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Forums - General - McCain is PO'd at the Media

akuma587 on 03 September 2008

McCain Criticizes Media for Doing Its Job


http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/angry_amateurs.html

September 3, 2008 2:04

Angry Amateurs

Posted by Joe Klein | Comments (342) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This

The story of the day out here in Minneapolis is the McCain campaign's war against the press. This has been building for some time. Those of us who have criticized the candidate--and especially those of us who enjoyed good relations with McCain in the past--have been subject to off-the-record browbeating and attempted bullying all year. But things have gotten much worse in recent days: there was McCain's rude, bizarre interview with Time Magazine last week. Yesterday, McCain refused to an interview with Larry King, for God's sake, because Campbell Brown had been caught in the commission of journalism on CNN the night before, asking McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds what decisions Sarah Palin had made as commander-in-chief of the Alaska national guard. (There was an answer that the unprepared Bounds didn't have: she had deployed them to fight fires.)

So what's going on here? Two things. McCain is just plain angry at us. By the evidence presented in the utterly revealing Time interview, he's ballistic. This is a politician who needs to see himself as the man on the white horse, boldly traversing a muddy field...any intimations that he's gotten muddied in the process, or has decided to throw mud, are intolerable.

The second thing is more insidious: Steve Schmidt has decided, for tactical reasons, to slime the press. He wants the public to believe that there is an unfair--sexist (you gotta love it)--personal assault going on against Palin and her family. This is a smokescreen, intended to divert attention from the very real and responsible vetting that is taking place in the media--about the substance of Palin's record as mayor and governor. Sure, there are a few outliers--and the tabloid press--who have fixed on baby stories. That was inevitable....the flip side of the personal stories that the McCain team thought would work to their advantage--Palin's moose-hunting and wolf-shooting, and her admirable decision to have a Down Syndrome baby. And yes, when we all fix on the same story, whether it's a hurricane or a little-known politician, a zoo ensues. But the media coverage of the Palin story has been well within the bounds of responsibility. Schmidt is trying to make it seem otherwise, a desperate tactic.

There is a tendency in the media to kick ourselves, cringe and withdraw, when we are criticized. But I hope my colleagues stand strong in this case: it is important for the public to know that Palin raised taxes as governor, supported the Bridge to Nowhere before she opposed it, pursued pork-barrel projects as mayor, tried to ban books at the local library and thinks the war in Iraq is "a task from God." The attempts by the McCain campaign to bully us into not reporting such things are not only stupidly aggressive, but unprofessional in the extreme.



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson

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Untouch on 03 September 2008

What a baby I didn't even read the OP but hes a baby anyways.



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Profcrab on 03 September 2008

Well, the media and Republicans are often at odds so it's not surprising. Ah to go back to the days of Reagan when he played the media like a harp. Oh to dream.

I give this thread a 9.2.



Thank god for the disable signatures option.

The Ghost of RubangB on 03 September 2008

The Republicans always do better with actors.

They should've hired a McCain impersonator.



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steven787 on 03 September 2008

I don't think the "Media" is doing anything different.

I don't think Larry King or AC (McCain's most hated right now) are abusing their power, I don't think they realize what position they are in.

They think they are giving unbiased coverage as information, they don't show bias on purpose.



I would cite regulation, but I know you will simply ignore it.

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akuma587 on 04 September 2008

Turning down an appearance on Larry King was just plain stupid. Does he think he is punishing the media or something? This isn't junior high.



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson

rocketpig on 04 September 2008

I'm not one to cry foul at the media often but some outlets have been completely unfair to Palin. I'm not a big Palin fan but the way they went after her family was almost criminal.




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akuma587 on 04 September 2008
rocketpig said:
I'm not one to cry foul at the media often but some outlets have been completely unfair to Palin. I'm not a big Palin fan but the way they went after her family was almost criminal.

The online media was pretty bad about it.  The TV media stayed mostly above the fray and just reported that her daughter is pregnant and a few casually mentioned the unsubstantiated rumor started ahile ago.  Some find the daughter issue objectionable, but probably as many find it relevant to the election.

Obama showed his true colors when he said that her family is off limits, and he expects the same for his family claiming that his wife is also off limits.  I agree that issues should always come first before we focus on any candidate's or their families peculiarities.

Its pretty much an impossibility in this day and age for the internet media (full of crazy, crazy people) to not drag someone through the dirt if there is dirt to drag them through.  I don't mind it so much if the allegations are actually true, but people who are still perpetuating the Palin's fifth child is her daughter's rumor or the Obama is a Muslim story are taking things too far.  Those questions have been answered, so we should move on.

 



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson

Esmoreit on 04 September 2008

You can pick the media you like, I guess. I today read about a couple that only found Fox News to be a relaiable enough news source. I let out a silent laugh, pitied their idiocy but hey, it's their decision to make...



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rocketpig on 04 September 2008
akuma587 said:
rocketpig said:
I'm not one to cry foul at the media often but some outlets have been completely unfair to Palin. I'm not a big Palin fan but the way they went after her family was almost criminal.

The online media was pretty bad about it.  The TV media stayed mostly above the fray and just reported that her daughter is pregnant and a few casually mentioned the unsubstantiated rumor started ahile ago.  Some find the daughter issue objectionable, but probably as many find it relevant to the election.

Obama showed his true colors when he said that her family is off limits, and he expects the same for his family claiming that his wife is also off limits.  I agree that issues should always come first before we focus on any candidate's or their families peculiarities.

Its pretty much an impossibility in this day and age for the internet media (full of crazy, crazy people) to not drag someone through the dirt if there is dirt to drag them through.  I don't mind it so much if the allegations are actually true, but people who are still perpetuating the Palin's fifth child is her daughter's rumor or the Obama is a Muslim story are taking things too far.  Those questions have been answered, so we should move on.

Agreed. It's one of my biggest problems with online media. The anonymous nature of the internet, combined with partisan writers, leads to ugliness we didn't have to see in the past. Personally, I find it despicable. The Obama Muslim story was another example of media mud-slinging that was unwarranted and untrue.

As for Obama's comments about the media and Palin, it was classy, but there's really nothing else he could have said. Any other response would have made him look like a real shithead in the public's eyes.

 




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