Seriously. This passes for news these days.
Recently, I've been more and more upset at the Associated Press.
Glancing through a recent article, I found this:
Obama's theme is "change," and he constantly says McCain would carry out "a third term" of President Bush, whose approval ratings approach historic lows. McCain portrays Obama as inexperienced, naive and more talk than action.
I found it odd that the writer put scare quotes around "change" and "a third term", but not around "inexperienced", "naive", or "more talk than action". It would seem suitable if, at the very least, "more talk than action" gets these quotes, but it doesn't.
But, that's just a bickering of scare quotes. I might be exaggerating things. So, let's look instead at this:
McCain is positioning himself as the experienced former U.S. Navy officer and war prisoner who is motivated by hard reasoning. Experience is a strength he intends to help carry him into the White House.
Obama, by contrast, is decades younger and inexperienced in foreign affairs. His political success until now is powered to a large extent by his youthful optimism for "change." While that may ignite enthusiasm it also could inspire allegations of naivete.
This seems a little more damning. "positioning himself as the experienced former U.S. Navy officer and war prisoner" against "decades younger and inexperienced in foreign affairs". "is motivated by hard reasoning" against "is powered to a large extent by his youthful optimism for 'change'." "While that may ignite enthusiasm it also could inspire allegations of naivete." You know, I hadn't considered that...
Maybe I'm cherrypicking here. Let's take a look at another article.
This article seems acceptable at first. When we read it, however, it seems off. There are two paragraphs detailing McCain's difficulties, focusing on his weakness with social conservatives. Then, an additional paragraph talking about Iraq and how polls currently show candidates tied on the issue. The remainder of the article is about problems with Obama: racism, Hispanics, women, black turnout, seniors, and (a classic) poor and/or uneducated whites. No mention of McCain's age or his similarities to Bush at all.
I should note that these articles have all appeared within the last week.
If there is any doubt left, say that it might only be temporal, let's remind ourselves of this:
They bought the man doughnuts.
And Obama rode a bike.