On the December 31 edition of NBC's Today, chief White House correspondent David Gregory and GOP pollster Frank Luntz, who was identified only as a “political pollster,” discussed video clips of what Gregory called “the year's best quotes from the campaign trail.” However, Gregory and Luntz omitted relevant context for two of the five quotations they chose to highlight -- an attack on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) and a separate attack on Clinton by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

During the program, Gregory introduced a clip of Giuliani saying, “Quote, Hillary Clinton, 'I have a million ideas. America cannot afford them all.' Swear, I'm not making it up. ... No kidding, Hillary. America can't afford you.” Gregory said, “That's a bumper sticker right there.” In fact, as Media Matters for America noted, the Boston Globe editorial board -- the audience to whom Clinton originally made the statement that Giuliani cited -- said that when Clinton made the comment, she was “saying she opposes big government spending, not the other way around.”

The Globe first reported Clinton's remarks in an October 11 article:

Clinton recently floated the idea of issuing a $5,000 bond to each baby born in the United States to help pay for college and a first home, but it immediately inspired Republican ridicule and she quickly said she would not implement the proposal.

She defended that decision yesterday, saying she is focusing on proposals with more political support and she is not formally proposing anything she can't fund without increasing the deficit: “I have a million ideas. The country can't afford them all.”

In an October 28 editorial, the Globe stated that Clinton's remarks during the interview have been “so badly twisted by her opponents that we feel it necessary to reprint the interview transcript that contains the remark.”

Another of the quotes aired during the segment was a clip of McCain saying that “Senator Clinton tried to spend $1 million on the Woodstock Concert Museum. Now, my friends, I wasn't there. I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was -- I was tied up at the time.” Luntz called McCain's criticism of Clinton "[a] double hit" and a “home run.” But neither Gregory nor Luntz noted, as Media Matters has repeatedly documented, that although McCain is listed as a co-sponsor of the amendment to remove the earmark for a museum at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, located “at the site of the original 1969 Woodstock Festival” in New York, he was one of six senators to miss the vote to “table” -- or kill -- that amendment. The motion to table the amendment failed by a vote of 52-42, and the Senate subsequently passed the amendment by unanimous consent.

During the segment, Luntz was identified as a "[p]ollster" by Gregory and a “political pollster” by on-screen text. As Media Matters has noted, Luntz has worked for the Republican Party and for Republican candidates, including Giuliani during his 1993 and 1997 mayoral campaigns, as well as his 2000 Senate race, from which Giuliani withdrew.

From the December 31 edition of NBC's Today:

GREGORY: As 2007 winds down, in this morning's edition of “Today on the Trail” we look back at the year that was, the run-up to the 2008 presidential race. Pollster Frank Luntz is here with the year's best quotes from the campaign trail.

And, Frank, you've been doing a lot of focus groups, obviously, as you do every year. And this has been such a strange cycle so far in lots of different ways. And there are moments here that you think are telling.

LUNTZ: Well, I was expecting it to be all about experience and intelligence, and I got it wrong. In the end, likability actually does still play a major role. Hillary Clinton always had that issue of being too tight, of not showing her heart. But when she's humorous and when she comes up with a one-liner, boy, does she do well.

GREGORY: And when we talk about these in the context of a debate, they are very humanizing. Let's start with Senator Clinton. This comes from a debate in Las Vegas, when there was that perception that she was playing the gender card because her opponents were finally engaging her. Watch.

CLINTON [video clip]: I'm not playing, as some people say, the gender card here in Las Vegas. I'm just trying to play the winning card. And I understand very well that people are not attacking me because I'm a woman. They're attacking me because I'm ahead. And I understand. ... As Harry Truman famously said, “If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” And I feel very comfortable in the kitchen, and I'm going to, you know, withstand the heat.

LUNTZ: She plays the gender card as she's not playing the gender card, and she uses Harry Truman. She invokes one of the most popular, really tough ex-presidents. It's brilliant because it made her seem human. And the way that she related to the audience -- and she's also -- she does one thing perfect: She always ends when she's supposed to. She never goes over the one minute, and voters hate it --

GREGORY: When they see that.

LUNTZ: -- when candidates talk too long.

GREGORY: All right, let's now move on to Mayor Rudy Giuliani. This is from a debate in Orlando just a couple of months ago. Watch.

GIULIANI [video clip]: Second, she made a statement last week, and I've been very critical of her, but I want to tell her I agree with this one. Quote, Hillary Clinton, “I have a million ideas. America cannot afford them all.” Swear, I'm not making it up. ... No kidding, Hillary. America can't afford you.

GREGORY: That's a bumper sticker right there.

LUNTZ: And it's great because Rudy needed to define the race not by his comparison where he stands on the issues vs. other Republicans, because in some cases mainstream Republicans don't necessarily agree with him. But they do see him as the best person to defeat Hillary Clinton, so he defined the opponent. If the opponent is Hillary Clinton, that's Rudy's advantage.

GREGORY: Let's go back to the Democrats and Barack Obama. He's been criticized for being a little bit aloof, not great during the debates, trying too hard, maybe, to stay above the fray. Well, at the recent Des Moines Register debate -- debate, rather, he mixed it up a little bit. Watch this.

[begin video clip]

CAROLYN WASHBURN (Des Moines Register editor and debate moderator): With relatively little foreign policy experience of your own, how will you rely on so many Clinton advisers and still deliver the kind of break from the past that you're promising voters?

OBAMA: Well, the -- you know, I am --

CLINTON: I want to hear that.

OBAMA: Well, Hillary, I'm looking forward to you advising me as well.

[end video clip]

GREGORY: It was a good -- it was a good line, and a lot of confidence there.

LUNTZ: Yes. And if Senator Clinton had been more careful, she wouldn't have laughed and she wouldn't have challenged him. Because that's what made this the great moment. It wasn't Barama's [sic] response. It was him responding to Hillary Clinton. These are not his best moments. He's much better on the campaign stump. But in these debates, if he can hold his own with her, he could do very well in Iowa and New Hampshire.

GREGORY: Right. Also betrayed some of the momentum that he's had, kind of showcased that, that he's had toward the end of the year.

Now, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, he's been obviously doing well in the debates, rising a tide of support and now the front-runner in Iowa. And one of his biggest assets has been his ability to communicate. So we're going to go back to something he said back in June that struck a chord with voters.

[begin video clip]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are an ordained minister. What is the most pressing moral issue in this country?

HUCKABEE: Well, it looks like I'm getting all the moral questions tonight, and I guess that's a good thing. That's better than getting the immoral questions, so I'm happy to get those.

[end video clip]

LUNTZ: He used that line in a couple of debates. There's a reason why Mike Huckabee went from 1 percent in the polls now to, in some cases, in second place.

GREGORY: Right.

LUNTZ: He is the most likable of all the candidates. He is very calm, very relaxed, and very in control of himself. But even more importantly, the language that he used suggests a sense of confidence. They're asking him -- you could argue that he gets asked the toughest questions of any Republican --

GREGORY: Right.

LUNTZ: -- but he hits them out of the park. Now, the challenge for Huckabee is he's going to have to respond to the other areas of his record --

GREGORY: Right.

LUNTZ: -- he can't afford advertising and he's got a challenge ahead.

GREGORY: Let's get -- let's get in one from John McCain in a similar vein.

McCAIN [video clip]: In case you missed it, a few days ago Senator Clinton tried to spend $1 million on the Woodstock Concert Museum. Now, my friends, I wasn't there. I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was -- I was tied up at the time. But the fact is --

GREGORY: Hmm. Referring to him being a prisoner of war at the time.

LUNTZ: And what viewers should note is that they gave him a standing ovation that lasted --

GREGORY: Yeah.

LUNTZ: -- more than a minute for that line. A double hit.

GREGORY: Right.

LUNTZ: When you can do a double-ended joke, that's the home run.

GREGORY: It's his biography, as well. Frank Luntz, very interesting.