER: The president saying apology accepted, but the controversy still growing. Who is Congressman Wilson? Who thinks he went too far? And who actually agrees with him?

The "Raw Politics" from Joe Johns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Republican Congressman Joe Wilson. After last night, he's the man everyone wanted to hear from today.

WILSON: Last night, I heard from the leadership that they wanted me to contact the White House and state that my statements were inappropriate. I did.

JOHNS: Inappropriate? Not everyone agrees. In his health care speech last night, President Obama made a debatable claim that illegal immigrants would not be insured in his health care reform plan. It was more than Wilson could stand.

WILSON: You lie!

(AUDIENCE BOOING)

JOHNS: "You lie," that's what he yelled.

OBAMA: It's not true.

JOHNS: Democrats up in arms charging Wilson had disrespected the office of president of the United States. And, suddenly, Wilson's own office became the center of a storm. The phone lines in his office, Twitter and Facebook pages all flooded. His office Web site crashed because so many people offered opinions.

So, what were people saying? Wilson's staff said calls were 3-1 in support of Wilson, but not so much public support from leaders of his own party, even though he may have articulated some Republican anger. (on camera): What about the sentiment, though? There's anger. There's frustration. What about the sentiment?

MICHAEL STEELE, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I don't know about -- I don't know what -- what sentiment are you talking about?

JOHNS: The sentiment that the -- that the Democrats are shoving health care down the throats of Republicans.

STEELE: I think everybody's concerned right now about what the next steps are in health care. The congressman apologized for his outburst. I think we have all moved past that. Let's focus on getting a good bill.

REP. JOHN SHADEGG (R), ARIZONA: I'm not trying to excuse it. There is a frustration in America right now. And I think that frustration stems from the fact that president is pursuing policies quite different from what he campaigned on.

JOHNS: So, who is this guy anyway?

Joe Wilson is not the kind of congressman you see sticking his face in front of a camera here at the United States Capitol Complex, kind of keeps to himself, comes from a very conservative district in South Carolina. Known for handling defense issues, he's also the type of congressman who worked here on Capitol Hill before he actually ran for Congress.

He's an attorney as well, and a lot of people were surprised at this outburst.

(voice-over): But not shocked. He once lit into a Democrat on C-SPAN for claiming the U.S. gave weapons of mass destruction to Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, C-SPAN)

WILSON: That is absurd. And, you know, this hatred of America by some people is just outrageous. And we need to get over that.

(CROSSTALK)

WILSON: It is a hatred of America to say something like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: And today, after Wilson went after the president, some folks back in his home state of South Carolina said they didn't like it.

A Democrat running against Wilson even said he got $200,000 in donations overnight. But in a conservative state where Wilson is a fixture, he has still got support. And to cash in on those feelings, Wilson just this evening with a fund-raising video explaining what happened and asking for money.

So, did the president lie about illegal immigrants being insured under the Democratic reform efforts? The answer, technically, illegal immigrants would not be prohibited from receiving insurance under three of the plans passed by committees in the House, but they would have to pay for it on their own.

And the most important issue is who pays. The bills that have passed the three committees say the illegal immigrants cannot receive any government money, tax credits and the like, to pay for health care. So, several fact-checking organizations have said the president was not lying -- Anderson.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Joe Johns reporting.