SATURDAY ROUNDUP

The press is starting to call out John McCain for harsh attacks, but liberal bloggers want reporters to go further and call them lies. But reporters, according to conservative bloggers, are damaging McCain’s chances by distorting the first television interview of his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R).

The New York Times wrote Saturday that McCain has launched “harsh advertisements” and attacks have “regularly stretch[ed] the truth.” The Times should just label McCain’s attacks false and shouldn’t equate them with the “harsh” but accurate attacks of Obama, writes Matthew Yglesias. But the Times, according to Contentions’ Jennifer Rubin, is applying a double standard to McCain, finding distortions that would be considered part of politics if they were launched by other candidates.

Despite the media’s pressure on McCain, two Daily Kos bloggers find that his campaign continues to exaggerate. Palin didn’t travel beyond the Iraq border during a Middle East trip, despite her claim that she visited the country, notes Kagro X. And though the McCain camp has said that 23,000 people attended a recent McCain-Palin rally, a Washington Post reporter estimated the audience to be about 8,000, writes georgia10.

The press, specifically ABC News and Charles Gibson, is on the side that’s doing the distorting, according to McCain’s backers online. The network edited out portions of Palin’s interview, making her seem less knowledgeable about foreign affairs and more hawkish than she really is, writes P.J. Gladnick at Newsbusters. Gibson gave a “gotcha” question to Palin about the “Bush Doctrine” that voters care little about and that involved a theory that is more a media invention than a White House policy, writes Townhall’s Matt Lewis.

FROM THE BLOGS:
It’s Not Harsh. It’s False. – Matthew Yglesias
Path. O. Logical. – Kagro X, Daily Kos
Your Lying Eyes – georgia10, Daily Kos
Real Outrage. Fake Outrage. – John Podhoretz, Commentary
McCain’s Health Scare Plan – Karen Tumulty, Swampland
ABC News Edited Out Key Parts – P.J. Gladnick, NewsBusters
Weirdness on ABC – Jennifer Rubin, Commentary
ABC News’s Careful Editing – Mark Chesser, American Spectator
Novel Defense for Ignorance – Steve Benen, Political Animal
The Bush Doctrine – Joe Klein, Swampland

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
McCain Barbs Stirring Outcry as Distortions – New York Times
Many Versions of ‘Bush Doctrine’ – Washington Post
Dems Fend Off Energy Attacks – The Hill