As of March 2, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times have yet to publish articles noting that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), during an appearance on the February 28 edition of CBS' The Late Show with David Letterman in which he announced his presidential candidacy, claimed that "[w]e've wasted a lot of our most precious treasure [in Iraq], which is American lives." Media Matters for America noted that on March 1, The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times all ignored McCain's claim in their articles reporting his announcement on the Late Show despite previously publishing stories highlighting similar comments made by Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to an Iowa audience on February 11. While both the Post and The New York Times had posted a separate March 1 AP report highlighting McCain's comments on their respective websites, of the three newspapers, only The New York Times published a March 2 article on McCain's claim.

Even though McCain issued a statement early in the afternoon on March 1, hours later on that evening's broadcast of ABC's World News, anchor Charles Gibson made no mention of McCain's comments on The Late Show or his statement of regret, despite airing a clip from McCain's appearance. By contrast, the February 12 edition of World News aired a report from ABC News senior national correspondent Jake Tapper highlighting Obama's February 11 comments, for which he later apologized.

Additionally, on the February 13 edition of ABC's Good Morning America, ABC News correspondent Deborah Roberts noted Obama's comments, reporting that “Obama now says that he regrets” the remarks and that he “misspoke,” but the morning show has yet to cover McCain's “wasted ... lives” in Iraq claim.

From the March 1 edition of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson:

GIBSON: To politics next. Senator John McCain of Arizona has confirmed what everyone suspected. He's running for president.

All the candidates are looking for ways to make their announcement stand out. Senator McCain made his declaration on the David Letterman show last night.

[begin video clip]

MCCAIN: I am announcing that I will be a candidate for president of the United States.

LETTERMAN: Oh.

[...]

MCCAIN: Let me try that again.

PAUL SHAFFER (Late Show bandleader): Oh.

MCCAIN: Yeah. OK, OK.

LETTERMAN: So you're saying this was not the formal announcement?

MCCAIN: This is the announcement preceding the formal announcement.

LETTERMAN: But how do you think that makes me feel?

MCCAIN: You were first.

SHAFFER: He's doing the formal announcement on Leno.

[end video clip]

GIBSON: Such is the stuff of politics today.

From the February 12 edition of ABC's World News Tonight:

TAPPER: But it was also in Ames where Obama, new to presidential politics, stumbled, saying troops killed in Iraq died in vain.

OBAMA [video clip]: -- over 3,000 lives of the bravest young Americans wasted.

TAPPER: He later expressed regret for that remark.

From the February 13 edition of ABC's Good Morning America:

ROBERTS: And debate over the war is proving to be a stumbling block in the race for the White House. Senator Barack Obama now says that he regrets suggesting that U.S. lives are being wasted in Iraq. Instead, he says he misspoke, and really meant that their service has not been honored.