When it comes to the Washington press corps, it seems journalists have two modes: garden variety liberal bias and rah-rah, fist-pumping Obama boosterism. The cover of today's Express tabloid exhibits both.
"Obama Draws the Line on Guns," exults the headline on the front of the January 17 Washington Post-published tabloid. The photoshopped image accompanying the headline is an upturned fountain pen from which a wisp of smoke is curling. [view the image below the page break]
"The president launches an overhaul of the nation's gun laws," the subheadline cheers. "[B]ut any major changes face an ugly fight in Congress," it grouses.
The cover story itself is a 10-paragraph AP story by Julie Pace that included only a perfunctory Republican response and no real rebuttal by pro-gun rights advocates:
Key leaders were tepid in their response. GOP House Speaker John Boehner's office signaled no urgency to act, with spokesman Michael Steel saying only that "House committees of jurisdiction will review these recommendations."
Pace concluded her story by quoting the president saying "We can't put this off any longer.... Every day we wait, the number" of lives lost in the commission of gun crimes "will keep growing."
