On the October 6 edition of NBC's Today, host Meredith Vieira twice suggested that an ad released by Sen. Barack Obama's campaign describing Sen. John McCain as “erratic in crisis” is a reference to McCain's age. She did not note that the “erratic” characterization, in fact, comes from a USA Today editorial cited in the ad, which referred to McCain's response to the economic crisis on Wall Street as “erratic.” Further, at least two of Vieira's colleagues at MSNBC, Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews, also said McCain's actions could be perceived as erratic.

Vieira reported that “the Obama campaign has launched a new ad calling McCain erratic” and aired a brief clip of the ad's announcer saying McCain is “erratic in crisis” along with text reading: “From McCain, an erratic response to crisis.” She continued: “And by doing so, is he making age an election issue?” Later, she asked NBC News political analyst Mike Murphy whether the word “erratic” is “a code word for 'old,' and do you think that tactic will work?”

However, the ad cited a September 19 USA Today editorial titled “From McCain, an erratic response to crisis,” which said: “As Wall Street's roller-coaster week unfolded, John McCain's views on the economy went through about as many gyrations as the Dow Jones industrial average.” After chronicling McCain's actions, it continued: “The Republican candidate's erratic performance this week was far from reassuring.”

Further, in segments dedicated to the Wall Street crisis and the presidential candidates' responses, both Scarborough and Matthews used the word “erratic” to describe McCain's actions. On the September 30 broadcast of MSNBC's Race for the White House, Scarborough asked MSNBC political analyst Michelle Bernard, "[I]f Barack Obama has been measured over the past several weeks, John McCain has looked erratic, hasn't he?" Bernard replied that “He has. This is a very difficult time period for the McCain campaign. He has looked erratic, he's looked irascible." And Matthews said on the September 26 edition of Hardball: “Everybody seems to agree, the conventional wisdom is John McCain is too hot, maybe erratic this week -- I'm not going to come, I'm going to come, I'm going to fire this guy, I'm going to fire that guy, I'm going to fire the debates.”

From the October 6 edition of NBC's Today:

VIEIRA: Then, the race for the White House getting down and dirty. Sarah Palin is slamming Barack Obama for his ties to a former '60s radical, but is she making them appear a lot closer than they really were? And meanwhile, the Obama campaign has launched a new ad calling John McCain erratic, and by doing so, is he making age an election issue?

[...]

VIEIRA: You know, Mike, meanwhile, Obama has this new ad that's come out where he refers to McCain as “erratic.” Is that a code word for “old,” and do you think that tactic will work?

MIKE MURPHY (Republican strategist and NBC News contributor): I think they have to be careful. I think the same rules apply to Obama. In this kind of election with a lot of mad voters and a lot of economic fear, going too far in a character attack is going to turn people off. McCain's problem, though, is, you know, sleazy, negative ads about the economy are going to trump sleazy negative ads about whatever hippie bomber pal Obama had way back when in Chicago. So, since the economy is the center of the election, I don't think McCain can allow Obama to own that, even with, you know, bad, negative ads.