Is It OK To Call Her A Tart?

I'm not turning into some bluenose but I admit I was taken aback this morning with the Associated Press treatment of the Paris Hilton response to John McCain story. You've probably seen the video by this point...anyone with 20 yards of a television couldn't miss it this morning as Hilton decided to enter the political fray with her own energy plan.

This comes to us after McCain's much-hyped ad attacking Barack Obama as the world's greatest rock star, using images of Hilton and Brittney Spears to make the point.

All of this is wonderful theater in an election that, despite the billing as the most exciting and important in our generation, continues to sink into the same-old same-old. McCain has tire inflation gauges as campaign props; Obama gets plenty of TV time for buying peaches from a Ravenna store.

What depth! No wonder Paris is burning to enter the media swirl usually reserved for future Presidents: it's a natural for one of America's favorite TV targets, a woman who has used her brains to milk her famous (or infamous) public persona for millions.

My question this morning comes in seeing the coverage we get from the AP for AkronNewsNow, using the word "tart" to describe Hilton's response. Witty headline writing usually not seen on the staid AP...even taking advantage to use "tart" again in the first paragraph. I raised a question to one of the world's largest professional news gathering organizations, especially after doing a simple Google search for definitions of "tart":

1. prostitute: a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money
2. lemony: tasting sour like a lemon
3. a small open pie with a fruit filling
4. a pastry cup with a filling of fruit or custard and no top crust
5. sharp: harsh; "sharp criticism"; "a sharp-worded exchange"; "a tart remark" wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

I don't think Paris is lemony, a small pie, or a pastry cup; and while I think she's pretty sharp (in terms of manipulating the media), I wouldn't characterize her as harsh. So does that mean the AP was snidely calling her a prostitute (see #1, above)?

The folks at AP tell me they think their story was in keeping with today's younger, less stodgy approach expected these days. It fits the "flavor" of the story and besides, it's Paris Hilton -- a woman seen in a sex tape video (old news) and in this video "...reclining in a very sexy bathing suit and spike heels."

YouTube already pulled 'em down, citing copyright issues...but Funnyordie.com has the "exclusive", as you can tell by the tag imposed in the bottom of the embed video:

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die