(Cross-posted here.)

I'm normally no conspiracy theorist (save JFK), but the Associated Press' brazen PR effort for John McCain seems to finally be getting some notice.

While the AP's been serving McCain donuts (literally), they've taken a sharp turn against Obama, hammering him in the vein of McCain's PR sycophants. I've gone on about it as recently as yesterday, and this is only the second time (first was Jed) I've seen something similar ripping them for their obvious bias:

Since then, I can’t help but notice that the AP hasn’t exactly been neutral. A month ago, the AP ran an article about the “people who might complicate Obama’s campaign,” including Tony Rezko and Jeremiah Wright. The piece not only read like a slam job, it actually resembled an RNC oppo dump, which for all I know, it was.

Two weeks ago, the same reporter who made sure McCain had coffee to go with his donuts wrote a scathing, 900-word reprimand of Obama’s decision to bypass the public financing system in the general election. It was filled with errors of fact and judgment, and ignored the fact that McCain has illegally played fast and loose with the public-financing system this year.

And just to add insult to injury, the AP praises McCain’s record of bipartisanship on issues like tobacco and immigration reform, without noting that McCain completely reversed course and no longer believes in the position the AP is touting.

The Associated Press is one of the most widely read, if not the most read, sources of news in print journalism in the U.S. If it could at least pretend to be objective in the presidential campaign, I’m sure we’d all appreciate it.

It might be nice if we knew the Associated Press weren't either in the tank for one candidate, or trying to manipulate it to service their readership totals. One of the two is happening. It's time that folks got wise to this.