Obama/Associated Press: "Palin is Inexperienced"

Obama, reacting to the choice of Palin for McCain's vice presidential nominee:

Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.

The thing that bothers me the most about this quote is that is completely skips the part about her being governor. Yes, it was only for a year and a half, but it is a year and half more than Obama's leadership experience. It seems, if Obama was attempting to be honest, he should have a least said, "Today, John McCain put the first-term governor of a small state with zero..." I would have given him credit for that, at least. But as the quote stands, it is deceptive.

The "heartbeat" part was a nice touch as well.

Apart from that, there has been much buzz about the comparison between the experience of Obama and Palin. Here's my comparison:

Obama's got:
* Being a senator for 3 years (when he started running)
* More time in state government

Palin's got:
* 1 1/2 years as a governor (which the AP sees as equivalent to being a state senator, apparently)
* Being a mayor (which was not mentioned in the final comparison in the AP article)

In short, Obama might have more time in legislative positions, but Palin has more time in executive positions. So at worst for Palin it's a wash. To say that "Palin has scant experience. She makes Barack Obama look like a seasoned veteran" is a stretch.

And, let's not forget that Palin is the #2. Obama is the #1. There is a difference.

Wrong Rating: 2 out of 4 (misrepresentation)

The Associated Press: "Most Troops Support Obama"

The associated press says:

Troops serving abroad have given nearly six times as much money to Obama's presidential campaign as they have to McCain's, the Center for Responsive Politics said Thursday.

That's pretty remarkable. I don't know if more troops support Obama or McCain (how much they give is just one piece of the puzzle), but 6 times more? Wow. But they leave it until the last line or the article, after wallowing in wonder over the astonishing number, to explain the details:

Among soldiers serving overseas at the time of their donations, 134 gave a total of $60,642 to Obama while 26 gave a total of $10,665 to McCain.

So, apparently we can extrapolate the political leanings of the entire military force oversees based on the contributions of 160 people. I'll wait to see an actual legitimate poll, thank you. The McCain campaign was right to say,

We feel confident that many U.S. troops stationed overseas will support John McCain in the election this fall, but we suspect most are too busy doing the important work of defending this country than to make political contributions.

Wrong Rating: 1 out of 4 (spin)