The Media Obsession with McCain & Graham
Did Nov 08 actually happen? Was I dreaming? Didn't we drub McCain & Palin and their cheerleaders like L. Graham?
Then someone tell me what the h*ll they are doing ALL OVER the MSM again!
Why do we care what they think? We voted OUT their ideas and their ideals. Check the polls. They will tell you all you need to know. Someone needs to send that memo to the MSM inside-the-beltway wanks like Politico, CNN and ABC News. They are yesterdays news and we do not care!
But leave it to the GOP to faux claim "moderate" and "bipartisan". They ALL subscribe to same tactical obsession with news cycles: that is, shout out the most rediculus crap to grab the headlines.
Case in point just this weekend: McCain says Obama is off to a rough start, Graham says we should nationalize banks and 2 GOPers in Illinois say Burris needs to step down.
No need for balance or counterpoint. The MSM just uses these guys for their unchecked off-the-wall statements and makes it the news story.
What the Dems need are talk-show speakers who can deliver punchy soundbites. We tend as a species to go on and on at excessive length about the details of policy, which may be great in committee meetings while being deadly on air.
Short, sticky quotes are the currency of TV politics, and Dems are not yet nearly as good at is as we need to be.
And for those of you who will decry this, and say that it's the policy that's more important, how'd you like the last eight years? It's about getting your word out and having it stick. All the position papers in the world won't help with that. They're not worth as much in that arena as one memorable quote.
February 16, 2009 2:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Agree completely, OG. Pragmatic approach to perception of progress.
February 16, 2009 11:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
So true! There's a point at which the reach for ratings becomes inherently dangerous to the society as a whole - we all need Obama to succeed! CNN has been particularly offensive lately in it's choice to give McCain and those other guys far too great a forum to espouse the same old ideas that made them lose the election in the first place. I've been noticing it for a while; I'm glad Josh and others such as you are seeing the same thing.
There ought to be some requirement that prevents the airing over our public airwaves of dishonest appeals made to the very lowest common denominator voters. Of course, I guess that's tantamount to outlawing the Republican party at this point...
February 16, 2009 2:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Clearly we should get to elect the media... or they won't change... okay I am half joking.
Seriously though, the republicans are off to bad bipartisan start but they are 'very good' at framing things... that is their strength and they are clearly sticking to it. Unless the democrats do a better job of 'framing' all discourse, they are going to be maligned and blamed constantly for everything that the republicans don't like and stripped of credit by the republicans for everything they do like. These people are strategists. President Obama clearly had good strategy that helped him win the campaign... I don't know if he has realized yet that he will have to continue to 'really work smart' to let the republicans have to stand on their real contributions and arguments... I wonder how long it will take for him to figure it out.
February 16, 2009 3:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
To those who declare that it's the policy not the sound bite that is important, I would suggest we need BOTH. We cannot make policy unless we win the sound bite war. Obama ran a great campaign, Yes We Can. He took off to sell his stimulus. It's fueled with Hope. Is this Change We Can Believe In? Damn right it is! Is it the same Democratic approach, yes, but that's NOT the approach we had for the past eight years. We never said we were going to change as Dems, just that we would change what was happening in DC.
Frankly, the Republicans have proven that sound bites without a decent policy is foolish, but policy without soundbites is theory. Winning is what enables change. Win first, then you can be the change. You do not get to win unless the votes hear you. You've got about 15 seconds. GO!!!!
February 16, 2009 3:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's fine - who besides Obama do we have that gives good soundbite? If he's on TV all the time pitching stuff in catchy terms, when does he get time to do anything else? The point about Graham & McCain is that they have the time to go on and be quotable. We've got the policy things in bucketloads. Who besides Obama is the salesman?
February 16, 2009 8:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly. I think we proved (to the detriment of all) in 2004 that substance doesn't beat punchy soundbites. If it was the way it should be (reversed), we'd likely be early in President Kerry's second term.
Of course that sends me on a tangent of what ifs...
If Kerry was president, then John Edwards likely never would have met Rielle Hunter. In 2012, Edwards would be the clean front runner for the Dem nomination. We'd likely never have a President Obama (until 2016 or 2020, at the soonest).
Also, then we probably never would have regained the senate and house in 2006 (no Bush-disaster to run against) nor made the stunning gains of 2008.
But then maybe the economy wouldn't have blown up, and we'd have been out of Iraq ages ago.
Net result? I think it comes out to a push for the American public.
Sorry about that... as a grad student I tend to over-extrapolate things from a single point, in search of a unifying theory....
February 16, 2009 3:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Then someone tell me what the h*ll they are doing ALL OVER the MSM again!"
Easy: Showing off their stupid foolishness for all to see.
At some point you have to consider that adults can form sound judgments about what they see in the MSM. It's one thing for McCain to say stupid things, another thing for most all commentators to have bought into the WMD et al lies in 2002-2003 and thus lead a complacent nation into a "dumb" war.
On this theory, the MSM is helping McCain and pals dig their own graves faster.
February 16, 2009 4:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think it's worth noting that despite the media offensive by the Republicans, all polls show Obama coming out of this with still very high approval ratings. Meanwhile, the GOP score is abysmal.
Partly, as you said, this is due to adults consuming the MSM knowing how to think for themselves. But I think there are two other factors going on:
1. The MSM never actually had that much influence anyway. The total audience for cable news, for example, is a tiny segment of the population. And I've heard on NPR that Obama's current e-mail list is bigger than CNN's viewership.
2. The GOP talking points were so transparently dishonest and useless that only a dittohead would buy into them. McCain, for example, blasted Obama's stimulus plan and then offered his alternative: more tax cuts. Anybody who is currently unemployed or is in danger of being laid of can see the problem with this. Tax cuts just won't help much if you're not paying taxes to begin with. Plus, people are aware that we tried the tax cut thing before and it didn't work.
If the GOP actually had a good idea to hawk on talking head shows, I would be more worried. But right now, they just seem determined to double down and dig themselves even deeper.
February 16, 2009 9:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think we're on the same page. Aside -- MSM is not just cable "news" shows, as I use it.
February 16, 2009 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Irresponsible people always make the news. Except for occasional heroes. That's one thing we're up against. I wish I had a solution. The media wants drama. Drama and more drama. Drama sells. The repubs know that. They governed via fear. And now they're opposing via fear. Fear is not a good way to make decisions. Nor is greed. But both make for a lot of drama. We are caught in a vicious cycle where the national media feed on stuff that is not good for us as a nation. Sorry to sound so pessimistic on a Monday morning. But we're up against a whole culture here. A whole system organized to sell stuff to the public, whether consumer goods and debt or calamities, real and imaginary.
If we're to get ourselves out of this, the nation needs some soul-searching. I think the repubs will do anything to prevent soul-searching.
February 16, 2009 8:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
TheraP you have stated the issue very clearly. I usually say the same thing but cloud it up with a lot of curse words!
I still say the media needs a 12 step program for their drama addiction. I can still hear the excitment in the reporters voices when they started reporting on the Iraq war. There are a couple of things that bring me a little hope. I think the internet is going to clear away much of the media crap - leave it behind. I also think the seriousness of our economic crisis is going to provide people with enough drama in their own lives that they will stop seeking it on the daily news.
February 16, 2009 11:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Where's GOOLSBEE?
February 16, 2009 9:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Deadflowers - EXCELLENT question ... Hadn't realized it myself that he is MIA ...
February 16, 2009 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
We have a game of chess being played with three republican senators and the WH
We have a game of chess being played with 38 other republican senators and the WH
We have a game of chess being played with 356? Democratic Members of the House.
We have a brilliant young President who gets to speak directly to the electorate on TV, Radio, Utube and via his own web site.
This is fun to watch. There are no absolutes.
Fluidity and it is killing the repubs.
February 16, 2009 9:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Simple,
The MSM realizes this is a conservative country. They're constantly trying to push the center leftward. They don't dare give exposure to real conservatives like Tom Coburn or Jim Inhofe because so much of their viewership would identify with the viewpoint of these Republicans. The MSM is scared to death of inadvertently creating the next Reagan!!!!
The MSM has to give the impression of non partisanship in an effort to maintain some of their rapidly vanishing credibility. The way they accomplish this is to pick out the most liberal republicans they can for the sake of 'fairness' and give them exposure. Graham and McCain fill the bill!!!!
But don't worry, they'll be gone after their next primary elections!!!!
February 16, 2009 10:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
I can't agree. The MSM simply promotes whichever side of an argument that most keeps conflict raging. Their behavior is not nearly so much ideologically driven (FNC excepted) as it is profit driven (see my comment below).
February 16, 2009 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sure it's profit driven. But to say the MSM is not ideologically driven and deny they're all in the tank for the liberal agenda is disingenuous as hell.
All the liberal media are sacrificing profits for ideology. Look at their viewership ratings and the stock prices of the media corporations. They're shrinking like a dead rat in the sun!!!!
The only economically viable media outlets are the objective ones like Fox and AM talk radio. They're making profits from exploding viewership hand over fist!!!! Even in this economy!!!!! Wall Street is bullish on these offerings, buy some and enjoy the profits yourself!!!!!
February 16, 2009 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
links please.
February 16, 2009 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
You need links????!!! Familiarize yourself with our financial system. Damn.
February 16, 2009 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
No, Spreidel, he's rightly claiming you're talking out your ass. Fox's viewership is shrinking too. And aging, which to advertisers is even worse.
Get out of your mother's basement every once in a while and look around - it'll do you a world of good. And wipe that Cheetos dust off your fingers and chin.
February 16, 2009 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think that's Cheetos dust, OG. If this guy thinks Fox is objective it's more likely angel dust. I have long felt that we need to organize national boycots against the sponsors of Fox and their ilk. They can only be hurt in their pocketbooks.
February 16, 2009 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is also that bit of suspicious dried crust on his chin from Spreidel's...umm...excessive familiarity with the Bush/Rove/Rush crowd - wonder how he explains that to his mom?
February 16, 2009 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
During the campaign, someone (a republican for Obama)on the local Obama site took it upon herself to contact Fox sponsors. Most of the time responses were noncommittal, thank you for writing, etc. One cruise line, however, wrote her back and told her, in so many words, to bugger off because Fox was where their travelers were.
February 16, 2009 5:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Objective ones like Fox and Am radio? Wow, You are nuts aren't you.
They make profit becuase precisely because they aren't objective, they are have a point of view and therefore are more interesting to watch then the rest of the idiots who strive hard for some illusionary balance. Jon Stewart and Colbert do the same thing on the opposite side of the spectrum.
Interestingly one side of the spectrum has been consistently right over the last decade, and one has been wrong in nearly every proclamation. I am going to guess you don't know which on that is. I blame the MSM.
February 16, 2009 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Viewer's don't watch FOX News because they are objective. That is complete bull and you only have to watch it to know that. They have more viewers because they appeal to the less educated and have more fluff/more fun shows on their channels than the other cable news networks. I'm not insulting any of their viewers by the way. I live in NYC and when I'm on the train 99% of the people are reading The Daily News or The New York Post while you only see that one guy reading the NY Times. The Post and Daily News, just like FOX News, appeal to those with a less sophisticated vocabulary, they have juicy gossip, comics, style sections and their headlines grab your attention. FOX News is all flash and people like that.
February 16, 2009 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
In your dreams, Spreidel.
February 16, 2009 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Who's Spreidel?
February 16, 2009 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, Junior, I'm not going to do your homework for you.
February 16, 2009 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Okay, I get it now, you're every bit as simple minded as my first impression of you led me to believe.
February 16, 2009 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
OK, listen up, Spreidel. I'm typing slowly, for your benefit.
I have no regard for your feelings, I am not here to fit your expectations of anything, and I pretty much regard you at best as a lower life form. On your good days, that is, which are few and far between.
When I diss you, it's not up to me to 'splain you either the process or the reference. Maybe last year, when you flunked third grade for the seventh time, your mother finally got tired of doing your homework for you. I was never so inclined.
You're lazy and stupid, and essentially the bloggular equivalent of flatus. Again, on your rare good days.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, and yet where's your typical "socialism" reference ? You're slipping, Junior.
You're nothing but a punk. And I enjoy the fact that you're so often wrong and so incredibly thin-skinned. It makes poking you with a stick kind of fun. Just be glad there's not a nail at the end. Or dread the possibility that that's your future.
Now go back down to your mom's basement and cry, you little pile of shite. You don't deserve to be up here with the big kids, and you know it.
February 16, 2009 6:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're certainly no big kid. Just a big mouth mildly retarded adult who really envies the intellectual acumen and material lot of others.
Get a life before you run out of time. I suggest you attend some special Olympics events. You're likely find some motivation there you can admire without the burden of envy.
February 16, 2009 7:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hhmmmm -- I am not TheraP, but wouldn't the following quote from Spriche qualify as PROJECTION in Psychology terms?
"....Just a big mouth mildly retarded adult who really envies the intellectual acumen and material lot of others....."
February 17, 2009 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Didn't they already make the next Reagan? I think he is a young black guy, sweeping mandate, change, morning, hope, etc... swear I heard something about this.
February 16, 2009 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, all we need is a democrat to vomit out retarded soundbytes and get into a ridiculous endless argument w these lunkheads. Let's stay above the fray and "give em enough rope". It worked during the elections and it's worked since he's been in office: Republicans talk stupid, Obama waits,Republicans keep talking stupid, Democrats (us) start to freak, Obama finally responds, Republicans look stupid (repeat)
February 16, 2009 10:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
You're silly.
February 16, 2009 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
It depends critically upon the fundamental stupidity and inattentiveness of the audience. Whenever I see jackasses like Boehner and Graham wax hysterical and indignant about the scale of the stimulus, I hear silence when I should be hearing an entire nation screaming, "how dare you...you're the criminals who created this sinkhole out of the budget surplus Clinton left you. How DARE you get indignant in response to constructive efforts to dig us out?"
My TV fails to duck as competently as Bush did, whenever a shoe is thrown at it. Perhaps the only competent thing Bush ever did.
February 16, 2009 10:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly! I cannot help but look at these asshats and ask "Have you no shame?"
February 16, 2009 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
The answer is rather simple:
1) Conflict = Drama
2) Drama = Entertainment
3) Entertainment = Viewers
4) Viewers = Ratings
5) Ratings = Dollars
Therefore:
CONFLICT = DOLLARS
This also clearly shows that TV news is in the entertainment business, not the news business.
February 16, 2009 11:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Mostly right. TV news is in the advertising business.
February 16, 2009 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Which is why I only watch BBC Worldwide News and The Lehrer News Hour.
February 16, 2009 6:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe they are obsessed with these two because both are known for being gay bashing closet queens and the media, quite rightly, can't stand the hypocrisy.
Just saying....
February 16, 2009 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
McCain's a documented serial adulterer, much as Quimby here in MN was during his mercifully ended Senate tenure (as well as before and after). Graham, well, ain't no closet quite big enough. Same with Miss McConnell. (R-KY/Big Tobacco)
February 16, 2009 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um? Hypocrisy? Sure, if the topic under discussion were gays in the military. But the economy? And Obama's presidency?
February 16, 2009 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why is this post here today? For the first time that I can remember Lindsey 'butters' Graham has done something useful. He is giving Obama cover to do the right thing on the banks.
Normally, I am all for piling on these guys, but not the one time they actually contribute.
February 16, 2009 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agreed. There are a lot of good reasons for kicking Graham around but nationalizing the banks is the only answer to the financial mess.
February 16, 2009 6:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pretty easy to explain, actually. The Dems are working their asses off trying to stave off a catastrophe and don't have a hell of a lot of spare time to jibber on the jabber shows. McCain and Graham and the rest of the R's, however really don't have a hell of a lot else to do than jack off and go on these shows and whine. And jackin' off can only take up so much of your time, especially when you're McCain's age.
Diaper Dave Vitter, on the other hand, is truly making a sacrifice. All this TV time has to be cutting into his prostitute time.
February 16, 2009 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
The media misses the drama from the campaign and are trying to re-create that drama with a McCain-Graham ticket v. Obama or a "what would the loser have done" series. The public, however, has not fogotten McCain's "the fundamentals of our economy" and how McCain pretty much had absolutely no ideas for making our economy better.
February 16, 2009 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's truly fascinating is the amnesia demonstrated by cable news shows. To have the person who lost the last election, after declaring that the fundamentals of the economy were strong, suspending his campaign, restarting his campaign, and so on be the individual who comments about how successful the Obama presidency is thus far is just ludicrous. Did John King conveniently forget what happened in the fall?
And it's not just cable news. Alessandra Stanley reviews two programs that address the economic meltdown. This portion stuck out for me:
The part in bold is just false. Voters don't hold Democrats and Republicans "equally responsible". The part in italics is ludicrous. No doubt many viewers don't believe in "evolution", either, but isn't the "reviewer" under some sort of responsibility to put such beliefs in context?
February 16, 2009 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well actually I do hope Burris does resign ...... he got the job in a very dishonest underhanded way and has zero charisma and credibility. Now that Blago is gone the Dems in Illinois can find a real quality person and someone who can hold the seat in 2010.
The fact that McLame is still trying to sell tax cuts for rich people as the cure-all for a worldwide economic crisis is AMAZING! How fucking stupid does he think we are at this point? Once these assholes get their millions packed away they just cannot help explaining to the rest of us how we should all just get filthy rich too and quit worrying. Knowing how to screw little people out of what little they have is not actually the same as knowing a god damned thing about economics..... but they just never can shut up about how well it has worked for them.
February 16, 2009 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow. President Obama has - what - three weeks in office, and the Goopers are saying he's failed.
But BushCo...after EIGHT years of dismal malfeasance?
"Leave it to history to judge his success."
Asshattery to the Nth degree.
Funny thing is, for all their lip flapping and lying, McCrazy and Light Gram are not convincing the folks who are responding to the polls.
Good news on that front, at least.
February 16, 2009 6:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain has lost his nerve:
He made so many mistakes in the campaign, big ones, e.g. Sarah Palin. But he still had a chance when the economy tanked. He suspended his campaign. He took control of the media and the situation. And then he caved.
Look at what he is doing now. He's totally on board with the obstructionists, both in action and in tone. Had he taken that stance on the TARP legislation, he would have been a real leader. But now he's just another sheep, following the House Republicans, Mitch McConnell, Jeff Sessions, ... He's a member of the herd. He's gone.
Don
Pittsburgh, PA
February 16, 2009 6:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
The media has a story to tell. Every story needs an antagonist. Boehner and Mitchell were found lacking so Graham and McCain are trying out for the part.
February 16, 2009 11:45 PM | Reply | Permalink