Just how "in the tank" is the mainstream media for Obama?

While I try to maintain the belief that mainstream journalists do not intentionally allow their political bias to direct their reporting, the recent behavior of the press threatens to sweep it away.

The latest?

Editor & Publisher will summarize, under the headline: "Media Confirms: Palin Exaggerated Trip to Iraq:"

The Boston Globe covered another today. It seems that Sarah Palin's visit to Iraq in 2007 consisted not of a trip inside a "battle zone" in Iraq, as claimed, but "a brief stop at a border crossing between Iraq and Kuwait, the vice presidential candidate's campaign said yesterday, in the second official revision of her only trip outside North America," the Globe reports.

I've been trying to find the original exaggeration. The original statement appears to come from a campaign aide. The task is made more difficult by a "hole" in the reporting. The reporting contains references to Palin's exaggeration and her statements about a trip to Iraq--but without any quotation and no reference to time or place.

Even if the statement exists somewhere, the reporters shame themselves by failing to report it.

This the the closest so far:

Following her selection last month as John McCain's running mate, aides said Palin had traveled to Ireland, Germany, Kuwait, and Iraq to meet with members of the Alaska National Guard. During that trip she was said to have visited a "military outpost" inside Iraq. The campaign has since repeated that Palin's foreign travel included an excursion into the Iraq battle zone.
(The Boston Globe)

From what I can tell, the campaign has not made an issue of a Palin trip to Iraq. The issue apparently came up while reporters sought the extent of Palin's travels and the aides provided erroneous details. The press responds with stories that imply that Palin lied. The Obama campaign takes its cue from the press and makes outright assertions (according to the press, anyway!):

WASHINGTON -The question of whether Sarah Palin has ever been to Iraq pushed Obama aides Saturday to accuse the McCain campaign of outright lies, distortions and distractions to the American people.
(AP)

If the Obama campaign offers no examples of the McCain campaign playing (in even some minor way) the importance of a past trip to Iraq by Palin, then I'm inclined to think the Obama campaign is the one engaged in distraction.

As for the mainstream press ... just shameful. Really shameful.