This is a balanced story about a non-issue. Its only shortcoming is not pointing out how easily the news media and American public are manipulated.

According to this article, Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama believes his lipstick on a pig comment about the McCain camp was innocent and that the Republican response to it was faked outrage. Reuters backs this up by googling the phrase and discovering that a McCain adviser wrote a book by that title. And it requires five people to file the dispatch--more than sources quoted here--because apparently one reporter was on the scene instead of in front of a computer, causing havoc in the Reuters bureau. Nonetheless, a NewsTrust reviewer of this article correctly notes "the sloppy editing," and other NT reviewers observe that this is what passes for news in our otherwise troubled world. Was Obama innocent? No. Was ... More »

Don't you just love it when the "respectable" campaigns the candidates are conducting cut through all the gibberish and get down to the real guts of the issues? Or is that just wishful thinking on my part? The world is falling about our ears and THIS is all the media can come up with? And as for McCain's ridiculous kneejerk overreaction: the pig with lipstick remark has been used by politicians in both parties. McCain, himself, used it not so long ago to describe Hillary’s healthcare plan. Even Dick Cheney has been heard uttering the comment. Did the swiftboat get too far ahead of you on this one, John? Or is it a Freudian slip about what you really think of hockey mom?

Ah! Welcome to the fine art of media manipulation. We will not talk about the failing economy. We will not talk about the 45 million people without healthcare. Or the millions who have lost jobs and can't find new ones. We will talk about a folksy expression that all the candidates have used, and probably most of us too. I have. But isn't this more fun? Until we wake up on January 21 and realize we face another 4 years of the Bush administration. This piece at least fairly presents both sides. Now I just wish the media would let it die.

This is quite similar to an AP article linked afterwards on the yahoo site. The big lie technique that weakened the Kerry campaign and the big lie technique that brought us the illegal and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq is now roving among the voters trying to con us into voting for a pair of lying scoundrels. Rove tactics involve attacking a person's greatest strengths with lies to try to turn them into perceived weaknesses. This supports the view that Obama is the candidate most sensitive to women and women's issues. Else McCain/Palin/Rove would not attack his views on women.

So interesting to watch as the reporters connect the dots and reveal who said what and when, and then leave the reader to draw her own conclusions.

This news report has journalistic merit. It is balanced. It points out that "the crowd cheered" when Obama made his remarks about McCain and Palin. It quotes Obama camp people who by their grim words clearly know their candidate was doing that and not making a joke. One major error is "McCain closing the gap with Obama", when McCain is ahead of Obama in every poll. Sloppy editing in an otherwise well written piece.