Media Giving McCain A Free Ride

[Orange_Juice]

His ties to lobbyists

His huge flip flops

His 95% pro-Bush voting record

His cozying up to disgraced Ralph Reed

His ties to Alhmad Chalabi, Fanny May, and Blackwater

Where is the media???

 

[RetiredGySgt]

His ties to lobbyists

His huge flip flops

His 95% pro-Bush voting record

His cozying up to disgraced Ralph Reed

His ties to Alhmad Chalabi, Fanny May, and Blackwater

Where is the media???

We hear all about that all the time, what we never hear is anything about Obama until some blogger FORCES the press through sheer determination to report it.

 

[Orange_Juice]

We hear all about that all the time, what we never hear is anything about Obama until some blogger FORCES the press through sheer determination to report it.

Bull, if McCain gets criticized they just throw his military record in the media's face and they back down. As if being tortured means you will make a good president. What balony

 

[sealybobo]

We hear all about that all the time, what we never hear is anything about Obama until some blogger FORCES the press through sheer determination to report it.

Let's face it. John McCain was the media's golden boy long before Barack Obama came on the scene. So it really takes a lot of nerve to hang the celebrity label around the new guy.
To represent the media giddiness, see Jill Zuckman in the Chicago Tribune. It was "a healthy dose of poetic justice as he beat his Republican rivals and vanquished the ghosts of his 2000 defeat under a barrage of scurrilous smears."

The media won’t remind conservatives of the many stands McCain has taken against their cause. They love his "maverick" stands against GOP orthodoxy.

One of the more amusing McCain campaign attempts to take the press for a ride in the spin-mobile has been the claim that the media loves Obama while McCain gets left in the cold. To paraphrase Chris Matthews: HA!
No, really, let's quote Chris Matthews:
"The press loves McCain. We're his base."
But it's not just Matthews, it's also Newsweek's John Meachem:
“To me, the great story about Sen. McCain is, when in doubt, give principle a try.”
And there's Bob Scheiffer's old standby: accusing people of questioning McCain's integrity when they point out his myriad political flip-flops. Gotta protect yer buddy's flank, ya know?
Despite all those media myths that McCain has so assiduously worked to build through his long years inside the Beltway, there are some indications that the "Straight Talk" spin-mobile is losing a bit of its luster, as reporters call bullshit on the recent McCain ad which made blatantly false claims about Obama's overseas trip and American servicepeople. Lying about your personality is one thing, but lying about something that reporters witnessed first hand? Not working so well.

 

[sealybobo]

His ties to lobbyists

His huge flip flops

His 95% pro-Bush voting record

His cozying up to disgraced Ralph Reed

His ties to Alhmad Chalabi, Fanny May, and Blackwater

Where is the media???

It's amusing to watch the slow, yet inevitable shift in the media's attitude toward their favorite GOP politician these past six years. You always knew that if McCain were to get the Republican nomination in 2008, all of his liberal media pals who had been singing his praises for years as a backdoor way to criticize President Bush and the GOP would find creative ways to suddenly portray McCain as a danger to the Republic.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Bull, if McCain gets criticized they just throw his military record in the media's face and they back down. As if being tortured means you will make a good president. What balony

Ya like the whole Reverand Wright thing disappeared as soon as Obama threw him under the bus. I got ya.

Remind me of all the coverage we have on Obam's staff. We have weekly reports about different people McCain is using. Remind me how much money Obama has gotten from special interest groups, from PACS and Lobbyists. McCain gets less then 2 percent but we keep hearing how MOST of his money comes from those sources.

The press is solidly behind Obama. And it is disgraceful.

 

[sealybobo]

His ties to lobbyists

His huge flip flops

His 95% pro-Bush voting record

His cozying up to disgraced Ralph Reed

His ties to Alhmad Chalabi, Fanny May, and Blackwater

Where is the media???

His 18-year solidly conservative record in Congress from 1982-2000 was conveniently overlooked by fawning members of the media and is thus not part of the public's current impression of John McCain.
Krugman's salvo against McCain is a harbinger of more to come and is a blatant attempt to begin the process of changing that impression:
The bottom line is that Mr. McCain isn't a moderate; he's a man of the hard right. How far right? A statistical analysis of Mr. McCain's recent voting record, available at University of California, San Diego, Dr. Keith T. Poole, ranks him as the Senate's third most conservative member. .....
He isn't a moderate. Mr. McCain's policy positions and Senate votes don't just place him at the right end of America's political spectrum; they place him in the right wing of the Republican Party.

 

[sealybobo]

The reality is the anti-Republican media have put themselves in a real box with John McCain. They've built up this straight-talking hero since 2000 and are going to find it very difficult to suddenly turn him into a mean, divisive, war-mongering Republican.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

His 18-year solidly conservative record in Congress from 1982-2000 was conveniently overlooked by fawning members of the media and is thus not part of the public's current impression of John McCain.
Krugman's salvo against McCain is a harbinger of more to come and is a blatant attempt to begin the process of changing that impression:
The bottom line is that Mr. McCain isn't a moderate; he's a man of the hard right. How far right? A statistical analysis of Mr. McCain's recent voting record, available at University of California, San Diego, Dr. Keith T. Poole, ranks him as the Senate's third most conservative member. .....
He isn't a moderate. Mr. McCain's policy positions and Senate votes don't just place him at the right end of America's political spectrum; they place him in the right wing of the Republican Party.

But you have no problem with Obama's HARD left voting record? Left extreme is good right? McCain has NEVER been hard right no matter how you paint it.

 

[Orange_Juice]

His 18-year solidly conservative record in Congress from 1982-2000 was conveniently overlooked by fawning members of the media and is thus not part of the public's current impression of John McCain.
Krugman's salvo against McCain is a harbinger of more to come and is a blatant attempt to begin the process of changing that impression:
The bottom line is that Mr. McCain isn't a moderate; he's a man of the hard right. How far right? A statistical analysis of Mr. McCain's recent voting record, available at University of California, San Diego, Dr. Keith T. Poole, ranks him as the Senate's third most conservative member. .....
He isn't a moderate. Mr. McCain's policy positions and Senate votes don't just place him at the right end of America's political spectrum; they place him in the right wing of the Republican Party.

He's tied to the failed policies of the Bush regime and would have to follow them or lose his Conservative base of supporters. Why isn't media talking more about who McCain will appoint to the supreme court and make abortion illegal? It's sickening how they gloss over McCain the way they do.

 

[sealybobo]

But you have no problem with Obama's HARD left voting record? Left extreme is good right? McCain has NEVER been hard right no matter how you paint it.

Sorry stupid. You guys were so proud of that one website that showed Obama was the most left leaning liberal in Washington, so I'm very proud to see that John McCain's voting record was also analyzed and it turns out he is a right wing Conservative.

See, this way McCain gets it both ways. Independants remember the moderate McCain from 2000 and you right wingers can get a boner over his voting record from 2004-present. He has toed Bush's line for the last few years or else he wouldn't have gotten the nomination.

 

[busara]

His 18-year solidly conservative record in Congress from 1982-2000 was conveniently overlooked by fawning members of the media and is thus not part of the public's current impression of John McCain.
Krugman's salvo against McCain is a harbinger of more to come and is a blatant attempt to begin the process of changing that impression:
The bottom line is that Mr. McCain isn't a moderate; he's a man of the hard right. How far right? A statistical analysis of Mr. McCain's recent voting record, available at University of California, San Diego, Dr. Keith T. Poole, ranks him as the Senate's third most conservative member. .....
He isn't a moderate. Mr. McCain's policy positions and Senate votes don't just place him at the right end of America's political spectrum; they place him in the right wing of the Republican Party.

this report puts him as not very conservative
American Thinker: McCain's ACU Ratings

 

[sealybobo]

He's tied to the failed policies of the Bush regime and would have to follow them or lose his Conservative base of supporters. Why isn't media talking more about who McCain will appoint to the supreme court and make abortion illegal? It's sickening how they gloss over McCain the way they do.

Can you imagine if Obama left his first wife or if Michelle Obama committed fraud because she was addicted to pain killers?

Or could you imagine Obama was a pow and disavowed the United States on tape because he was being tortured? I assure you the right wing would call him a traitor and coward.

 

[Charles_Main]

The fact that some believe the Media Favors McCain is proof positive of Mental illness.

 

[sealybobo]

this report puts him as not very conservative
American Thinker: McCain's ACU Ratings

Sure, it probably counts his record from prior to the last year or two. Check his record lately? Voting against Veterans 80% of the time? That's pretty conservative. Voting for Iraqi money and tele com immunity, etc. I bet McCain is the most conservative over the last 2 years. While other Republicans are trying to prove they aren't Bush lap dogs, McCain is towing the party line. And it seems that it is working for him. He has it both ways. People who remember him from 2000 don't care about what he says today and

You can't be in the middle. Only retards are in the middle. Either you understand the horrible direction the GOP has taken us or you do not.

We can debate just how good or bad the Democrats are. But there is no mistake that the GOP must go. McCain is no exception.

 

[sealybobo]

His ties to lobbyists

His huge flip flops

His 95% pro-Bush voting record

His cozying up to disgraced Ralph Reed

His ties to Alhmad Chalabi, Fanny May, and Blackwater

Where is the media???

I've just done a lap through the coverage by the big news orgs of the ad John McCain put out this weekend attacking Barack Obama for canceling his visit to a U.S. Army base in Germany.

CNN has a piece here, The New York Times has one here, The Washington Post has write-ups here and here, and the Associated Press has one here.

The stories did dutifully note the Obama camp's push-back against the ad. But not a single one of these reports told you that the ad is false.

McCain's ad makes a stark assertion about the reason the trip was canceled: "Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras."

But there is no evidence whatsoever supporting this assertion. It's false. That isn't the reason the trip was canceled. Shouldn't that be explicitly noted in stories about this?

Even though the McCain camp's ad is false, the stories on the ad focused on supposed inconsistencies in the Obama campaign's push-back. The Obama camp's first statement said that he had canceled the trip after deciding that it was political, with no mention of the Pentagon. The second statement said the Pentagon had told him that it would be perceived as such.

But there is no reason why these are necessarily inconsistent. The Obama camp could have easily decided after it had heard from the Pentagon that the trip could be perceived as political, and simply not included the info about the Pentagon's directives in the first statement. This was a screw-up, but it certainly doesn't prove inconsistency.

Either way, you'd think the fact that the McCain ad contains a blatant falsehood would merit a mention in the coverage. If any reports do flag the falsehood, we'll let you know.

 

[sealybobo]

this report puts him as not very conservative
American Thinker: McCain's ACU Ratings

And I didn't say you were a racist. I asked. You don't seem like a very good progressive/liberal if you are that quick to accept a report that says McCain is not conservative and so ready to dismiss my report that says McCain is very conservative.


I just get the funny feeling about you. Sorry. I'll try to pay attention to more of your posts to see if I can figure you out.

 

[sealybobo]

The fact that some believe the Media Favors McCain is proof positive of Mental illness.

I've just done a lap through the coverage by the big news orgs of the ad John McCain put out this weekend attacking Barack Obama for canceling his visit to a U.S. Army base in Germany.

CNN has a piece here, The New York Times has one here, The Washington Post has write-ups here and here, and the Associated Press has one here.

The stories did dutifully note the Obama camp's push-back against the ad. But not a single one of these reports told you that the ad is false.

McCain's ad makes a stark assertion about the reason the trip was canceled: "Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras."

But there is no evidence whatsoever supporting this assertion. It's false. That isn't the reason the trip was canceled. Shouldn't that be explicitly noted in stories about this?

Even though the McCain camp's ad is false, the stories on the ad focused on supposed inconsistencies in the Obama campaign's push-back. The Obama camp's first statement said that he had canceled the trip after deciding that it was political, with no mention of the Pentagon. The second statement said the Pentagon had told him that it would be perceived as such.

But there is no reason why these are necessarily inconsistent. The Obama camp could have easily decided after it had heard from the Pentagon that the trip could be perceived as political, and simply not included the info about the Pentagon's directives in the first statement. This was a screw-up, but it certainly doesn't prove inconsistency.

Either way, you'd think the fact that the McCain ad contains a blatant falsehood would merit a mention in the coverage. If any reports do flag the falsehood, we'll let you know.

 

[sealybobo]

You can't read what I posted and say the media is favoring Obama, because if they were, they would have pointed out that McCain's camp lied.

So either the media is fair or corporatized.

 

[Annie]

You can't read what I posted and say the media is favoring Obama, because if they were, they would have pointed out that McCain's camp lied.

So either the media is fair or corporatized.

Actually the Washington Post ombudsman says just that, lots of links to illustrate the points made:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...d=opinionsbox1

Obama's Edge in the Coverage Race

By Deborah Howell
Sunday, August 17, 2008; B06

Democrat Barack Obama has had about a 3 to 1 advantage over Republican John McCain in Post Page 1 stories since Obama became his party's presumptive nominee June 4. Obama has generated a lot of news by being the first African American nominee, and he is less well known than McCain -- and therefore there's more to report on. But the disparity is so wide that it doesn't look good.

In overall political stories from June 4 to Friday, Obama dominated by 142 to 96. Obama has been featured in 35 stories on Page 1; McCain has been featured in 13, with three Page 1 references with photos to stories on inside pages. Fifteen stories featured both candidates and were about polls or issues such as terrorism, Social Security and the candidates' agreement on what should be done in Afghanistan.

This dovetails with Obama's dominance in photos, which I pointed out two weeks ago. At that time, it was 122 for Obama and 78 for McCain. Two weeks later, it's 143 to 100, almost the same gap, because editors have run almost the same number of photos -- 21 of Obama and 22 of McCain -- since they realized the disparity. McCain is almost even with Obama in Page 1 photos -- 10 to 9.

This is not just a Post phenomenon. The Project for Excellence in Journalism has been monitoring campaign coverage at an assortment of large and medium-circulation newspapers, broadcast evening and morning news shows, five news Web sites, three major cable news networks, and public radio and other radio outlets. Its latest report, for the week of Aug. 4-10, shows that for the eighth time in nine weeks, Obama received significantly more coverage than McCain....

McCain has sent protest letter to NBC:

McCain, in Letter, Charges NBC with Bias | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

John McCain
McCain, in Letter, Charges NBC with Bias

By Perry Bacon Jr.
John McCain's campaign manager sent a blistering letter to the president of NBC News yesterday, accusing the network of bias for a report that suggested the senator from Arizona had violated the rules of Saturday's forum at an evangelical church.

McCain appeared after Obama at a forum at Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif., but he was not supposed to watch Obama's appearance under forum rules, because host Rick Warren planned to ask both candidates the same questions. NBC political reporter Andrea Mitchell reported that Obama aides felt that McCain "may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama."

Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, wrote of her report that "there is not one shred of evidence that it's true," saying that McCain was driving to the event, then "in a green room with no broadcast feed" during Obama's appearance.

"We are extremely disappointed to see that the level of objectivity at NBC News has fallen so low that reporters are now giving voice to unsubstantiated, partisan claims in order to under cut John McCain," Davis wrote to Steve Capus, in a letter the campaign released to other members of the press....