Parade, the nationally distributed Sunday newspaper supplement, handed its in-between-conventions political coverage to liberal Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter. The editors actually kept the editorializing down in a story on how both campaigns are exciting voters and reaching independents. But you could still see the traditional labeling imbalance when describing the campaigns:
John McCain "had little support with the conservative base that has dominated the Republican Party for nearly half a century." What? I don't think any conservative alive for half a century would agree with that. Thirty years maybe, but not 50.
Get a load of how Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton: "But change hungry-voters made up their own minds and flocked to Obama, who won 11 straight contests in February...Throughout the campaign season, supporters of both Democrats sent a clear message: We decide, not the insiders."
It would have been much more accurate for Alter to describe how Obama won over the "liberal base that had dominated the Democratic Party for nearly half a century."
The article was headlined "Why The 2008 Election Is Bringing Power to the People!"
