The problem is not so much that this Ridley guy (who is he, anyway? why should we care again?) was mis-labeled a "swing voter" when he's clearly not. Ok that's bad, but the deeper issue is that a news feature "Interview With A Swing-Voter" is a fundamentally stupid idea, inevitably susceptible to bias, in the first place.
The subtext of such a story after all is "What This Person Thinks Is Important, And Centrist, And You Should Listen, And Care". The temptation to laden such a news story with one's own biases is just too great. And no matter how conscientiously it's done, such a story is going to be propaganda, almost by default.
Frank Fan,
It would have been exceptionally easy to present to swing voters: one who has tended to vote GOP in the past and one who has tended to vote Dem in the past. A screeing process to eliminate the frauds would make for interesting listening on NPR. Believ eit or not, NPR does have influence over thousands of middle of the road folks who are not aware of NPR's political activism. My fathe ris very bright, but gave to PBS and NPR until very recently. He just did not pick up on the agenda which is often subtle.
Its impact is significant and needs to be addressed.
-T