Obama and Nukes: Why Is This News?

This post, by Chris Bowers, originally appeared on OpenLeft.

So, Obama says that he won't nuke Afghanistan or Pakistan:

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday he would not use nuclear weapons "in any circumstance" to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"I think it would be a profound mistake for us to use nuclear weapons in any circumstance," Obama said, with a pause, "involving civilians." Then he quickly added, "Let me scratch that. There's been no discussion of nuclear weapons. That's not on the table."

Obama was responding to a question by the Associated Press about whether there was any circumstance where he would be prepared or willing to use nuclear weapons in Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat terrorism and al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Um, OK. Do we live in a sick enough country where swearing off the use of nuclear weapons against poor countries from South Asia at which we are not at war (although we are occupying one)? Is this, for some reason, a radical enough position to be worthy of news? Apparently it is, since there are now over 400 results for "Barack Obama" nuclear on Google News. The reason, as Jerome Armstrong explains at MyDD, is because it seems someone in the "mainstream" press corps is leaking things to Drudge, who then quotes Obama out of context:

It's also telling of a shift in the way that the press is handling Obama now. When a politician says "strike that" it's supposed to mean a 'do-over' that isn't brought out into the public by the reporter. This was dished to Drudge with the lead out of context in order to cause maximum harm.