AP on McCain on Obama -- Do they even have editors?

I'm still scratching my head on this one.  First, the AP  says McCain "declined to label Obama an elitist," then it quotes him saying that Obama is an elitist.  

In his speech and in a more relaxed question-and-answer session meant to approximate the setting on his "Straight Talk Express" campaign bus, McCain repeatedly declined to label Obama an elitist for the comments that have roiled the race for the White House in recent days.

"I think those comments are elitist," he said. "I think anybody who disparages anyone who is hardworking, the dedicated people who cherish the right to hunt and observe their values and the culture ... and say that's because they are unhappy with their economic conditions, I think that's a fundamental contradiction to what I think America is."

"These are people who produced the generation that made the world safe for democracy."

McCain's remarks were his latest reaction to Obama's description last week of residents of small towns that have been economically distressed for a generation or more.

Emphasis supplied

Am I missing something here?

This is a day after the AP, on its own, corrected Stephen Hadley's repeated use of "Nepal" instead of "Tibet."

On another note -- would this be a good time for Obama to start asking McCain to release his tax returns? (And comment on how McCain has the cojones to call him an "elitist?")