TPM provides the text of the weird AP analysis of Barack Obama's speech last night, provided by Charles Babington. Rarely has a media shill made his own incoherence so obvious.

Babington begins by repeating the standard Republican talking points: Obama and his speech have no substance and consist of nothing but 'rhetorical flourishes', 'instead of dwelling on specifics.'

But the talking point is hard to sustain, and Babington spends the body of his analysis demonstrating that yes, Obama did mention quite a few specific points. Babington dutifully frames each one with its Republican rebuttal, or does his best to undermine the substance, but the fact that it takes most of the main body of the AP article to decribe the substantive points rather undermines his point.

The triumph of self-contradiction comes at the end of Babingdon's opus, though:

"Even if Obama had talked for three hours, of course, he could not have detailed enough proposals to quiet all his critics. But that's not the strategy....as Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano...said: 'What he should not do is what he will be criticized for not doing: Give a detailed policy speech. This is not the place for that.' She said Republicans will criticize him no matter what."

Well, yes, exactly. Babington is apparently  so flummoxed...or finds the remnants of his journalistic integrity...that he ends his article by precisely describing his own behavior at the beginning of the article.

Priceless!