Thursday, September 11, 2008

Media reporter warns McCain

Boston Phoenix media reporter Adam Reilly is warning Sen. John McCain he’d better be nice to the media or reporters and editors will strike out at him and possibly cost the McCain-Palin ticket the election.

Extracts from Reilly followed by my comments below the star line

Reilly says - - -

…The RNC also featured McCain’s formal, foolhardy declaration of war on the press — the same press, by the way, that made him a political superstar. Now the press seems inclined to fire back.

And if this dynamic continues over the next two months — and the election is as close as everyone expects it to be — it could be the factor that makes Obama president. …

Right now, McCain’s gambit [attacking the media] looks brilliant — witness the aforementioned post-convention bump. The prediction here, though, is that, come Election Day, he’s going to rue his decision.

Why? Now that the Democratic and Republican pep rallies are over, the candidates desperately need the press’s assistance to get their message out.

But now that McCain has given the press the finger, most members of the media will be a lot less inclined to do anything that aids his campaign.

Some of them may actually respond by leveling direct, aggressive challenges at the McCain-Palin ticket. …

Elsewhere, however, the pushback will probably be more subtle — manifesting itself, for example, in which stories get reported and which stories get prominent play.

Case in point: as of this writing, the following articles were the first-, third-, fourth-, and fifth-most-viewed on the Web site of McClatchy’s Washington, DC, bureau: “McCain’s history of hot temper raises concerns”; “Palin used state funds for trip to speak at her former church”; “Here’s the story about Palin’s book-banning try as mayor”; “Campaign saying little about Sarah Palin’s religious faith.”

It’s also likely that McCain’s gambit will make the press less inclined to follow his campaign’s talking points on Obama and Joe Biden, Obama’s running mate. ….

Reilly offers a lot more like what you’ve just read. It’s all here.

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Comments:

Reilly leaves no doubt that as far as he’s concerned a prime qualification for the presidency is proper deference to the media; proper deference being don’t dare call attention to the transparent partisanship of Obama’s MSM Tank Corps.

If McCain gets uppity and criticizes The One’s media disciples, very bad things will happen. McCain won’t be able to get his message out and certain kinds of stories attacking him and his running mate will appear.

Who knew MSMers were so petty, spiteful, and arrogant?

The best one-liner McCain’s gotten off in the campaign came when he was asked whether he’d watched news coverage of Sen. Obama’s visit to Paris.

“Yes, I did,” McCain answered. “I saw all those people cheering and waving, and that was just the American press corps.”

Message to Reilly: Thanks for helping expose that big MSM fib about “we’re all objective professionals here.”


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

A very telling report--puts the MSM on record as admitting they can and do use their position to "level the playing field." In today's world, the MSM is nowhere near as powerful as they once were (or think they still are).
Off-topic, but I just caught part of the 9.11 ceremonies in NYC. What was the reason Michelle Obama was not present? Could it be she a higher priority?? Hmmmm.
Tarheel Hawkeye

Anonymous said...

Gee, now that she is finally proud to be an American, I thought she would have shown. Guess she's not quite THAT proud.

Anonymous said...

The MSM believes that it is they, not the electorate, that should choose the president of the United States - their underlying premise is that the American people are too stupid to make the correct choice (for the MSM the election of Bush twice and Ronald Reagan twice are proof in their twisted view).
I also wondered where Mrs. Obama was. Where was Joe Biden? We know where Sarah Palin was - she was saying goodbye to her son who is off to Iraq.
cks

Anonymous said...

It’s time to separate the positive women’s movement feminists, from the liberal shrill, feminist loons. Go Sarah, and go Sandy, where have you been so long?
---------
Liberal media attacks:
Sarah, get your gun!

Pottstown (PA) Mercury,
by Sandy Froman
Excerpts:

“Explain to me how Barack Obama can be qualified for president if someone with at least as much, if not more, experience is unqualified for vice president?

Their answer, I suspect, is that Barack is a man, Sarah is a woman. Therefore with equal or less experience, he can be president while she can't even be vice president.

Any woman who claims to support equality for women, but doesn't fume in rage at this, is a hypocrite.”

Anonymous said...

Yes, the media will screw McCain because he is not being nice. It is so clear that they had previously been on track to provide balanced coverage to each man rather than get swept up in the Obama fad.

How could he have been so foolish? The national media were so sincerely interested in helping Americans get all the pertient info on McCain and Obama. I'm sure that, just any day, Chris Matthews was going to feel a John McCain tingle up his other leg.

Anonymous said...

John -

And what is the value of McClatchy's stock and the New York Times Company's stock these days? Seems at least some of the public is not buying what the MSM is selling. John - keep up the great work.

Jack in Silver Spring