AP in the Tank for Obama?

Many conservatives believe the mainstream media is dominated by a liberal bias, and many liberals believe the mainstream media is either pretty balanced or slightly favors conservatives. Truth is, it depends on which media organization you pay attention to.

The New York Times is clearly slanted left, while the Wall Street Journal tends to tilt right. The Associated Press, which has never been a big fan of conservatives or Republicans (the two are not the same), has long been accused of an openly liberal bias. But yesterday the AP went over the top.

An article by AP writer Beth Fouhy, titled "Palin Stretches Truth in Campaign Speeches," put the AP's bias toward the Obama - Biden ticket on clear display for all to see.

The article starts with an immediate attack on vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and then proceeds to lay out an argument against Palin while completely ignoring similarities with the Obama - Biden ticket.

Fouhy says, "At a rally Tuesday, Palin tried to link Obama to the failure of housing giant Fannie Mae by noting that two Obama supporters once led the troubled company." She went on to say that "...Palin exaggerated Obama's ties to Raines and Johnson while omitting any mention of a closer relationship between a top McCain aide and the failed housing giants."

What Fouhy fails to say is that Franklin Raines told the Washington Post he was an economic adviser to Barack Obama, and that assertion went unchallenged by the Obama campaign. That is, of course, until Fannie and Freddie collapsed and Raines was tied to "accounting irregularities" at Fannie Mae. Then, in a stroke of political expediency, Obama denied Raines' role, Raines backed him up, and the Post said the original story couldn't be relied upon. As for Jim Johnson, who also is supposedly not close to Obama, Fouhy glosses over the relationship. The reality is that Johnson was tapped to head Obama's vice presidential search committee, but had to step down over a questionable loan. Who selects someone they are not close to for leading their VP search committee? Something smells here.

And that relationship between McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and Freddie Mac? Davis had stepped down from running the firm more than a year ago and had not done any work for the firm in more than a year. Yet Fouhy tried to tie monies paid to the firm, not Davis, to the McCain aide. Davis had, in fact, not received any money from Fannie and Freddie since 2005.

Fouhy also points out that the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center "...found his [McCain's] plan [health care] would increase the deficit by $1.3 trillion over 10 years. What she doesn't tell you is that the same Tax Policy Center says the Obama plan would increase the deficity by $1.6 trillion over 10 years. The picture's a bit different when you paint the whole thing, instead of just a part, isn't it?

I don't expect complete objectivity from anyone. It goes against human nature. We all have our personal biases. That's fine. But don't then try to portray yourself as an objective news organization if you are willing to publish one-sided, blatantly biased bits of information designed to obscure and mislead.