AP Picks Most Unflattering Romney-With-Kids Shot It Can Find?

Emily Friedman of ABC News reported Monday that “Mitt Romney ordered his motorcade to make an abrupt U-turn in rural Virginia today, after zipping by a group of elementary school students waving in the front yard of the school, so he could go back and meet them.” ABC's video shows thrilled grade-schoolers in Fairfield, Virginia. But no nice move goes unpunished by the press.

Check out the AP picture distributed across the country. It's unbelievable. It honestly looks like a little girl is gaping at Romney from behind. This accompanied a snippy AP story by Lynn Elber on how Romney couldn't find time to take questions from kids for a Nickelodeon special. It's not just on Yahoo! (It's also here and here.....) Elber began by lecturing:

Mitt Romney may want to reconsider his campaign strategy involving the pint-size voters of tomorrow.

The Republican presidential candidate skipped the chance to take part in Nickelodeon's "Kids Pick the President" special that includes President Barack Obama, said Linda Ellerbee, the show's host and executive producer. The decision "disses" children, she said.

During last week's presidential debate, Romney vowed to cut federal funding for PBS while acknowledging it's the home of popular "Sesame Street" character Big Bird.

Translation: Mitt Romney doesn't like children very much.

His decision is disappointing because "answering kids' questions directly shows respect for the several million kids who will vote in Nickelodeon's 'Kids Pick the President' campaign," she said.

"That's several million kids who actually want to get involved in the democratic process," Ellerbee said. "They don't deserve to be dissed. But former Gov. Romney also blew off Letterman and Big Bird, so I guess we're in good company."

Then there’s this sentence: “It's not always that Democrats win” the poll, she said. "It's not that we're some left-wing show and that's the only kids that watch us."

Let's doubt that the Romney campaign feared liberal tilt among the kids. They were pressed for time, or this appearance simply isn't the best use of their time.

But Ellerbee did anchor a very sensitive "My Family Is Different" Nick News special with two lesbian mothers in 2002 and even did a special on the Clinton impeachment in 1998 that brought in liberal Democrat lawyer Reid Weingarten to tell the kids that Clinton did not commit perjury, the Starr probe was propelled by Clinton's enemies, and lying is okay if questions violate your "zone of privacy."