July 26, 2008

So Is Obama "Presumptuous", Or Is It the Media?

No, it's not your imagine, the media is continually throwing around the word "presumptuous" to describe the Democratic nominee - on pretty much every show and pretty much every channel. There's such a constant drumbeat of the same word, you'd think they responded to Republican talking points or something.

Posted by armand at July 26, 2008 05:08 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Media


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Standard media behavior. Anoint him the second coming, then lambaste him for behaving as though he believes his press.

Or just creatively edit footage to make it seem as though he's behaving as though he believes his press.

Who gets to see the raw footage? Who spends the time? I'm not saying he isn't, but who can tell?

Anyway, to date I still think the scandal here is the pass McCain's getting for the myriad occasions during this campaign upon which he's looked like the fading old man I've come to believe he is.

Posted by: moon at July 27, 2008 09:08 AM | PERMALINK

What, not the pass he's gotten for continually criticizing behavior he himself engaged in (trips abroad)? Not the pass he's getting for running an at best highly misleading ad attacking Obama's commitment to the troops? Not the pass he's getting for doing little more than whining for the last couple weeks? And perhaps most hilariously, not the pass he's getting for criticizing both the press and Obama for all the attention Obama's getting from the media - even though there's probably not a politician alive today who's more a product of media love and attention than John McCain?

As Ryan wrote me in an e-mail, if the guy wants more media coverage, maybe he should actually do something that merits it and stop canceling trips and staging photo ops in supermarkets (and he should definitely stop the latter - having seen him in person I can't imagine what he must look like under flourescent lights).

But as to the point of the post, this is yet more evidence that the media continues to fear calls of bias more than they value actual reporting or analysis. You'd think they'd have more respect for themselves, their work, and their employers, but apparently what really keeps them awake at night is what Rush and Bernie Goldberg are going to say about them. And since they are going to say the same thing about them no matter what they report, they are pretty stupid on top of being giant hacks.

Posted by: Armand at July 27, 2008 10:29 AM | PERMALINK

On the subject of just how fading this old man is (in fact, listening to him the last couple of weeks it seems like he's MUCH less with it than I previously believed), did you hear him talking to Stephanopolos about gay adoption? He kept talking about how children needed "two parents" but I'm pretty sure that I gay "couple" would be TWO parents... I was very disappointed that George didn't push him on that one. Of course the whole thing made very little sense anyway.

Posted by: ryan at July 27, 2008 11:08 PM | PERMALINK

Yeah, McCain was predictably confusing (and maybe confused as well), and Steph was damn weak there. Why bring up a question, press a question, and then let it go without an answer? Not a good moment in the history of his interviewing.

Posted by: Armand at July 28, 2008 11:49 AM | PERMALINK

That's not the only time McCain's trucked out the two-parent response to that issue, either. I forget where I saw it in the past few weeks, but I saw it, which means it's a rehearsed, vetted talking point, that's passed muster with whoever in the campaign is assessing muster this week or month.

Of course, given the extensive scholarship showing that any loving two-parent household, gender unspecified, is better for children than its alternatives in any one or more of those dimensions, he's stuck with something that unintuitive if he wants to pander to the far right on the issue.

And as for little Georgie, whatever. Since his abysmal debate performance(s?), I've stopped counting him among the ranks of what passes for journalists these days. I'll let him out of his room when he manifest some remorse or reform by, say, doing his effing job. Until then, he's just another face familiar enough to average America to gave aid and comfort to its collective complacency, obsession with trivia, and indifference to intellectual or political heft when it comes to candidates for high office.

Wow, that sounded bitter.

Posted by: moon at July 28, 2008 01:40 PM | PERMALINK
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