The garbage that leading media organizations put out in the guise of news these days is downright depressing. And what is striking is how many of these organizations, and how many so-called journalists, will faithfully trumpet the right wing’s stupidest and most pathetic talking points.

AP‘s Kevin Freking provides a perfect example:

President-elect Barack Obama promised the voters change but has started his Cabinet selection process by naming several Washington insiders to top posts.

Obama is enlisting former Senate leader Tom Daschle as his health secretary. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a well-known Washington personality, seemed more likely than ever to be his secretary of state. Clinton is deciding whether to take that post as America’s top diplomat, her associates said Wednesday

Obama is ready to announce that his attorney general will be Eric Holder, the Justice Department’s No. 2 when Clinton’s husband was president. Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of staff, is another veteran of the Clinton White House.

A few names that have bubbled up for Cabinet posts don’t have strong Clinton connections. Several news organizations reported Thursday that Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is Obama’s primary choice to be secretary of the Homeland Security Department. The New York Times, citing Democrats with knowledge of the process, said Napolitano was about to be offered the job. The Washington Post and The Politico Web site also reported that she was Obama’s choice.

Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker, who was national finance chairman for Obama’s presidential campaign, is his leading choice for commerce secretary, the Times reported. The newspaper said Pritzker was in the final stages of vetting by Obama’s transition team.

It’s a long article, and Freking doesn’t reveal his inspiration right till the very end. The last paragraph reads:

Republicans sniped at what they saw as an unwelcome trend. Alex Conant, spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said, “Barack Obama is filling his administration with longtime Washington insiders.”

One doesn’t expect much more than such stupid inanities from the Republican party at this point, given how it has lost both its moral compass and its political compass. But why would AP sit approvingly on the sidelines and watch Kevin Freking dignify this tripe by making it the hook for his Cabinet-news-and-rumors article?

The premise behind Freking’s borrowed slant is absurdly illogical, to the point that it insults the intelligence. Obama promised change, but he’s (rumored to be) appointing people with actual experience to his cabinet. People with experience can’t bring about change?

Can it, Freking. Or, better still, spell out what you’re trying to get away with merely insinuating. Why, pray, are cabinet secretaries with experience are a bad thing? Why, pray, are they inconsistent with delivering the change that was promised?

I’m sure the Republican National Committee wants to see Obama fill up his cabinet with people without any experience. Because, as we all know, the Republicans always put country first. But what’s Freking’s excuse?

Of course, it’s not just Freking. The right wing’s amazing technicolor powers of persuasion (one has to wonder what medium of exchange they use) have other journalists singing the same chorus as Freking. For example, there’s Laura Meckler and Jonathan Weisman writing in The Wall Street Journal. Their opening paragraph:

President-elect Barack Obama campaigned on the slogan of ‘change.’ But his early appointees, including two top choices that emerged Wednesday, show that experience is one of his main criteria.

But we should be grateful for small mercies. At least the Meckler-Weisman and Freking opening paragraphs aren’t 100% identical. They took their talking points, and they changed the words around a bit. That’s change the AP and WSJ apparently believe in. They apparently believe it’s journalism.