Inept American media.

John McCain implied recently that Obama was a socialist. His argument for that was spurious, of course. This article in Columbia Journalism Review does a nice job of pointing that out, and simultaneously shows up the inept American media.

The larger point is this: about two minutes worth of close scrutiny would be enough to convince any reasonable observer that to suggest Obama is a socialist is to drain the term of any meaning. Everyone involved knows this, including McCain (which is why he settled for implying, rather than saying so outright.) But by the rules of today’s political press, the “news” is that McCain made an explosive-sounding attack. Whether that attack is substantively valid just isn’t relevant to reporters.