Is the mainstream press so in the tank for Obama? that McCain/Palin get a break?
The chattering class of the right (talk radio, Fox News) is touting a poll released Monday and funded by the respected Pew Research Center, suggesting a horrific imbalance in favorable coverage between the campaigns.
(photo: isn't this the story?)
Researchers found that McCain, over the six weeks since the Republican convention, got four times as many negative stories as positive ones. The study found 60% of McCain stories were negative.
Obama had more than twice as many positive stories (36%) as McCain — and just half the percentage of negative (29 percent).
But could it be that the news about McCain was 60% bad news?
That he, his campaign, and his running mate have made so many blunders and gaffes, spread so many un-pretty images of themselves and others across the nation that there is no other way to write about the flailing, failing campaign?
Would making up whistling-past-the-graveyard stories in an attempt to "balance" the coverage be bias of a different color?
The truth, plainly is a negative story -- we called an editor friend in the Washington bureau of Agence France-Presse, a wire service we've worked for. We'll call him Marc. He says they've ransacked the files, scraped the Universe, sent reporter after reporter out to give the McCain campaign more positive coverage. "The fact is," he said, "the campaign stinks. At the end of just about every day, that is story about McCain/Palin."
McCain has had no apparent strategy, and tries a new tactic every day. His negative attacks have done little, it seems, but increase Obama's lead, and made him less appealing to voters.
What's more, in recent weeks, the Republicans inside and out of the campaign are either peeling off or backstabbing each other to reporters. There's more of that coming out of the campaign on the McCain side than the happy warrior talk.
Marc sighs -- the Obama campaign purrs quietly like a Prius and makes little news that's not favorable to himself.
He says, "I followed McCain around for two months in 2000, did some time on the bus. I really like the guy, ... I feel sorry for him right now."
Making sure this was off the record, he told us it would be better for the news business if the race were closer. "We'd love it, frankly," he said.
As always, the R's will be the victim and media will be a convenient scapegoat for the failure of a poor slate, and a monumentally badly-managed campaign.
yah, where was this "liberal media" when it came time to beating the drums of war. Where were they when Bush was lying? It has been a long time coming, but at least a handful of these journalists have had to admit they were pressured into reporting only positive stories about him. I hope in my lifetime, we hear just what they were threatened with by Rove.
Posted by: sparky | October 28, 2008 at 03:47 PM
You sound pretty convinced that Obama is soundly beating McCain. As eff'd up as his campaign is, the polls are too close in many states.
I heard some guy on Peter B. talking about the narrative that the right is using to explain a potential stolen election: "The Bradley Effect." And watching Ohio voters in that focus group doesn't give me comfort.
Obama is loved by urbanites. But, there's a lot of quietly bigoted people out there and a lot of just plain stupid people out there. Mix in too few voting machines, machines that count the vote for the wrong candidate, pamphlets that have been distributed showing the election date Nov. 5, and polls showing that while young people are appearing in droves at Obama events, they are not voting early . . . and, I'll believe it when I see it.
Between smear campaigns and fabrications, there is no truth in America anymore. America has become Hollywood.
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 08:13 PM
Also, it sort of irritates me that any journalist should spend time looking for positive stories on anyone. If they aren't there to be easily recognized, they aren't worth reporting.
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 08:16 PM
Joanie
You are an idiot. Thi=ought you should know.
You are so obsessed with the democrat candidate that you just can't understand. I frustrates me how stupid you show yourself to be night after night.
We do not dislike your cadidate because he is a brother. Not at all.
We dislike him because of his politics. He is a shit for brains follower of Marx. He wants to steal from the rich and give to the poor. He does not know right from wrong. He is a liar. He is a crook. He has a lot to hide and is hidding it well. He is a snake oil salesman. He hangs out with domestic terrorist. He is a Christian (and a perverse denomination at that). His VP is an idiot.
We like things he does not like.
These are just a few of the things we do not like about him.
I am pretty sure that there are others out there that can list off a thousand more reasons to keep Sen. Marx out of the White House. You are just to dense to grasp any of it.
You like him because he is black.
Posted by: chucks the plumber | October 28, 2008 at 08:41 PM
Yes, I do like him because he is black and smart and honest. Do you dislike him because he is black?
You took some lessons from Gary. You think you now know how to argue with me and you learned it from a seventeen year old. A seventeen year old who in the end admitted his tactics which didn't work.
Neither will yours. You are an idiot, too.
The difference is that you should know better. You are a lot older. Yet you continue to name call, shower insults and accusations without one single iota of proof or back up.
What's with that, Einstein?
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 08:53 PM
And BTW, if all these things are true, why do you have to lie and pass out fraudulent pamphlets citing erroneous election dates to win?
Just curious, chucks. Can you tell me?
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 08:54 PM
Joanie is just a ideological Marxist who doesn't give a rats ass and if she thinks Repubs are evil, many in turn believe that she is evil. What does that kind of attitude prove ? Not an eff;n thing except that it is symptomatic of an unhealthy disagreement and is like a cancer that is spreading. As for the whole truth, the media doesn't report it - It lies by omission. Their performance in this election cycle shows that they have zero integrity.
This post is a weak and ideological attempt to try and justify that the media pukes have been doing its job - the only job they are doing is serving as the mouthpiece for one candidate because they hate the president from the opposing party (who I believe has caused more than his share of problems). Enough of this garbage..
Posted by: KS | October 28, 2008 at 09:01 PM
I don't understand the comments from the right that Ob is a "Marxist" Can any of you define Marxism? How are his policies different than Clinton's?
Posted by: Coiler | October 28, 2008 at 09:08 PM
He is a shit for brains
Harvard law professor vs. legacy cadet who graduated fifth from the bottom of his class.
We dislike him because ...he is a follower of Marx.
Marx who? Groucho?
He wants to steal from the rich and give to the poor.
Stealing? Obama vs. the Keating 5?
Buffet 17% vs. his secretary's 30%?
Do you live in a parallel universe, chucks? I think the poor would like the rich to stop stealing from them...
...liar
??????????
Maverick who voted with Bush over 90% of the time...??????????
'Splain yourself please.
ibid. (keating five)
He has a lot to hide...
such as?
snake oil salesman
C'mon, when was the last time you heard an ad for snake oil. How old are you?
Your vacuous post is too long to continue to parse. So far, it doesn't really say anything, does it?
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 09:08 PM
chucks is a loyal parroter of Lush and Hannity. He only reports but doesn't claim to comprehend...
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 09:11 PM
BTW, chucks, idiot is my word. You can't have it.
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 09:12 PM
Now, klueless, I have a thing for Harpo, it is true. Shame on you for making light of it...
hurt, hurt so bad...
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 09:16 PM
Malloy is good tonight. The fascist republicans are putting out phony fliers stating that voters need to vote on different days.
Posted by: Coiler | October 28, 2008 at 09:19 PM
Coiler, click on the link in my first post - see it for yourself.
Or maybe the right is so stoopid they really think voting day is the fifth. If so, I'm sorry I posted . . . chucks, don't forget to vote on the 5th. You hear, dear?
hahahahahahahahahahaha - and look who's talking about Obama lying. My goodness gracious.
I'm listening to Malloy, Coiler. He's been good lately as has Randi, the truth teller.
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 09:23 PM
Yes the marxist statements are actually from Acts 2:45, the redistribution of wealth, so McCain/Palin and all their supporters hate Jeezzuss. ok?
Posted by: Coiler | October 28, 2008 at 09:30 PM
That's disgusting that these republicans are resorting to printing up false election info. We need to round them up and drop them off to the folks in Detroit and Cleveland for re-education.
Posted by: Coiler | October 28, 2008 at 09:34 PM
Didn't the Soviet Union try to obliterate the Russian church? I'm not sure so I'm asking...
Maybe the religious right are really the socialists. You think? Maybe chucks and klueless are the true socialists . . . or would they just be communists?
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 09:35 PM
Good idea. Let's empty the prisons of all dope smokers and make room for these liars and frauds. Prisons make good re-education locations. Wouldn't cost any extra money either. Just lock 'em up and throw away the key...
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 09:39 PM
I will have to quote the bible from now til the balance of the campaign
amen
Posted by: Coiler | October 28, 2008 at 09:40 PM
Amen, brother.
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 09:42 PM
Act 2:45 And sold their possessions and goods,rv's, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Posted by: Coiler | October 28, 2008 at 09:52 PM
Coiler, you dont even know the difference between the Federal Minimum Wage and Washington State Minimum Wage. And you are supposed to teach us about Marxism. ROFL.
Why not give us a few lines of Rev. Wright. Maybe then you will understand how hateful to America they are.
Posted by: nevets | October 28, 2008 at 10:06 PM
And whats this I hear Hussein hiding another Terrorist masquarding as a Professor in his closet. LA Times is withholding the video of Hussein at his going away party. Laughing it up at Israels expense. Someone by the name of Rashid Khalidi. A member of the PLO during the attacks of the Barracks bombings in Beruit. Maybe next we will find Osama in his bedroom. Lets HOPE its not to late.
Posted by: nevets | October 28, 2008 at 10:11 PM
I wonder if BP would consider parting out it's home heating oil? I'd consider a small reduction in price to be charitable. Wouldn't you?
Oh, and old extra cars like Rolls Royces just taking up room in garages...
Praise the lord.
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 10:12 PM
Matthew 14:19,21 "Taking the five loaves and two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men. What milk thine hath, duffman drinkuth too."
Posted by: Coiler | October 28, 2008 at 10:12 PM
Palin is still hawking Joe the plummer. Does she live in a closet?
I guess it's her audience that lives in closets...no one else could be so gullible.
Does that include you, steven?
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 10:14 PM
McCain crowds sound rabid...I fear for us if he wins. We'll have fascism and guns on the streets. He's starting something he will not be able to control.
Thanks for a fun conversation, Coiler.
Umm, chucks and klueless, check out those Marx Bro movies - they were brothers, too. (insert smiley face)
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 10:20 PM
I'm really glad you brought up Khalidi, Steven! McCain has an extensive relationship with Khalidi, including providing his group with hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money. For some strange reason, Drudge pulled his Khalidi story shortly after the HuffPost article appeared. ruh-roh!
"During the 1990s, while he served as chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI), McCain distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi, including one worth half a million dollars.
A 1998 tax filing for the McCain-led group shows a $448,873 grant to Khalidi's Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West Bank. (See grant number 5180, "West Bank: CPRS" on page 14 of this PDF.)
The relationship extends back as far as 1993, when John McCain joined IRI as chairman in January. Foreign Affairs noted in September of that year that IRI had helped fund several extensive studies in Palestine run by Khalidi's group, including over 30 public opinion polls and a study of "sociopolitical attitudes."
you know, you would think that after the B-face woman the other day, Drudge would do a teeny more investigation into these stories, instead of posting every piece of crap the Republicans hand to him.
Posted by: sparky | October 28, 2008 at 10:22 PM
John 13:5."After that, [Jesus] poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him., even ye wal-mart criers callest thou.
Posted by: Coiler | October 28, 2008 at 10:25 PM
Actually steven, there is absolutely nothing for either of them [Obama or McCain] to be ashamed about. Rashid Khalidi is no terrorist, nor is he even remotely objectionable to anyone but the Daniel Pipes crowd. He is one the country's most respected political historians of the Middle East, who happens to be Palestinian, happens to write on Palestinian history, has published perhaps the most influential book on the birth of Palestinian nationalism, and who wound up at Columbia after a bidding war with U. Chicago.
Posted by: sparky | October 28, 2008 at 10:28 PM
rofl
Posted by: sparky | October 28, 2008 at 10:29 PM
Now, Sparky. He has an "arab" name so he must be a terrorist. Let's look at facts here...
Posted by: joanie | October 28, 2008 at 10:44 PM
Gee Sparky, I dont see where McCain was hobnobbing with Khalidi joking about the holocaust in that HuffPo article. I dont see the comparison between giving grants to a research center and making jokes about Jews. And I still see Drudge has a story on this Rashid Khalidi who worked for PLO Terrorist Yasser Arafat as a spokesman in the 70's and 80's. Do you deny that he worked for Yasser Arafat.
As for respected. By who. Ahmadinejad.
Posted by: nevets | October 28, 2008 at 11:40 PM
"We'll have fascism and guns on the streets."
Thats what you have been saying for the last 8 years Joanie. Has it come true yet. I'll answer for you. No. But keep clinging to that fear that Malloy and Randi pump into your ear everyday on AA.
Posted by: nevets | October 28, 2008 at 11:45 PM
Now Sparky, if you can prove some of that grant money was diverted to kill Israelis. I'll vote for Hussein. Wait, sorry I already sent my vote in. In 2012 I'll vote for him ok.
Posted by: nevets | October 28, 2008 at 11:48 PM
Everything you need to know you can learn from Keith Olbermann. You all are cute!
Posted by: Terry | October 29, 2008 at 12:33 AM
Bring on the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE!
You want it, you can have it, it can cut both ways.
Posted by: Brian | October 29, 2008 at 08:39 AM
What has McCain said or done that was headline material? Besides picking Palin, who I said was a liability from the beginning; nothing significant has come out his campaign.
All the negative coverage he had brought on to himself. He riles that Obama will raise taxes but does not explain how his administration is going to pay for the bailout plan that he tried make himself look heroic by postponing his campaign to support it. His economic plans are old “Recycled Reaganomics” added with Bush seasoning of more tax cuts for those who do not deserve it! One minute the “Maverick Twins” are running against the Republican Party, next they are running against Bush, then they is running against Obama with personal smears instead of debating issues and now it looks as if Palin is running against McCain. Not only are they clowns performing in the theatre of the absurd but ideological losers as well.
Just because you were a former Navy pilot, a POW for six years and a indisputable war hero (whatever that means these days) is no momentous qualification to be president and commander in chief. Just ask Republican operative Karl Rove.
Posted by: rozskat | October 29, 2008 at 12:58 PM
That Obama/Biden will win is practically a 'given'. The only question now is whether to totally Democratic-controlled and fillibuster-proof administration/congress can truly help the American public. We will anxiously await that answer. Certainly the power will rest in their hands.
Posted by: Duffman | October 29, 2008 at 01:06 PM
Duff - that is truly the question. W was handed this situation on 9/11 - and made a complete camel's breakfast of it with neocon horseshit. Now if O wins, he is quite popular with the rest of the world, and may be able to swing stuff McCain could not - like being able to whack the Taliban hiding in Pakistan without pissing off the Pakis.
Posted by: mark | October 29, 2008 at 02:32 PM
There is no such thing as Truth...not with a capital T. Truth is whatever each individual thinks it is; that can change from one day to the next.
Posted by: orcas | October 29, 2008 at 02:57 PM
Obama was born on the 4th of August. Election day is 4 days after Halloween. What comes to your door on Halloween? Witches, of course. What do you do with witches? (you all know the answer and where this eventually leads - witches > wood > a duck). Elmer Fudd likes to hunt ducks. But he mixes up duck season with rabbit season. Rabbits eat carrots. Carrots are orange. So are basketballs. Orange is just a shade removed from being red, which is the color of communism, and basketballs are round, just like acorns, and ACORN is trying to steal votes by fixing the voting machines!
Posted by: Fred | October 29, 2008 at 10:27 PM
And the above is all proof that you don't have the facts, don't know the truth, and probably don't care. You'd rather believe your own fantasy. So be it.
Posted by: joanie | October 29, 2008 at 10:49 PM
The Worshipped One turned and looked seriously into his strong, handsome but domineering wife's eyes. 'We did it 'Chelle. Sure it wasn't prety. But as Alinsky always wrote the ends do justify the means. Sure we bullied and cheated our way into all those caucus wins, bussing voters into Iowa from Illinois to vote. Sure we took million in illegal contributions from foreign donors- I know I know we took five dollars at a time out of unsuspecting folks debit card accounts in fraudulent unauthorized donations to Obama for America but hey five dollars times a million or two an it's real money. GIVE ME FIVE GIRL. We did it Chicago style Chelle .We did it "thug simple" And it sure didn't hurt to have the entire press corps kissing our asses all year long." After a good laugh over his final remark, the pair embraced and then sat down in front of the teve to enjoy the nights election returns or his 'victory returns"as he put it. He'd felt a little qualm of unease earlier in the day after seeing new tracking polls showing him only 1 point behind McCain. As the night progressed, the smug smile began slowly eroding from his face......
Posted by: Tommy008 | October 29, 2008 at 11:23 PM
Obama's was the most well run campaign in the history of American politics. A true masterpiece!! KUDO's Obama team!
Sen McCain: goodbye and good luck and I wish you good health in your senior days. Ms Palin: good effort, you are an inspiration but I DO feel you should now go back home and devote yourself completely to your family. Sen Biden: STFU and support your master.
Hillary: Stay youthful and healthy, only four more years!
I still say you are the one we truly needed. :)
Posted by: Duffman | October 30, 2008 at 05:34 AM
Way to cover all your bases, Duffman.
Posted by: Kevin | October 30, 2008 at 08:59 AM
Thanks Kevin, that means a lot to me; I was 'specifically' looking for your approval. :)
Posted by: Duffman | October 30, 2008 at 09:04 AM
Hey Duff, if Hillary would have been nominated I would have supported her as well. She and Bill is still a force to contend within the Democratic Party. During the primaries, I sat on the side not knowing whom to support but I was overseas during the caucus. She is right that either she or Obama was going to make history.
I could not stomach another four years of Republican rule and Sarah Palin was the best thing to happen for the progressive movement. Despite of her goals, Palin will fade into obscurity fighting off her scandals. Next Tuesday will tell but I predict it will not be close.
Posted by: rozskat | October 30, 2008 at 01:37 PM
If BO wins, Hillary will likely not run for President again - best to let go of it - Duff.
There are two scenarios though that could create an opening for Sen. Clinton such as;
1) McCain wins.
2) Obama wins but does not complete his first term.
Posted by: KS | October 31, 2008 at 10:19 PM
"McCain crowds sound rabid...I fear for us if he wins. We'll have fascism and guns on the streets. He's starting something he will not be able to control."
Nice try. More progressive propaganda Ph(Jo)anie, can you document any specific evidence ? (The rabid ones are really the infiltrators, Obama progressives who are showing up at McCain rallies to attempt to give the pro_Obama press something to cover).
If McCain wins, you will truly see the rabid crowds, violence, property damage, guns and thugs lashing out from the sore and crushed losers who are the progressive/neo-commie supporters of BO. If it goes otherwise, there won't be nearly as much violence.
Posted by: KS | October 31, 2008 at 10:31 PM