ABC's Gibson aired McCain's criticism of Obama, but did not mention Obama's response

Written by Andrew Walzer

Published

On World News, Charles Gibson aired a clip of Sen. John McCain's remarks at the April 14 Associated Press Annual Meeting and Luncheon -- during which McCain criticized Sen. Barack Obama for comments Obama made on April 6 -- but did not note that Obama responded to McCain's comments later that day at the same event.

On the April 14 broadcast of ABC's World News, anchor Charles Gibson noted Sen. John McCain's remarks at the April 14 Associated Press Annual Meeting and Luncheon -- during which McCain criticized Sen. Barack Obama for comments Obama made on April 6 -- and aired a clip of McCain's speech. However, Gibson did not note that Obama responded to McCain's comments later that day at the same event.

Summarizing McCain's statements, Gibson said: “John McCain also went after Barack Obama today, telling the Associated Press annual meeting this morning that the small-town people Obama was talking about are the heart and soul of this country.” After airing the clip of McCain's remarks, in which he asserted that small-town people “were not born with the advantages others in our country enjoy,” Gibson continued: “And in another comment aimed at Obama, McCain added that they did not turn to their faith out of resentment.”

Gibson did not mention Obama's speech at the AP event, in which Obama specifically addressed McCain's comments:

OBAMA: Now, Senator McCain and the Republicans in Washington are already looking ahead to the fall and have decided that they plan on using my comments to argue that I'm out of touch with what's going on in the lives of working Americans. And I don't blame them for this -- that's the nature of our political culture. If I had to carry the banner for eight years of George Bush's failures, I'd be looking for something else to talk about too.

But I will say this: If John McCain wants to turn this contest -- election into a contest about which party is out of touch with the struggles and hopes of working America, that's a debate I'm happy to have. In fact, I think that's a debate that we have to have, because I believe that the real insult to the millions of hard-working Americans out there would be a continuation of the economic agenda that's dominated Washington for far too long.

I may have made a mistake last week in the words that I chose, but the other party has made a much more damaging mistake in the failed policies they've chosen and the bankrupt philosophy that they've embraced for the last three decades.

From the April 14 broadcast of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson:

GIBSON: Well, John McCain also went after Barack Obama today, telling the Associated Press annual meeting this morning that the small-town people Obama was talking about are the heart and soul of this country.

McCAIN [video clip]: They were not born with the advantages others in our country enjoy. They suffered the worst during the Depression, but it had not shaken their faith in and fidelity to America and its finding ideals. Nor had it destroyed their confidence that America in their own lives could be made better.

GIBSON: And in another comment aimed at Obama, McCain added that they did not turn to their faith out of resentment. In other news, working-class voters are indeed a major voting bloc in Pennsylvania.