- The Washington Times - Thursday, August 8, 2013

At least one conservative talking head is seeing media bias at play during recent coverage of President Obama’s nationally televised flub that placed several states on the Gulf that just aren’t there.

On Wednesday evening’s broadcast of The Tonight Show, Mr. Obama and Jay Leno engaged in a quick conversation that went like this:

Mr. Leno: “You mentioned infrastructure. Why is that a partisan issue? I live in a town, the bridge is falling apart, it’s not safe. How does that become Republican or Democrat? How do you not just fix the bridge?”

Mr. Obama said: “I don’t know. As you know, for the last three years, I’ve said, let’s work together … The Panama is being widened so that these big supertankers can come in. Now that will be finished in 2015. If we don’t deepen our ports all along the Gulf — places like Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, or Jacksonville, Florida — if we don’t do that, those ships are going to go someplace else. And we’ll lose jobs.”

Those states are not located along the Gulf, but on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. And this is how one AP reporter covered the exchange and quoted Mr. Obama, The Blaze reported: “If we don’t deepen our ports all along the Gulf — (and in) places like Charleston, S.C., or Savannah, Ga., or Jacksonville, Fla. — if we don’t do that, these ships are going to go someplace else and we’ll lose jobs.”

Conservative firebrand Michelle Malkin pounced on the skewed reporting, tweeting: “The @ap @russbynum parenthetic Obama Gulf gaffe rescue would be akin to putting an (s) after “potatoe” to cover for Dan Quayle.” Ms. Malkin also said the AP didn’t correct geography gaffes committed by Sarah Palin, The Blaze reported.


SEE ALSO: Social media uproar over Obama’s Winter Olympics’ flub on Jay Leno


• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

Please read our comment policy before commenting.

Click to Read More and View Comments

Click to Hide