The entire mainstream media are in love with Obama. Not just those two. I'm not saying this is necessarily right. I think they've gone overly easy on him myself. There's been a lot of fawning over him all over the place.

That's irrelevant for this discussion, however. Here's something from Journalism 101. Take it yourself from any professor in any university in the country and you'll learn this, too. This is a good way to judge news credibility and why you'd be wise to be skeptical when you see this sorta thing coming out of any news organization. Fox and tabloids do it more than anyone else. Any journalism professor in the country will tell you to be very skeptical of any news agencies who do this.

The Fox story, according to Kristol, cites "inside sources." Those are inside, anonymous sources. Un-named ones.

The ABCNews story quotes Colin Powell himself directly. He spoke to two reporters, not just one.

Who're you going to believe? An unnamed anonymous source?
(Hint: No. Always be very skeptical about believing sources that aren't named or refuse to go on the record. Legitimate sources will be quotable and nameable except in very rare instances, like Watergate's Deep Throat.)

Or a direct quote from the precise person the story is about?
(Hint #2: The person you always believe first is a named, credible source who gives a direct, on-the-record quote. If he's the person the news story itself is about, this is a particularly effective way to know the source is solid and credible.)