The national media are doing everything they can -- including running with an outright lie -- in order to explain away John McCain's superior performance over Barack Obama at their joint appearance Saturday at famous pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church.

Kansas City Star columnist Ross Balano saw the same forum we did: "McCain clearly got the better of the evening," Balano writes. "His answers were quick, precise and to the point while Obama was halting and appeared to be trying to make sure he didn't say anything that would offend any of his core base.

"On a couple of questions, Obama danced around and didn't even answer."

But rather than characterize Obama as unsure and tentative, here's how the "mainstream" national media chalked up his performance: "introspective," "thoughtful" and "nuanced." Their apparent conclusion: Us bumpkins out here just can't appreciate nuance when we hear it.

Talk about spin! Obama was clearly a man unsure of his beliefs -- or utterly unwilling to expose them. Consider this Obama answer to the basic question of when life begins: "Whether you're looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity ... is above my pay grade."

What? Above his pay grade? What happens when the time comes for a President Obama to make a decision on embryonic stem cell research? Does he admit to the nation he's unqualified to decide because it's "above his pay grade"? What else is above his pay grade? Inquiring minds want to know!

As if all that media spin weren't enough, Obama's lackeys in the "mainstream" media pounced on a wild accusation by an unnamed Obama spokesman that McCain might have been able to hear Obama's session with Pastor Warren -- who questioned the candidates one at a time -- and gain an advantage. NBC's Andrea Mitchell was the first to repeat the claim -- irresponsibly so, since there's not a scintilla of evidence.

The New York Times and others used the lie to cling desperately and literally to Pastor Warren's fanciful promise at the outset of the evening that McCain was in a "cone of silence." The Times and others indignantly pointed out there was, in fact, no tangible cone of silence, and that McCain was actually en route to the church during part of Obama's session.

The media aren't just running with a lie, they're propagating a silly lie: Pastor Warren was clearly joking in using the "cone of silence" term; the point was that McCain couldn't hear -- and there's no evidence he could. Moreover, Warren notes that the lie puts into question his integrity, his staff's integrity, the Secret Service's integrity and John McCain's integrity.

Maybe reporters should take that into account before mindlessly repeating scurrilous lies. But the truth is, the national media were happy to repeat the lie, or anything else that might help explain away Obama's, uh, you know, "nuanced" answers.

"Why isn't Barack Obama doing better against John McCain in the opinion polls?" asks The Dallas Morning News . "For a big part of the answer, look no further than Saturday night's forum at Saddleback Church."

The question is becoming central to this ever-tightening presidential race: Does Barack Obama believe in anything?

Even Democrats -- those immune to media spin, anyway -- are worried about their candidate's muddled answers and moral equivocating and ambiguity. "Instead of giving big speeches at big stadiums," suggests Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, "he needs to give straight-up 10-word answers to people at Wal-Mart about how he would improve their lives."

Maybe this is why Barack Obama refused John McCain's invitation to a series of town hall discussions.

Many observers said the Saturday forum was a precursor to the three presidential debates. If so, the national media had better brace themselves. They may have a lot more spinning to do.