In a July 28 Associated Press article, AP writer Mike Glover uncritically quoted Sen. John McCain's statement that "[a]s president, I have committed to balancing the budget by the end of my first term." Glover did not note that both McCain and economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin reportedly said in April that McCain would need “eight years” -- not four years -- to balance the budget, after McCain had pledged in February to balance the budget by the end of his first term, as Media Matters for America has documented. Nor did Glover mention that many economists and nonpartisan analysts have reportedly expressed skepticism about McCain's plan to balance the budget in four years, stating that his proposal for numerous tax cuts would bloat the deficit or require huge spending cuts, as Media Matters has also noted. Indeed, in a July 7 article, the AP itself reported that “McCain has given mixed signals in recent months over whether he would make it a priority to balance the budget within four years, a goal that most economists consider to be at odds with McCain's call for continued tax cuts.”

From the July 28 Associated Press article:

“We are also going to have to provide some short-term relief,” [Sen. Barack] Obama said. “People are hurting right now. We need to respond rapidly and vigorously to problems, and to anticipate the problems that may be on the horizon.”

Present at the meeting were AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, former treasury secretary Paul ONeill, former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, the former head of Wall street investment firm Goldman Sachs. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett joined via speaker phone.

Republican John McCain said the culprit for the deficit was the administration's wasteful spending.

“There is no more striking reminder of the need to reverse the profligate spending that has characterized this administration's fiscal policy,” McCain said in a statement issued Monday.

“As president, I have committed to balancing the budget by the end of my first term,” McCain said. “Today's news makes that job harder but should not change our resolve to make the tough decisions and the genuine effort to reach across the aisle that are needed to ensure a lasting solution to the spending problem that threatens the very stability of our economy.”

Obama didn't name the Bush administration, but his implication was clear.

“We can't afford, I believe, to keep on doing the same things we've been doing,” said Obama. “We have to change course, and we have to take immediate action.”