About that alleged non-vetting of Obama …

I’ll concede much of the press was pulling for Obama in 2008. But to contend, as many conservatives do, that the president received a free pass from the media doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

In April 2007, nearly a year before he became a campaign issue, the Times published a 2,593 word Jodi Kantor story (with addtional reporting from Kenya!) about Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his relationship to Barack Obama. The story appeared on A1. On May 11, 2008, when Obama had largely locked up the nomination but still had to fend off Hillary Clinton in tough states, the Times published a 5,024 word story titled “Pragmatic Politics, Forged on the South Side,” which delved into Obama’s relationship with Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dorhn — “Hyde Park’s fringes,” and “unrepentant members of the radical Weather Underground that bombed the United States Capitol and the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War.” This also appeared on A1.