I guess – according to professional presidential horse-race watchers (i.e. cable media) – most people this time of year are either on vacation or watching the Olympics.
I am doing neither. I am watching the media. And it is quite amusing.
They want so badly for there to be some big drama for them to cover in the presidential race that they are trying to create controversy just to get people to pay attention. Every time a new poll comes out, for instance, they give it their own spin. A move of one or two points up for McCain means he is "closing the gap." If he moves one point ahead in a poll with a margin of error of 3 or 4, he has "taken the lead." Once Obama's lead opens up again to five or six points, they go silent or interpret it falsely as "within the margin of error." They desperately want this race to be close. A huge lead for Obama this early would give them nothing to agonize about.
Right now, they are mad at Barack Obama for going on vacation. How dare he! Doesn't he know he's supposed to be running for president here in the real United States, not resting in that "exotic" group of islands out in the Pacific? They are trying mightily to get us to believe this will hurt him – especially since he isn't acting like McCain and playing pretend commander in chief during this "crisis," which they have also hyped, in Georgia.
They also think Obama should be here to get all upset about the new smear book that has just been published about him. Once again, as they did all through the primary when they agonized over Clinton's attacks on Obama, the media is looking for a way to criticize him, this time for not reacting quickly enough to the packs of lies the right wing throws at the Dem candidate every four years. Day after dreary day they remind us of how the Swift Boat attacks against John Kerry doomed his candidacy, especially because he didn't respond quickly enough.
Funny – I seem to remember how much of a part the media played in the dissemination of those Swift Boat ads, which only had a limited run as paid commercials. If it hadn't been for the media serving as the handmaiden of the right wing smear merchants, most people would not have seen those ads. Today, as they interview Jerome Corsi, they are looking back and saying the attacks against Kerry were false. But they didn't say that four years ago.
One wonders why they are even giving this hack air time. They say it is because his book will debut at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. In psychology we call this rationalization – finding a dishonest excuse to do something you really want to do anyway. They know the only reason this book is at #1 is because of all the bulk orders from the right wing think tanks and political organizations to make it seem as if people are interested in this pap. But they want to stir up trouble and controversy so people will watch, and so the general election will be closer than they fear it might be, and one way to do that is to give some lying attack dog air time.
Speaking of books, the pundits created a mini-drama this week over a rumor that Jeremiah Wright is coming out with a book in October. They almost couldn’t speak from the salivation over such a possibility. This would be a godsend for the professional talkers. They could agonize for weeks over whether such a book would doom Obama's chances. Washington restaurants would be bereft of patrons who were all booked on the cable stations to offer their punditry on the subject. Alas, it seems Wright is in Ghana doing missionary work, his daughter telling the media there is no book.
The latest "controversy" the media is hyping is one they have babbled about for months – the Clinton-Obama drama. In the primaries they speculated over why Obama couldn't "seal the deal" and why Hillary wasn't withdrawing from the race. Could Obama be a flawed candidate, not "one of us"? Were white working class men not willing to vote for a black? Did Hillary have some trick up her sleeve? Would she ever concede? Was she taking it "all the way to the convention?" Was she going to steal Obama's delegates over the summer?
Now, as the Clinton and Obama camps quietly work on convention logistics, the media is at it again. The Clintons will overshadow Obama at the convention. It will be a "Clinton convention." This is the beginning of Hillary's 2012 campaign. Will Bill actually say nice things about Obama or will he sabotage everything? Will Hillary's supporters make trouble? Might a roll call vote end up in Clinton stealing the nomination?
One cable show yesterday had a ten minute segment interviewing two supposed Hillary supporters, part of a group known as "PUMA" (originally "Party Unity My Ass," now changed to "People United Means Action") who say they will vote for McCain if Hillary is not the nominee. One of the guests admitted they have only raised $50,000 and have a small membership, yet the media wants controversy, so they give them a full ten minutes.
So with the news yesterday that the Clinton and Obama camps have worked out the role Hillary will play at the convention, the pundits are stumped. If there's no drama to report on, how can they get people to watch the convention? If PUMA is just a group of disgruntled and sour grapes die-hards (or more likely Republicans trying to make trouble) what else can they do to gin up controversy?
Well, they can always go back to the right wing smear merchants. Maybe another "book" will come out. Or maybe another little war will break out and McCain can act all commander in chiefy and imply Obama is a girly-man. Heaven knows, without a war to light up his eyes, McCain is simply too dull and too old to provide anything exciting for the media.
Thank god, they must be thinking, Obama is flying back from vacation today and will probably announce his veep next week. Then the media can spend the week before the convention tearing him or her apart.
For people that are supposed to have inside information and offer great insight, these people are acting like gossip mongers and morons. I guess that's what happens when the role of the press is no longer to inform, but simply make money for their corporate masters.
