Following the second Presidential debate, the AP's Nedra Pickler filed a column in which she claimed that a Bush reference to the "Internets" was met with "noticeable snickers." Well, if there were any such snickers, they were not from the town-hall audience, as a video replay of the debate shows. A video of the debate can be found at cspan.org, and no snickers are audible. (The referenced line appears at about 24:58 on the replay.) Pickler's line clearly appears to have been added to besmirch the President.

        This is not the first time the AP has smeared the President. As noted in an earlier TheMediaReport.com story, the AP had to issue a retraction after they were caught lying in an article about a Bush campaign appearance.

        [Note: There may be more to Pickler's article. This author recalls that Pickler's original version of her piece may have included a line that claimed a joke by Bush was met with silence. At one point in the debate, the President, in response to a rambling answer from Kerry, joked, "That answer almost made me want to scowl." Pickler's original article may have claimed that the audience's reaction to this line was silence. However, in the video replay of the debate, laughs and smiles can clearly be seen and heard. TheMediaReport.com has been unable to locate the original version of Pickler's article. Here is a later version. Notice at the end of the article it says, "(Substitutes 19th paragraph to correct 'scowl' quote.)" Is this line intended to delete Pickler's earlier assertion that Bush's joke was met with silence? Who knows.]

 

TheMediaReport.com asks ... Does AP stand for "Anti-President"??