Who is REALLY getting a Free Pass from the Media?
I dropped some homemade marinara by my parents house yesterday, and got into some rather interesting discussion with my father about politics. He and my mom are both conservatives, but upon retirement, my father has been paying a LOT more attention to politics and has found himself increasingly dissatisfied with the republican party line... so much so that I honestly consider him a moderate, now. I've found myself more and more interested in his input and view him as an interesting source about what one actually learns from television when you don't supplement it with a dose of internet.
Yesterday, the media's take on the two candidates came up, and my Father patently claimed two things. One was that Racism is the only factor that can keep Obama out of the Oval Office. I disagree. The media's willingness to continue painting him as a flag pin hating islamic socialist is what I think will keep him out of office. But my father has the opinion that none of that is influential enough to keep him down. I do think that Racism will be an issue, but I honestly think we have more to worry about from AM radio misinformation and an overdose of ludicrous conservative punditry.
The second thing he stated was that McCain's free ride from the media is long over, and Obama is getting a golden pass from reporters. I disagree with this as well. Every single day I read about verbal missteps and policy changes from McCain. I read about blatant inaccuracies in his statements about Iraq and foreign policy. I see videos of him saying things that are totally baffling... but I never see video of the press (other than Olbermann and occasionally Stewart) calling him on it. The media, in my opinion, is treating McCain like your lovable Grandpa... the one who can say outrageously insane generalizations, but everyone just chuckles and says, "Oh, Grandpa!"
Better yet, when I mention that I don't see this "liberal" media that gets self-righteously frowned upon by so many, my father goes back to the party line, claiming that MS-NBC is patently liberal with CNN falling close behind. He does state that neither tips as far to the left as Fox does to the right, but I continue to be amazed that this myth continues. So I ask him, "How many extreme liberal pundits do you see on the major networks? And how many extreme conservative pundits do you see?" He of course mentions Olbermann, but I dismiss that. "Other than hating the administration and its cronies, how is Olbermann liberal? Hating the administration does not make one liberal, it makes you anti-neo-conservative." He brings up Matthews and how he used to be a conservative... he brings up Scarborough and how he's not the staunch right-winger he used to be... but he's making my point FOR me. The major pundits on the networks are all conservatives who get a moderate dressing of liberal because they don't get in lock-step with the president. That's not liberal... it's not even close.
I never do get him to quite see my point, but it was an interesting discussion that I might try to bring up again.
Then, today, I see this: McCain insults Obama's knowledge of the surge using false history, and CBS edits that part of the interview out.
I'm not really sure what to do with it. Can you IMAGINE an Obama gaff like that being edited out? Can you IMAGINE a world where the right-wing punditry would let that kind of mistake go without dancing on it for the next four months? It would be front page news and a persistent element in "Letters to the Editor" for the entire election cycle. I'd hear it more than Obama's middle name. And yet, Olbermann is the only person I've seen bring it up on the major networks. Most major news organizations lets McCain slide... AGAIN. Today I find out there's an entire BOOK about this phenomenon. I'm just amazed.
I guess my question here is that if you're currently believing that Obama gets a free ride and McCain is getting thrown under a bus, where did you GET that idea? How many McCain flip-flops does it take before our "liberal" media digs in to dismiss him the way that they do to Obama? When will the media quit promoting the idea that Obama is weak on foreign policy in comparison to McCain? At this point in time, I almost YEARN for a liberal media... the one we have isn't even working well enough for a moderate.
EDIT:
AAAAAAAAAH!
So I'm surprised that the media is actually covering this issue, but people on the air keep giving McCain a free pass!
There are not straight quotes, but summations of what I'm hearing:
"Well, his impromptu interviews are what he's know for, we can't hold him to high standards for this gaff."
"Barack Obama has made gaffs like this on the campaign trail, why wouldn't we accept them from McCain?"
"McCain claims there is a second Anbar Awakening after the surge began, and he does have a point."
Why does everyone miss the point that McCain is using this "fact" about the Awakening to discredit Obama. When you are stating FACTS (the real ones) to discredit someone, you are responsible for knowing those facts to be true! Had he just casually stated this "fact" in some interview, I wouldn't find it so bad... but he was making a point to discredit his opponent, so it's MORE important for his information to be correct... not LESS.
Yesterday, the media's take on the two candidates came up, and my Father patently claimed two things. One was that Racism is the only factor that can keep Obama out of the Oval Office. I disagree. The media's willingness to continue painting him as a flag pin hating islamic socialist is what I think will keep him out of office. But my father has the opinion that none of that is influential enough to keep him down. I do think that Racism will be an issue, but I honestly think we have more to worry about from AM radio misinformation and an overdose of ludicrous conservative punditry.
The second thing he stated was that McCain's free ride from the media is long over, and Obama is getting a golden pass from reporters. I disagree with this as well. Every single day I read about verbal missteps and policy changes from McCain. I read about blatant inaccuracies in his statements about Iraq and foreign policy. I see videos of him saying things that are totally baffling... but I never see video of the press (other than Olbermann and occasionally Stewart) calling him on it. The media, in my opinion, is treating McCain like your lovable Grandpa... the one who can say outrageously insane generalizations, but everyone just chuckles and says, "Oh, Grandpa!"
Better yet, when I mention that I don't see this "liberal" media that gets self-righteously frowned upon by so many, my father goes back to the party line, claiming that MS-NBC is patently liberal with CNN falling close behind. He does state that neither tips as far to the left as Fox does to the right, but I continue to be amazed that this myth continues. So I ask him, "How many extreme liberal pundits do you see on the major networks? And how many extreme conservative pundits do you see?" He of course mentions Olbermann, but I dismiss that. "Other than hating the administration and its cronies, how is Olbermann liberal? Hating the administration does not make one liberal, it makes you anti-neo-conservative." He brings up Matthews and how he used to be a conservative... he brings up Scarborough and how he's not the staunch right-winger he used to be... but he's making my point FOR me. The major pundits on the networks are all conservatives who get a moderate dressing of liberal because they don't get in lock-step with the president. That's not liberal... it's not even close.
I never do get him to quite see my point, but it was an interesting discussion that I might try to bring up again.
Then, today, I see this: McCain insults Obama's knowledge of the surge using false history, and CBS edits that part of the interview out.
I'm not really sure what to do with it. Can you IMAGINE an Obama gaff like that being edited out? Can you IMAGINE a world where the right-wing punditry would let that kind of mistake go without dancing on it for the next four months? It would be front page news and a persistent element in "Letters to the Editor" for the entire election cycle. I'd hear it more than Obama's middle name. And yet, Olbermann is the only person I've seen bring it up on the major networks. Most major news organizations lets McCain slide... AGAIN. Today I find out there's an entire BOOK about this phenomenon. I'm just amazed.
I guess my question here is that if you're currently believing that Obama gets a free ride and McCain is getting thrown under a bus, where did you GET that idea? How many McCain flip-flops does it take before our "liberal" media digs in to dismiss him the way that they do to Obama? When will the media quit promoting the idea that Obama is weak on foreign policy in comparison to McCain? At this point in time, I almost YEARN for a liberal media... the one we have isn't even working well enough for a moderate.
EDIT:
AAAAAAAAAH!
So I'm surprised that the media is actually covering this issue, but people on the air keep giving McCain a free pass!
There are not straight quotes, but summations of what I'm hearing:
"Well, his impromptu interviews are what he's know for, we can't hold him to high standards for this gaff."
"Barack Obama has made gaffs like this on the campaign trail, why wouldn't we accept them from McCain?"
"McCain claims there is a second Anbar Awakening after the surge began, and he does have a point."
Why does everyone miss the point that McCain is using this "fact" about the Awakening to discredit Obama. When you are stating FACTS (the real ones) to discredit someone, you are responsible for knowing those facts to be true! Had he just casually stated this "fact" in some interview, I wouldn't find it so bad... but he was making a point to discredit his opponent, so it's MORE important for his information to be correct... not LESS.