Carolyn Lewis: Shallow Campaign Coverage
Posted at 11:32 am, May 16th, 2008
Of course Hillary Clinton won big in West Virginia. She was the only one who campaigned there. I waited and waited for somebody in television-land to take note of that fact, to put it in context, but waited in vain.
The victory was reported as a triumph, although it was also indicated that according to the delegate count it would make little difference to the final result. Missed was the point that Clinton’s victory was garnered without her facing any competition. Perhaps in retrospect Obama should have campaigned in the state, but he chose instead to pursue the man he is likely to face in November, John McCain.
The media bought Clinton’s spin. She argued that she won not because she was the only person who campaigned in the state, but because she was the person who could attract the votes of white working class citizens. (Didn’t Obama win white voters in Wisconsin and North Carolina?) Absent in the discussion was the idea that the West Virginia vote was not so much against Obama as it was in favor of the only candidate who turned up.
In light of this, one could be forgiven for believing that experienced political people at MSNBC and CNN too easily fall prey to spin from one side or the other. Perhaps it’s because of the pressure of time to be filled night after night as the news cycle spins round and round, but if on-air people feel pressed and overwhelmed, perhaps somebody behind the scenes – a producer perhaps? – can be assigned to re-think and assess the information as it arrives.
Another case in point: The McCain campaign invoked a statement by a Hamas spokesman that he would like to see Obama in the White House, suggesting to the McCain people that Obama is soft on terrorists. Obama called the suggestion a “smear,” and added that McCain, who was promising a clean campaign, had “lost his bearings.”
The McCain campaign promptly charged that it was Obama who was fighting dirty, by disparaging McCain’s age. Almost immediately the subject of the discussion was the candidate’s age and whether it was appropriate to bring it forward in a political campaign. All but lost in the talk was the original attempt to paint Obama as a friend of terrorists.
Enormous power resides in the hands of those who are granted air time in this political season. It’s dismaying when the power is so shallowly employed, so apparently mindlessly purveyed, to the detriment of public understanding. Viewers in search of deeper analysis are too often left bitterly disappointed.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:57 am |
Obama is about to be indicted in the Rezko scandal. Read Evelyn Pringle’s reports on this scummy hood at opednews.com:
Friday, May 16, 2008
Curtain Time for Barack Obama – Part IV
(6 comments) The solution to the problems arising from the unsuccessful attempts to shut down Operation Board Games would be for Barack Obama to become president and issue a bipartisan pardon to all members of the “Combine” who funded his seat in the US Senate. The scam worked when Scooter Libby took the fall for the Bush administration.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Curtain Time for Barack Obama – Part III
(9 comments) Three days after the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Aiham Alsammarae, the former electricity minister convicted of corruption in Iraq, put up $2.7 million in property to help raise $8.5 million to free Tony Rezko from jail in Chicago, the Times reported that Alsammarae had contributed six times to Obama’s presidential campaign.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Curtain Time for Barack Obama – Part II
(13 comments) If the Combine’s plot with the Bush administration to shut down Operation Board Games had worked, Obama would be home free. But it failed and the Republicans are just waiting to air the roadmap of dirt pieced together from Fitzgerald’s investigation if Obama is nominated. McCain is in the clear because there is no sign of his involvement anywhere.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Curtain Time For Barack Obama – Part I
(32 comments) Republicans have enough damaging information against Barack Obama to knock him off the ballot before the November election. Those at the top of the Democratic Party know this by now and voters need to recognize that if they nominate him they are throwing the election. Nothing else can explain why they would allow this disaster to happen.
May 17th, 2008 at 12:19 pm |
Oh John, John Ryskamp: is this really your true name” The reason I ask is that your “reputation” precedes you, John. Why don’t you google yourself and check out your reputation. It’s not all that great, John. As a matter of fact, your profile shouts to me loud and clear that you are a pathological spammer and liar as well, John, and you just love to fantacize over your wildest dreams. Apparently, your most active fantasy at this point, John, is trashing Barack Obama. What precisely don’t you like about Barack? Please be specific, John. Surely it can’t be that he, as you allege, is about to be indicted. We all know, John, that this is your fantasy–an ugly and untrue fantasy–a blatant lie lacking support from your fabricated rubbish.
By the way, John, there are no “Evelyn Pringle’s reports” as you claim at opednews.com. You’re a sad case, John. You obviously need help from a high-end therapist. You will be in my prayers.
May 18th, 2008 at 9:41 am |
But Obama did campaign in WV. The Washington Post allows readers to track campaign events by state, and it is clear that Obama campaigned in WV.
Perhaps efforts to counter spin would be more effective if they didn’t buy mindlessly into another candidate’s spin.