Another Associated Press reporter comes out of the closet as being in the bag for McCain. This one is called Tom Raum. In his most recent “news” dispatch (this was not contained in a "news analysis" or a "commentary" but in a news article), he looses this lazy assertion:

“Many liberals are belittling the choice, suggesting that as a mother of five children — including an infant with Down syndrome — she has neither the time nor the experience to become vice president.”

The attempt here is to create the illusion that those mean "liberals" are piling on Sarah Palin for her motherhood, and isn't that a sexist, unfair thing to do to a mother of five wee ones?

Any editor at any paper where I’ve ever worked would have struck a giant red pencil through that line and written in the margin “Where are your sources?” “Who are these people doing the ‘suggesting’ and 'belittling'? Give an example of what 'belittling' is being done? Etc.

This seems to be a ploy to turn any warranted criticism of McCain's selection into an attack on MOTHERHOOD ITSELF. And by "LIBERALS!!!!", no less.

Any criticisms of Sarah Palin as a candidate for the second highest office in the nation are warranted, if they based on her past political activities, her ethics in the public arena, her business dealings, her stated beliefs and policies. Anticipating a predictable fusillade of blistering ripostes from the usual gang of trolls on this blog, I will henceforth restrict my comments about Palin to those realms. I regret having even brought up the fact that her unwed teenage daughter is pregnant (though it seems to be a staple of the "non-liberal" press, women's pages, and TV talk shows now to use this as a springboard to discuss how McCain and Palin's policies would restrict sex education to teenagers and the failure of the "abstinence" programs they support).

I wrote Mr. Raum the following letter, partly at the encouragement of the always prescient Atrios:

Mr. Raum,

As a fellow journalist, I have to ask you but one question:

When did the AP become such a disgrace to the profession? Between your bland assertions about “some liberals” and Ron Fournier’s Pravda-like propagandizing for John McCain, the “brand” of AP is taking a serious beating. I won’t go so far as to say that this kind of blatant dishonest and lazy reporting has caused the demise of print journalism, but it has hastened the exodus to alternate news sources.

In the future, before you so blithely launch another fusillade against “some liberals,” you need to 1) define what you mean by “liberals” [Do you mean any and all registered Democrats? People with tattooes? Blacks? what?] and you need to 2) Name the Names. If you are going to cite people, you need to name them.

It’s basic beginning news reporting 101.

Sincerely,

Alan Bisbort