Sun-Times: Media Is Gushing Over MCCAIN !?!?

Thank Goodness, I feel soooo much better now. According to Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell and the Long Island Paper Newsday, The media is not Gushing over Senator Obama. In fact they are gushing over Senator McCain. They use as an example the fact that the Illinois Senator was asked tough questions on Immagration at a recent conference on Minority Journalists and the fact there was a discussion on the appropriateness of applauding for the democratic messiah. Let me explain something, if you must discuss the appropriateness of applauding one candidate, the Issue of fairness has ALREADY BEEN DECIDED:

No softballs from minority journalists MCCORMICK PLACE | Candidate grilled on immigration, reparations

BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist

If you thought Sen. Barack Obama would have an easy time before an audience of journalists of color Sunday, think again.

In his first public appearance since returning from a whirlwind international trip Saturday night, Obama was put on the defensive.

His appearance in the final hours of the four-day UNITY conference rankled some because many of the nearly 6,000 attendees had already returned home.

John McCain didn't show up at all.

Still, despite Obama's allegation that McCain flip-flopped on his position on affirmative action, a discussion that preceded Obama's appearance may have put Obama in an unexpected hot seat.

Earlier, an NPR editor asked panelists whether it was appropriate for journalists to clap for Obama -- and the question uncorked a mounting frustration among many black reporters.

"The total duality of it gets to me," said Les Payne, a member of the panel.

Payne is a founding member of the National Association of Black Journalists and an editor at Newsday.

"There's no question that mainstream journalists completely adore McCain and cover him favorably," Payne said.

"Now it is: You cannot do what we do routinely . . . and have been doing for a century," he said.

"You have been writing favorable stories about [President] Bush for eight years. This is a serious problem and one of the reasons why this organization was founded," he said.

But no respectable journalist wants to be viewed as a "lapdog" instead of a "watchdog."

Obama was forced to tiptoe around prickly questions about reparations, immigration, and whether he went too far in correcting a lingering misconception among some voters that he is a Muslim.

'We did it really well'

When it was suggested that Obama might want to acknowledge "mistakes" or "errors in judgment" with respect to his initial assessment that the surge wasn't working in Iraq, he bristled.

"It is fascinating to hear you re-emphasize it over and over again," he said. "I have not yet heard somebody ask John McCain whether his vote to go into Iraq was a mistake."

When CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux indicated that some voters complained about the "audacity" of his meeting with world leaders, Obama suggested that reporters were operating under a double standard.

"I met with the same folks that John McCain met with after he won the nomination," Obama said.

"He met in all these regions, but also added Mexico, Canada and Columbia. Nobody suggested that it was self-interest. I think people assumed he was meeting with people he may have to deal with should he become president."

Obama said he was "puzzled" by the notion that he was doing anything different than McCain or any other presidential candidate had done in the past.

"Now I'll admit, we did it really well," he said.

If the interview at the UNITY event is any indication of what lies ahead, it looks like the honeymoon -- if there ever was such a thing -- is over.