Following-up to our recent discussion about unintended bias in the media, it's worth noting an independent study finds that John McCain can't seem to catch a break now that he's the GOP nominee. This for the man who set the gold standard for a Republican garnering positive, earned media from the 2000 primary season through that of 2008.
During the primaries he benefited mightily from direct and indirect media cheerleading in a self-perpetuating cycle that drove his rise from back from the brink of political oblivion. Now that he's the Republican standard bearer, he suddenly has trouble landing a positive storyline.
Imagine that.
UPDATE: link added.
Posted by Eric Earling at May 29, 2008 10:01 PM | Email ThisThe question is, are the voters buying into it?
Posted by: Independent Voter on May 30, 2008 05:16 AM"He fought the good fight in a heavily Democrat state. He has youth and exuberance. He's the guy we want who can represent both new and old."
Though you didn't mean former Mass. Gov.Mitt Romney, that is who I view fits the description better at the moment and is the best VP candidate to balance McCain's weaknesses.
Posted by: Rick D. on May 30, 2008 06:04 AMWhat kind of church is this? (hate)
Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on May 30, 2008 07:15 AMI assume this is your opinion and not based on the study you quoted? In the study, it reported "...On the Republican side, John McCain, the candidate who quickly clinched his party’s nomination, has had a harder time controlling his message in the press. Fully 57% of the narratives studied about him were critical in nature, though a look back through 2007 reveals the storyline about the Republican nominee has steadily improved with time...."
I do know that while the Republican race was still hot and heavy, McCain did take a beating from Romney, and from the right-wingnut radio/tv personalities (Rush, Hannity, etc.).
It is my impression now that McCain still enjoys some of his media charm with some of the MSM, Fox has been cheerleading him now, instead of bashing, but the left media now are bashing him. Other than his gaffes (or does he not understand) on Sunni/Shites, I do think the left media have been overboard on McCain (although Chris Matthews is still charmed by him). However, none have been as harsh as Hannity and company have been on Obama.
I just wish the media would get out of this ratings mentality and actually do real reporting (both sides).
Posted by: tc on May 30, 2008 07:16 AMFor Romney, who has been there, done that, I think it makes sense.
I still think Romney helps McCain the most due to his economic strengths. Romney could manage McCain's (and his) economic agenda in Congress, and it would give Romney foreign policy experience for future runs, which is one area where he was lacking.
Romney's weaknesses are the same as during the primaries (i.e., his flip-flops).
My other concern about Jindal is the lack of vetting, which is another plus for Romney.
Posted by: tc on May 30, 2008 07:23 AMI still say Romney is the best presidential candidate this season and it seems he would help McCain in whatever McCain asks him to do.
So, I guess you can say Romney is a flip-flopper- he was against McCain before he was for McCain.
Posted by: swatter on May 30, 2008 07:31 AMThe main point in this poll is not the lower positives for McCain, but the equality of treatment between the two dems. I don't buy it. I see way more positive treatment of Obama than of Clinton.
Posted by: deadwood on May 30, 2008 08:09 AMPew has shown conclusively that the overwhelming majority of journalists are Democrat and left leaning. There has also been definitive proof or selective reporting, omission and editorializing. If you put two and two together, it's obvious that the MSM message is skewed.
And the left often likes to cite Fox News as a defense. But if you take Fox News out of the picture, there still remains a vast and far larger pool of print media, all of the other TV and Cable channels, NPR, etc., all staffed by the same largely Democrat biased journalists.
Posted by: Jeff B. on May 30, 2008 08:29 AMI actually believe it is unintended. I think most in the press seriously believe they are being fair, rational, and unbiased. They believe they are the correct-thinking people and it's only because of their exceptional reasoning skills that conservatives are nearly always in the wrong. They live in a big echo chamber and are never challenged.
Posted by: Frank Black on May 30, 2008 08:54 AMAs I said before. Will the press go after Obama's other pastor who he gave money to $100.000 and this is another full blown racist/hater.
Bet they won't say zip.
Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on May 30, 2008 08:58 AMBut it seems to me if he made fewer contrary-to-fact statements, the press would have less ammunition.
And I am surprised that people seem to think the press and not Republican voters made McCain the prfesumptive nominee. If anything, it seemed like both Huckabee and Romney staying in after Thompson and Giuliani dropped out split the cultural conservatives while allowing the national security security conservatives to coalesce behind McCain. Stuff happens.
Posted by: Daddy Love on May 30, 2008 09:06 AMMedia Breakdown:
Print- 85% Liberal 15% Conservative
TV - 92% Liberal 8% Conservative
AM Radio - 77% Conservative 23% Liberal
Survey says? The mainstream media as a whole is most definately biased to a liberal slant if not outright cheerleading team for so called "progressive ideology" (see Chris Matthews and his partner Keith Olbermann). Throw in mind shaping entities like the School systems controlled by the liberal NEA and further indoctrination at the University level by liberal professorship and you have the makings of the liberal mindset. Their worldview is shaped not by reality, but by some utopian Panacea. Not by what is, but what should be.
Posted by: Rick D. on May 30, 2008 09:06 AMBefore we can bring down the left, we must bring down the liberal media. But how do you awaken the majority of Americans who gobble up what the left tells them on the TV networks and through increasingly biased newspapers?
Posted by: Reality on May 30, 2008 09:19 AMSince McCain already brings experience to the table, and the Veep will balance.
Every time I hear a liberal journalist claim that their professionalism is sufficient to excise bias out of their reporting, I know I'm listening to a liberal who is driven by passion and unable to reason with their brains.
Posted by: Reality on May 30, 2008 09:32 AMKeep Jindal in the wings and pad his stats (we'll need him for the next Reagan Revolution which can't come soon enough) and run Romney as a solid Veep choice in 2008. He's the perfect candidate in terms of experience , Demographics and most importantly, Competency as a leader.
inre: the post @23 - The guy behind her has that "a few more drinks and I think my chances are pretty good" look to him.
GOT MILF?
....so? how about them WASL scores!
Posted by: Rick D. on May 30, 2008 02:04 PM
Amen.
At least McCain knows there aren't 57 states in the US...
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on May 30, 2008 08:35 PMHopefully, John McCain will dwell on setting the record straight and calling out the vermin in the media (in the words of Michael Savage). Bluntly - He will have to if he hopes to win. They are just getting warmed-up and the vermin will be in full force from hereon until November.
Posted by: KS on May 30, 2008 09:27 PMhttp://newsbusters.org/
Posted by: TrueSoldier on May 30, 2008 11:58 PMI don't think that anyone could fairly state that it is fact that John McCain is "incompetent and corrupt," but I don't know how you wave off obvious mistakes of fact such as McCain's multiple statements conflating the Sunni and Shiite roles in Iraq. I fervently hope that these were just several inadvertant slips of the tongue and not signs of a deep misunderstanding of the facts on the ground in Iraq, but I'm really not so sure.
Likewise his recent claim, and his even more vehement insistence of its accuracy after hearing corrections to his claim, that troop levels in Iraq are down to pre-surge levels when in fact there are 20K more troops there now than before the recent escalation. 150K is just not 130K, even if you insist really, really strongly that it is.
John McCain's assertion of his superior grasp and experience in military matters is central to his candidacy, so when he makes obviously inaccurate claims about simple matters of public knowledge it does him little good.
Posted by: Daddy Love on May 31, 2008 07:55 AMBeen waterboarded lately? I hear that is way more painful than beheading.
Posted by: pbj on May 31, 2008 11:23 AMYes, I would agree that Barack Obama should know there are not 57 states in the union, and the fact he doesn't know that will play out in the GOP's favor in November.
Posted by: Rick D. on May 31, 2008 11:35 AMI congratulate you on the closest thing to a post about an issue under discussion that I have yet seen from you. But if you're hoping that your silly triviality will get McCain elected, good luck. As I said, when your candidate makes large mistakes in what he claims as his area of greatest strength and then stubbornly insists that he is correct in the face of fact, he's in trouble.
37 pbj
Um, I don't follow you. Is this one of those "the terraists are scaree" statements?
What is your opinion of Geraldine Ferraro Daddy Love? Now that you've done the liberal math calculation that race trumps gender, does she get thrown under the bus by liberals like the rest of your fellow travelers have done?
This isn't HA so try to keep your response civil and without the F*word every 3rd word if at all possible.
Posted by: Rick D. on May 31, 2008 02:08 PMThose poor misunderstood chaps. If only we'd invite them over for tea and not sprinkle water in their faces, they'd all understand us better.
Posted by: pbj on May 31, 2008 05:34 PMthe REAL answer to their declining stock values and circulations is simple; as one notable historical figure once said: "...it's the content, stupid!..."
most newspapers papers model the WASL & schools; celebrate the process + forget the results objective + get befuddled by the outcome.
Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on June 3, 2008 05:58 AM
