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Associated Press Reporter Accused of Covering Up Obama's Geography Gaffe - See The Evidence
Screen shot of Russ Bynum's story on Obama's Leno appearance that appears to cover his geography gaffe. (Source: Charlotte Observer)

Associated Press Reporter Accused of Covering Up Obama's Geography Gaffe - See The Evidence

"Akin to putting an '(s)' after 'potatoe' to cover for Dan Quayle."

Is the mainstream media in the pocket of the president? Some are saying a recent story by the Associated Press is just the latest evidence supporting the affirmative.

(UPDATE: AP Issues Correction Over ‘Interpretive Phrase’ Added to Obama’s Embarrassing Gaffe)

Wednesday's most-viewed story on TheBlaze was the item about "President Obama's U.S. Geography Fail On Leno."  The story went viral soon after, and thanks to our legion of friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter, it was shared and re-tweeted and ultimately seen by more than 225,000 web users.

Credit: AFP/Getty Images

So how did the mainstream media report the presidential screw-up that would have embarrassed a beauty queen?

Associated Press reporter Russ Bynum seemed to covered for the president by correcting the gaffe in his story that was carried in papers and online across the country.

First, here is the actual text of the exchange between Obama and Leno (taken from the White House transcript):

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?  (Laughter and applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  I don’t know.  As you know, for the last three years, I’ve said, let’s work together.  Let’s find a financing mechanism and let’s go ahead and fix our bridges, fix our roads, sewer systems, our ports.  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, or Savannah, Georgia, or Jacksonville, Florida — if we don’t do that, those ships are going to go someplace else.  And we’ll lose jobs.  Businesses won’t locate here.

Bynum (who lives in Savannah, one of the three oceanfront cities incorrectly identified by the President as "along the Gulf") wrote a story about the "Tonight Show" interview but made a critical addition to the story (in parenthesis below):

"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," Obama said.

A screen shot of how the article appeared over at the Charlotte Observer:

Screen shot of Russ Bynum's story on Obama's Leno appearance that appears to cover his geography gaffe. (Source: Charlotte Observer)

By adding the parenthetical (and in), the gaffe magically disappears. It's a fact that was not lost on the ever-watchful Michelle Malkin:

Malkin tweets about AP correction Image: Twitter

Ms. Malkin also reminded the AP that they were quick to point out geography gaffes when Sarah Palin made them, but don't mind covering for Obama.

Tom Blumer at Newsbusters points out that Bynum's Twitter profile claims that he is "nobody's fool." Blumer "begs to differ."

Follow Mike Opelka on Twitter - @stuntbrain

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