So, do you think that the media will start scrutinizing John McCain more? Is it just a pipe dream?

John McCain's lime green/creepy smile speech from Tuesday seems to be getting universal bad reviews from the pundits. This week with George stephanopoulos, Meet the Press, and Reliable sources on CNN all made fun of the speech very badly. Jay Carney on George Stephanopoulos said that he couldn't find one person in the McCain campaign who was willing to defend last Tuesday's speech (he later tried to say that there was some "good substance" in there, but Jay Carney always defends McCain), Tim Russert was belittling the speech, and even McCain butt kisser Jake Tapper just said on Reliable Sources that the Republicans he talked to in Washington were VERY WORRIED after they saw that speech. Reliable sources had the text "John McCain, invisible man?", and Byron said "Will the media finally start scruntinizing McCain?", and said that he has benefitted from the primary race bc McCain keeps making gaffes, but the media hasn't been paying attention. The panel discussed the Town Hall meeting challenge by John McCain, and pretty much agreed that while McCain does well in this format, it was a bad idea to put him anywhere with Obama. The CBS reporter said "Be careful what you pray for" to McCain.

Will the media have a Come to Jesus/Have we been to easy on this guy moment like they did after Saturday night live said that the press was giving Obama a free ride? Is this just a illusion, will the allure of the Straight Talk Express and McCain's magical BBQ sauce be too hypnotic for the press to turn away from?
I don't want to get my hopes up, I'm afraid it will be the latter :( Don't get me wrong, I know that the media in the GE will be all about "McMaverick, St John!", but I'm willing to take any little amount of scrutiny at this point.


Ok god, they are talking about the "fist pound" on Reliable sources. Byron just asked the CBS reporter, who is African American, "I'm not cool enough, is this what all of the brothers do?"


edit: Like I stated, I'm not naive enough to think that the MSM will not be all about the GOP candidate as always, it's just an especially interesting thing to examine because of McCain's specific relationship to the press for the last ten years (like he said, they're his "base") He's been coddled SO MUCH by the press, even more so than most other GOP candidates, that I am just waiting for him to keep snapping when ANY bit of scrutiny is put on him. He is quite egotistical about maintaining his "McMaverick" image.

1) No, the media will never scrutinize McCain.

2) The fist bump thing is done about 5 times a night, every night by Howie Mandel on Deal or No Deal. He is decidedly quite white, and that show's demographic is also likely very white.

While Obama is. They'll try to savage Obama, but their hearts won't be in it. They'll want to be with the cool dude instead of the grumpy old man. Maybe 'Bama'll let 'em hang out with him at the drive in if they're obsequious enough.

It's the same problem I have with journalists being embedded with troops during the war. All journalists are susceptible to this, but McCain has a reputation for giving the press unlimited access, much more so than Obama, so I think they are really protective of him (the few times that I have seen reporters DARE ask McCain a question, he freaks the fuck out! I can't wait for the debates) and are hoping that if he wins, their access in the White House would be really good. Hopefully, McCain's dopey public persona and horrible delivery/policies will be just too much for some journalists to pass up in good conscience.

Not only will the press get tired of being sprayed with his spittle, so will the electorate.

On the downside, Obama is very smart and personable, and the press just hates that, so they might (despite my earlier post) go gunning for him. After all, their mommies and daddies will be telling them they've gotta disembowel the jumped-up j______ if they expect to keep their jobs.

I'm still thinking, though, that the "kool kid" attraction will win them over. They wouldn't want to be lumped together with the unpopular kids.

He was getting a free ride from the press while our Primaries were still going on. Now it's time to put McCain under the microscope. God knows, he has alot of "experience" in his personal and public life. Maybe the press could start with "Why can't we find any information about his first wife? Why is there only one picture of her to be found"?

It's the Reich Wing that does this so well. Think Hannity. He will continue to scream about Rev. Wright and make up stuff right up to the election (and probably beyond).

I am not betting on it though. You hear reporters talking about it on Olbermann's show but you don't hear news reports or at least I haven't. I don't think they want to be seen as attacking a war "hero" and McCain is going to play it to the hilt. If he were a democrat with all of his lobbyist friends, Keating and who knows what else, he would not have made it to the first caucus or primary.

edited-spelling error

several years in a prison camp makes one a "hero." I am sorry that happened to him. I wouldn't wish that even on GWB, but is that all McCain has going for him? Why isn't he being swiftboated like they did John Kerry? No one in his or her right mind can vote for McCain except those who want a Bush 111 presidency.

in the swiftboating sense even though his military career was horrible - being in the bottom 5 of his class from the Naval Academy - the only reason he got into flight school was due to his fathers rank and gravitational pull within the military and the Pentagon. He wrecked 5 planes. No one gets to just keep wrecking military jets - you are reassigned. Not McCain. He spent 5 horrible years in a POW camp and his psych tests and evaluations must be a scary, scary sight but they are privileged and untouchable. When a person is up for the presidency, privilige should go out the window. Full disclosure of psychiatric evaluations should be the standard (in my opinion.) I do not want a PTSD finger on the button. One should meet certain psych criteria to be able to have that much control.

president scares me to death. It all goes back to the media and their controllers.

I've had to take psych tests (written and other) for ho-hum management positions, so the idea that McCain gets a pass on this is frightening. My husband and I were talking about your point on PTSD earlier today. McCain has to have it, considering all he went through. It doesn't just go away.

I doubt he's ever had any other real job besides the military and Senate.

I remember some Dubya supporters saying that he was unstable because of his years as a POW. Of course, they were villified by the McCain people. If we came out with something like that it would work against us.

And their focus won't be on the good stuff.

Because he is no longer in charge of the Commerce Committee and does not have the power to do favors for the radio and TV networks. He was a "straight-shooter" when he could help give them whatever they wanted. He no longer has that power and is of no use to them anymore.

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even has to be discussed. What happened to us, the media, and the old fashioned type of objectivity that was supposed to be displayed on the news and in print? It's all such crap. If I was going to school to be a journalist, I'd change majors.

A complete fantasy. Journos have always been powerless and owned by their bosses, zealots themselves, or (more so of late) rich fatcats completely allied with the goals of the plutocracy.

Thank the fates (or St. Gore, if you trend that way) for the Intranet, so that attempts to cram facts down the memory hole don't actually work anymore.

The media have to start looking at Obama v. McCain. So far, McCain has gotten a free ride on most of his stuff. Now, there will be dozens of Dem operatives out there pushing our arguments about McCain.

The media will eventually have to sniff the Keating Five good. I'd start with "Senator McCain likes to mention Senator Obama's age, but he doesn't mention that when McCain was Obama's age McCain was knee deep in the Keating Five scandal that robbed hundreds of thousands of Americans and made billions for McCain's big money friends. If Senator McCain didn't have good judgment 25 years ago, why should anyone believe that judgment has improved?"

Something I'm sure 90% of the voting public has either forgotten or was never aware of in the first place. His sexist comments, racist ones, and especially the egregious circumstances surrounding his adultery.

I read an article just a few days ago that actually claimed "McCain is getting a rougher ride then Obama, the media keeps on attacking McCain for everything and letting Obama get away with everything". I could hardly believe the guy writing it was serious (I forget who wrote it, it wasn't a name I recognized). Among the 'evidence' that McCain has been dragged through the mud for the past few months while Obama gets off 'for everything' the article cited stuff like this.

-That NYtimes article a few months ago about McCain having some kind of sexual relationship with a hot female lobbyist.

-A few other newspaper articles posted online somewhere that were never talked about on the news that the McCain campaign condemned and basically said was all wrong and nothing but lies.

The whole article made me wonder if the guy writing it has been living under a rock lately, you want a media hit job on a candidate, what about the reverend Wright stuff, I don't see the media attacking McCain for actively seeking endorsements from crazy neocon pastors who have done stuff like said horrible antijewish and antimuslim (about not just terrorist Muslims, ALL Muslims) things.

He's now the face of that ideologically bankrupt Republican party. He represents the garbage this 'conservative' movement stands for. McCain has years good press banked. Those in the know see him for what he is, but that might not be apparent to the general electorate. Tie him to Bush, and run against the Republican party.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c

Bring on the Obama/McSame debates!

:kick:

Does that answer your question?

The fucked up media in this country just want to keep their jobs, because 14 million other people lost theirs under Bush!

Remember the Alamo? Well, remember Dan Rather and Phil Donahue this year!!!