Media

Remember way back to the days of the Democratic Primary? Remember the breaking news story on the cable networks about Hillary's new hair do? Remember how much they got on what outfits she wore, or even questioned them?

I haven't seen none of that with Palin.

It is really getting old hearing the media talk about McCain taking this "gamble" on Palin, like it makes him some sort of maverick. Remember this news from way back - like yesterday?

Up until midweek last week, some 48 to 72 hours before Mr. McCain introduced Ms. Palin at a Friday rally in Dayton, Ohio, Mr. McCain was still holding out the hope that he could choose a good friend, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, a Republican close to the campaign said. Mr. McCain had also been interested in another favorite, former Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania.

But both men favor abortion rights, anathema to the Christian conservatives who make up a crucial base of the Republican Party. As word leaked out that Mr. McCain was seriously considering the men, the campaign was bombarded by outrage from influential conservatives who predicted an explosive floor fight at the convention and vowed rejection of Mr. Ridge or Mr. Lieberman by the delegates.

McCain didn't take a gamble, he folded to the right wing fringe elements of his party. That's not a maverick - that's a coward!

Joe Scarborough was just talking about the attention of Palin's daughter is unprecedented. The media attacking a daughter is unprecedented? What about Rush Limbaugh and his attacks against Chelsea Clinton. The mouth pieces on the right thought nothing of attacking a 13 year old girl. Hell McCain even jumped in on attacking Chelsea. So I guess Republican children are off limits, but Democratic ones are fair game?

The talk on Morning Joe is about what a great speech John Kerry delivered last night, in which I must agree. It was one of the best speeches of the convention and one he should have done four years ago. The problem is that none of the networks covered this great speech.

So who is the Morning Joe crew blaming for that?

They are blaming the DNC. They are saying how the DNC should have forced the cameras to carry that speech. Well they did on CSPAN! But since when are the news makers supposed to force the media to carry the news? The media dropped the ball by not carrying this speech, but they come from the George W. Bush school of accountability and end up blaming everyone else for their failings.

Oh and if Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan watched the network that employs them, they would have noticed the cameras were on. MSNBC showed about 30 seconds of the speech while it was going on, but were to interested in hearing their own voices.

On Morning Joe, Mike Barnicle asked Tom Daschle why the convention has been all about the Clintons:

No Mike - the convention has NOT been about the Clinton. If the media would actually cover the convention they would realize it's about the Democrats and about how wrong John McCain is for this nation.

So what has been about the Clintons? The media. While this big, vibrant convention has been going on right behind them, they have been infatuated with the Clintons yet again. The media doesn't report the news, they invent it, and that has never been as obvious as this week.

A long term Republican endorses Barack Obama, makes a speech at the DNC convention last night and the media turns a deaf ear. Amazing isn't it? That's exactly what happened when Jim Leach gave a very good speech explaining why he is endorsing Obama and why his party has gone astray. Here is the video:

When Leach started speaking last night, MSNBC went to it. Then they quickly went away and just said "oh that's former Representative Jim Leach". I wonder if they will do the same for former Democrat Joe Lieberman?

Steve Bennen has a great post on this latest example of the "liberal media" in action that deserves a read.

I was just watching Hardball and saw tweety going back and forth with some Hilary supporter. Why did he even give them the time? These people are not supporting Hillary, they are ignoring her requests. They have on objective - to create turmoil this week.

So next week, when the Ron Paul people are out, will they get the same attention? I wouldn't hold my breath.

Ron Fournier, the Washington chief for the AP has published an "analysis" of Obama picking Biden. The headline alone tells it all:

Analysis: Biden pick shows lack of confidence

This is the kind of garbage the AP puts out, and also the kind Yahoo is keeping on top of their news page right now. It's amazing that people would consider this as some unbiased view given the history of Ron Fournier.

So does Fournier's article have any merit? Well to answer that we must be able to look into the future. Rumors have been out of McCain picking David Petraues as his running mate. Speaking in hyperbole, if McCain did that would that indicate the military is McCain's weakness? I doubt it, and you can be the right would be up in arms to even suggest it.

If Romney is picked, does that indicate McCain's weakness on economic issues? Again - no.

Let's also look at some of Fournier's past charms. Like when he wrote that Karl Rove needs to "keep up the fight", or how about when he was considered for a spot on team McCain?

This guy has proven a definite bias in the past towards the GOP and John McCain. How in the world can the AP publish an article by him as some unbiased view? Anything Fournier writes should conclude with "I'm John McCain and I approve this message".

I just heard Joe Scarborough saying on MSNBC that a VP pick "isn't that important". That may be news to all of us after we just endured days on end of non-stop media coverage of who the VP pick might be. The media parked outside of Biden's (and others) house like a flock of paparazzi waiting for Brittney to do it again.

Yes the VP pick is important. I would say more so now than ever before with the rise of power the VP's office has had under Bush.

The blogosphere has been talking for days about McCain acting like he is President when it comes to the Georgia conflict. From having press conferences about the conflict, to sending a "delegation" to the embattled country, the media has acted like McCain was just doing the job of a candidate. No more. Today's Washington Post is finally taking note that McCain forgot who he really is - a candidate:

Standing behind a lectern in Michigan this week, with two trusted senators ready to do his bidding, John McCain seemed to forget for a moment that he was only running for president.

Asked about his tough rhetoric on the ongoing conflict in Georgia, McCain began: "If I may be so bold, there was another president . . ."

He caught himself and started again: "At one time, there was a president named Ronald Reagan who spoke very strongly about America's advocacy for democracy and freedom."

This has been another example of the so called "liberal media". When Obama spoke in Berlin, all the media outlets echoed the GOP talking point that "Obama was playing President". When McCain does the same, but in a situation that can have serious ramifications, the media goes silent. Perhaps now we will hear more about this.

Barack Obama forgets to mention Hillary's debt in a speech and goes back and asks people to help with it. The media makes a huge deal out of it.

John McCain forgets who are enemy is in Iraq and the media brushes it off. Yeah - those are serious priorities there.

Right after Obama became the nominee, the polls had Obama ahead of McCain by only a couple of points. The media used that to ask why Obama wasn't winning by more. Their argument was that people wanted change and the polls aren't showing that with Obama.

Fast forward a couple of weeks.

Obama is now leading in polls by huge amounts. Now the media is asking if it's too good to be true for Obama.

So two weeks ago it was a problem that Obama was stomping McCain, now it is a problem that Obama is stomping McCain. Wow the media is great at inventing news!

While working and listening to MSNBC this afternoon, I would have sworn Ted Kennedy had died. They were damn near eulogizing him on air. Positive thoughts anyone?

On while on that subject - My thoughts and prayers are with Ted and his family. I won't go into a dramatic MSNBC style wake, since I have faith he will be back in the halls of Senate in no time.

We finally have a major media outlet, the AP, reporting that John McCain is actually a conservative:

The independent label sticks to John McCain because he antagonizes fellow Republicans and likes to work with Democrats.

But a different label applies to his actual record: conservative.

The likely Republican presidential nominee is much more conservative than voters appear to realize. McCain leans to the right on issue after issue, not just on the Iraq war but also on abortion, gay rights, gun control and other issues that matter to his party's social conservatives.

And when you look at his position on foreign policy (war! war! war!), as well as his new love for torture, we can safely classify him as a neo-con. Maybe now rest of the media will follow suit and remove their lips from his ass.

Gov. Ed Rendell tells FOX news they are the most "fair and balanced":

Yeah right! The other stations never say anything bad about Obama. Rev. Who? Oh yeah - MSNBC devoted tons of time last week to the Wright controversy.