New York Post: M'SOFT SPECTER STALKS GOOGLE
Seattle Post Intelligencer: Did Microsoft woo Google?
The Guardian: Googlistas will never be Mooglesofters
NewsForge: Nestlé to buy Google
Aljazeera: War of the search engines
News.com.au: Google rejects Microsoft overture

It seems that even with no additional substantiation, the press is more than happy to perpetuate the idea that Microsoft is pursuing or has pursued Google and that an offer was made. After the New York Times reported that there was some sort of communication between the two companies, publications across the world started drawing their own conclusions.

The Post postulates that "Microsoft officials met with Google to discuss a possible merger or partnership, according to press reports yesterday. Google rejected the offer and decided to pursue a public offering instead."
Aljazeera's interpreted the affair as "a failed attempt to buy Google." We don't know the nature of the discussions reported by the Times. Perhaps it was a bona fide offer by Microsoft, or just two VPs shooting the breeze over beers.

Other publications were more tempered, quoting analysts stating that discussions were inevitable, but that it was unlikely that an offer by Microsoft would have been accepted by Google. It should be pointed out that Microsoft doesn't necessarily need to move fast to dominate the online advertising space.