First the headline:
"Cindy McCain seen in more favorable light than Michelle Obama"
Next, the picture caption, found beneath a large smiling picture of Cindy McCain:
"A new poll shows Americans see Cindy McCain in a more positive light than Michelle Obama."
How does that square with what the article actually says?
In the latest Pew research poll conducted June 13 through 16, 78 percent have heard a least a little bit about the wife of Barack Obama, but up to 26 percent of those said the coverage of Michelle Obama has been mostly negative.
In contrast, 54 percent of those surveyed claim to know a little bit about Cindy McCain and of those polled 31 percent say the coverage they have seen has been mostly positive, while only 7 percent felt she has been represented negatively.
Note that the headline says that Cindy McCain is seen in a more favorable light than Cindy McCain. The picture caption and first paragraph reinforce that notion.
However, the Pew Research Poll says only that the media coverage of Michelle Obama has been more negative. It says nothing about what those polled actually think of Michelle Obama.
In other words, it would have been helpful to know from the poll whether or not people believed that the negative media coverage was both fair and truthful. The poll does not address these issues.
But the headline and picture caption clearly state that: "Cindy McCain seen in more favorable light than Michelle Obama."
Expect for this to continue, and the debasing claims against both Barack and Michelle to become more strident. Is this racism, or the result of the right-wing corporate media's attempts to "frame" the candidates and their wives?
I have a question for those questioned in the poll:
Which candidate respects his wife more, Barack Obama, or John McCain?
How much respect and admiration have we seen from the men that know their wives the best? John McCain can barely control his anger and contempt for Cindy McCain, while Barack Obama treats Michelle with great respect and affection.
Some of my favorite photos of Barack Obama are those of he and Michelle embracing, and no, not in the "icky" way that Al Gore embraced his wife on stage.
I see love and the respect of equals in Barack's and Michelle's eyes. I see John McCain as a husband who has a barely controlled, seething anger toward his wife, whom he has called a "trollop" and worse.
Hopefully, this problem will go the way of Barack Obama's "white worker problem", "Jewish problem", and "Hispanic problem", all media inventions, not borne out in reality.