All you need to say is "He said..." (Poor word choice)

Journalistic writing is about facts. We don't exaggerate, we avoid flowery language, we get to the point, we don't show bias.

If something was spoken, we say it was "said." Terms such as "declared" or "exclaimed" add an element of bias to stories because they carry with them certain connotations. By saying someone "declared" or "exclaimed," you're making a judgment call about the emotions driving what the person said. And that's not ok.

Clearly, no one informed the writers at The Right Perspective of this. Look at how they wrote about a radio session with Rush Limbaugh:

Rush exclaimed that he would love to see everything Obama has done legislatively while president get erased, but he deals with “‘what is,’ not ‘what ifs’.”

“‘If’ is for children, and we have certain things that are the reality of the day and need to dealt with,” Rush said.

“There is no magic wand that can get Obama un-elected,” Rush declared.

In three sentences, all containing quotes, "said"was only used once. This is poor word choice on the part of the Right Perspective.

In your own writing, make sure to keep it simple. He said, she said, we said, they said. Don't make assumptions about the emotion behind a statement by using words like "declared," "exclaimed," "boasted," etc.

NewsGuy. "Rush: Birthers in a 'Fantasy.'" The Right Perspective. http://www.therightperspective.org/2011/04/07/rush-birthers-in-a-fantasy/. 7 April 2011.