May 21st, 2008 by Doug Powers

Over the weekend, photos ran in newspapers and on websites of the massive crowd that Barack Obama drew to an Oregon park to hear his speech.

It was reported that about 75,000 came to hear Obama speak. Wow. Very impressive for a politician of any party. This was reported by many outlets as evidence of Obama hitting “rock star” status.

But what wasn’t reported by the New York Times and others was that a popular Oregon band, The Decemberists, “opened” for Obama.

Newsbusters plays the part of Toto here by pulling back the curtain on this story.

If this was John McCain, the Times headline would have read “McCain speaks following huge outdoor concert.”

If this was Hillary Clinton, the headline would have read — well, probably something like this: “Bill Clinton hits on Decemberist keyboard player Jenny Conlee as wife speaks to huge crowd.”