Cafe Talk | Talking Points Memo | Drudge goes Pro-Obama?

Drudge goes Pro-Obama?

By burnedoutdem - June 2, 2008, 8:51AM

Politico is running a piece today that discusses Drudge's apparent support of Obama. While folks on the left generally dismiss Drudge (he did a great job of sinking Gore and Kerry), the piece suggests that getting a pass from him is a coup to Obama who will need the PR support in the fall. A couple of sections I particularly enjoyed:

Now, as Obama and Senator John McCain
look toward the fall, Drudge has emerged unexpectedly as more of a
threat to the Republican than to the Democrat. This, combined with the
rise of left-leaning sites such as Talking Points Memo and Huffington
Post—both of which have proven effective in promoting and amplifying a
Democratic message—reflects a major shift from the last two
presidential elections, a matter of open alarm to Republican
strategists and surprised satisfaction to Democrats.

Drudge himself is reviled by many on the left, but his news instincts
are undeniable—and he has an uncanny ability to drive the national
conversation with what he chooses to highlight on his site.

Now, while his links tend to stress the energy and scale of the Obama
phenomenon, he has emphasized a particularly damaging aspect of
McCain’s candidacy: his age.

I find this all terribly interesting - of course I haven't been a fan of Drudge since the Lewinsky mess, but it seems like Drudge is in a unique position with the right to make a switch and have it work in Obama's favor; his reporting is correct just often enough for him to have a little begrudging credibility (a little!) with the left, but he's also far enough outside the MSM to put a slant on his reporting - even when it slants in Obama's direction - without raising "journalistic" eyebrows or ruffling the feathers of his usual readers. In other words, Drudge can be pro-Obama without losing his base or prompting liberals to think, "alright, what are we not seeing...what's wrong with Obama" (which couldn't be true if Rush Limbaugh suddenly started talking about his benefits on the air).

All together, it isn't like the MSM has been especially unbiased or objective this campaign season (if anything they loved throwing gas on the drama fire), so it's interesting to see a guy who *never* claimed impartiality suddenly reversing sides.

(side note - click recommend! I've never passed 10, and I'm feeling good today!)

Comments (30)

Internet Ad Money requires page hits. Obama and the Democrats are wildly popular.

You do the math ;)

Posted by Kinkistyle
June 2, 2008 9:00 AM | Reply | Permalink

Exactly! People usually assume that people like Drudge are ideologically driven and maybe to a point; but in the the he needs the traffic on his site.

Another point though is that bashing Hillary Clinton has always been good for business on the right.

Posted by JohnAH
June 2, 2008 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink

Even Frank Luntz can smell the Obama green.

Posted by AdAbsurdum
June 2, 2008 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink

I think you nailed it.

Posted by tonnyb
June 2, 2008 8:55 PM | Reply | Permalink

Ha ha ha. Drudge has been leaking anonymous campaign scandalettes all year against Hillary. Accepted as the gospel truth every time.

Posted by Desidero
June 2, 2008 9:10 AM | Reply | Permalink

It does make one wonder just who did remind Drudge of the turban photos.

Posted by Constantinople
June 2, 2008 9:29 AM | Reply | Permalink

But nobody should imagine that the right-wing media whose voices now praise Obama will continue to do so if he wins the Democratic nomination, or that the mainstream media, which still takes so many cues from the right, will do likewise....
Should Obama hope to continue to enjoy his free ride, he should consult his old mentor Joe Lieberman, the senator from Connecticut who used to be a Democrat. Conservative commentators and right-wing media outlets always loved Lieberman for his willingness to echo their talking points on subjects such as school vouchers and Social Security privatization. When he agreed to join the Democratic ticket as Al Gore's running mate in 2000, the Weekly Standard and the National Review, among others, suddenly discovered how despicable Lieberman actually was. Having abandoned the Democrats altogether, he is now fully rehabilitated.

But Obama and his supporters must cherish no illusions about what will happen to him if he vanquishes Clinton. He will need the same kind of armor that she has worn proudly for years. What the right likes best about him is that he doesn't seem to own any. Why Conservatives Love Obama

Posted by Constantinople
June 2, 2008 9:26 AM | Reply | Permalink

Fair enough - but McCain's already treating this as a general. He's been pretty well focused on Obama since it became mathematically unlikely for Clinton to catch up. Why hasn't Drudge taken the cue?

PS: Your article is dated Dec. 21. A whole lot has changed since then that should have the right-leaning press running away from Obama...but as we're seeing, Drudge hasn't done that yet.

Posted by burnedoutdem
June 2, 2008 9:32 AM | Reply | Permalink

Is that all you got? You claim that Drudge is pro-Hillary because he has leaked some news from her camp? How about...

1) Posting Hillary's wrinkly picture and mocking her (top story back then).

2) Praising Obama's rally in Oregon, noting the huge crowd there. (Would a pro-Hillary person do this?)

3) Paying little to no attention to the Jeremiah Wright scandal.

4) Spreading the rumor that the Hillary camp had circulated a picture of Obama in Somali garb. (Drudge named no names nor did he said who the camp had "leaked" the pictures to.

My friend, your "Drudge leaks some stuff from the Hillary camp" defense is as weak as it can be.

Drudge is in the tank for Obama. And I know it, you know it, Drudge knows it, and the Politico knows it, and the GOP officials quoted in the article know it.

Posted by truthseeker77
June 2, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink

You claim that Drudge is pro-Hillary because he has leaked some news from her camp?

Who's making that claim?

Posted by Ben Hocking
June 2, 2008 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink

I wasn't saying Drudge is pro-Hillary - I clearly said pro-Obama (or rather, I was quoting Politico who said it).

I agree Drudge has been very much anti-Clinton, but I'm surprised that he seems to be giving more favorable coverage to Obama over McCain, and this won't hurt Obama the way it would if say, Limbaugh did the same thing.

Does that make sense?

Posted by burnedoutdem
June 2, 2008 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink

Yes it does, It all depends on who it is. Drudge is FAR more important than Limbaugh. TG

Posted by barefooted
June 3, 2008 1:28 AM | Reply | Permalink

I think that the Clinton camp did a relatively good job of courting Drudge early on in the campaign (through 2007). I read an article somewhere about how they'd managed to get him on side, but I can't remember where it was...

Looking back, it seems hard to believe, but then given the fact that the name "Clinton" stands in direct opposition to "Drudge", perhaps it hasn't been such a rough few years for Clinton. She could have gotten a hell of a lot worse from the man that made her husband an enemy.

But I'd agree that the democrats all-round have been given more favorable coverage than the GOP this year: probably a reflection of his need to drive up the cash.

Posted by TTGZ
June 2, 2008 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink

"I read an article somewhere about how they'd managed to get him on side, but I can't remember where it was... "
It was on Drudge.

Posted by acanuck
June 3, 2008 3:27 AM | Reply | Permalink

Trusting Drudge is like trusting Bill Clinton with your 21-yr old daughter.

I'm not a big fan of politico in the first place. Majority of their staff are McCain ass kissers.

I see it as an attempt to make Drudge look mainstream.

Posted by kash79
June 2, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink

Drudge is mainstream.

Where else would the Mainstream Media be without relying on Drudge? He enables their laziness like no one else.

Posted by Frog Leg
June 2, 2008 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink

I don't think he's mainstream...I mean I don't think he's a fringe site, but I wouldn't call him mainstream, either...

Posted by burnedoutdem
June 2, 2008 4:41 PM | Reply | Permalink

nice.

Posted by lipme
June 2, 2008 8:29 PM | Reply | Permalink

The best part of the article was the part talking about Drudge's drive to be ahead of the curve. He sees Obama as the next big thing, and so Drudge drives the Obama zeitgeist.

Not to say that is particularly a bad thing.

Posted by Frog Leg
June 2, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink

Add to this Rupert Murdoch's favorable comments on Obama and we could be seeing some spinning heads in the right wing media.

Posted by MASON
June 2, 2008 2:08 PM | Reply | Permalink

I don't trust the Politico to accurately judge the behavior of Drudge, and even if the Politico is right about what Drudge is doing I would not trust Drudge enough to expect that whatever alleged favorable treatment Obama has supposedly been getting will continue once the primary ends Tuesday.

Posted by mcc
June 2, 2008 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink

I wouldn't trust Drudge as far as I could throw him.

Posted by Liberal_Elite
June 2, 2008 3:09 PM | Reply | Permalink

I go to drudge everyday... to kinda see the enemies mind set and I have to say, all of the inflamatory stuff that even Politico and ABC played way up Drudge wouldn't mention or wouldn't run at the top of the page. There's no disguising Drudge hates Hillary, every bad picture anti-Hillary article he can find he posts. So maybe once Hillary's in the grave he'll return to his Republican roots, but I have to say he's been a soft touch on Obama this season and has at least an article a week, agog about the number of people showing up at Obama rallies with flattering pics.

Posted by presidentraygun
June 2, 2008 3:11 PM | Reply | Permalink

Drudge is not "pro-Obama," he's anti-Hillary, which puts him in a different position than Rush Limbaugh and all of Drudge's other normal allies. He'll smear the hell out of Obama, first and with the most, starting this week as Obama becomes the nominee. And the poster should not refer to anything Drudge does as "reporting." Drudge does not do any reporting, he occasionally publishes rumors without proper attribution and advance leaks of news media stories. This is not, in any way, shape or form, "reporting" nor is his lying about other subjects in his "Drudge exclusives." He's a recipient of leaks, usually ones with a right wing slant. That's not reporting.

Posted by sponson
June 2, 2008 3:47 PM | Reply | Permalink

he hasn't been especially pro-McCain, though. that's the surprising part.

Posted by burnedoutdem
June 2, 2008 4:43 PM | Reply | Permalink

Drudge also has a big hard-on for war with Iran. Headlines routinely read, "Iranian boats buzz U.S. ships."
When you read the articles, you find naval officials saying flat-out, "We have no idea whose boats they were." In some, the word "Iran" doesn't even appear.
Drudge's selectivity is basically dishonest.

Posted by acanuck
June 3, 2008 3:40 AM | Reply | Permalink

I just want to let everybody know, for historical reference, that June 2 was the day the Court of Oyer and Terminer convened for the Salem Witch Trials.

I just automatically think of June 2 as Salem Witch Trials Day, in case that ever pops up in conversation and it seems inexplicable or inappropriate to you.

That's just how I remember it's June 2.

So don't freak out or make a big deal out of it if I bring it up.

Posted by Hillary's Mnemonic Calendar
June 2, 2008 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink