The Networks ARE covering for McCain because they need a story..

[Postman]

When one candidate is a bumbling, babbling fool, a Washington insider - that has helped create the mess we are in today and the other candidate is a slam dunk for the Presidency, you need to cover for the former in order to have something called "Race For The White House." Then there's also that little issue of having to do with being ideologically aligned with the said moron.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x166639

[KharmaTrain]

1. It's All About The Benjamins

Imagine they had an election and nobody really cared. That's the corporate media's worst nightmare. We live in not just a 24/7 "news" world now, but also an endless political cycle...no sooner does one election end, but the next one is well underway. It's become a multi-million dollar industry that feeds consultants and spinners and the "media" that trolls of this industry.

The game here is to try to keep Gramps viable...stir the pot, get some "action" going that they hope will bring ratings and money. It's also an ego-ridden industry where face time and bylines are all that matter. Say good, say bad, just say as if you're livelyhood depends on it...cause it does.

This horse race/beauty pageant is easy programming...their "reporters" are fed what the daily talking points are and that's the "narrative"...little real journalism is required as facts mean little compared to gaining political points or "face time".

No matter what the corporate media does to cover up Gramps, you can't cover up his ineptness, the fact he's both a terrible candidate and uninspiring and that he supports the most failed regime this country has ever had to endure.

[eshfemme]

4. Their increasingly vapid attempts to cover for McCain would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

Seriously, I have much love for all the Dems that come on the media and have to deal with the banal and leading questions they are asked. Most of the questions are all traps of some kind with mis-information or follow-ups to questions that have already been asked but to which the answer was unsatisfactory to the interviewer. It's so rare to see an actual journalist much less one who's done their homework. What's worse is that the newspapers who have a relatively higher standard of journalism are going the way of the dinosaurs so now, just mild incompetence is much bearable than the extreme incompetence and negligence that is on display everyday.

[KharmaTrain]

5. Bubbleworld "Conventional Wisdom"

Welcome to DU!

The corporate media is a creature of a betlway bubble...an insulated world of social climbing and egos that have gestated into their own myopic world that assumes the rest of us also think likewise. They live by the "Conventional Wisdom" of their village elders and the game is to try to conform to that "wisdom" to show your value and relevence to the bubbleworld. Getting face time and bylines are the prize...getting into the big drinkie-drinkie parties, going to the BBQs and "blowing and being blown" is what this game is about. Be a big player and you'll get a nice paycheck and on the "A List"...try to buck the system and you end up editing a blog. Tread on the wrong toes and get pushed the back of tbe bus..play the game and get access to those coveted "undisclosed souces" that get you the top billing.

The right wing has been very successful over the past 25 years in "baiting the refs"...attacking and ridiculing a lot of the villagers that they have worked hard to refute their "liberal" lean. Ironic, the other day, again, I heard some GOOP sockpuppet scream that 90% of the "media" donates to Democrats...a classic example of how this is done. Thus, we now have "fair and balanced" where you get a right wing ideologue facing off either a "moderate" Democrat or other villagers who pretend to play Democrat...thus any true centrist or liberal opinion falls outside their "norms".

Cheers...

[JerseygirlCT]

6. Yes siree.

That's just what's happening. I'm not sure it's so much ideologically based, as, as you say, about the money.

They need a horse race to keep people tuning in. So they're going to create one, whatever it takes.

[fasttense]

2. I don't think the media is doing it because they think they can get viewers

and advertising money for those viewers. They are doing it to save their stolen treasure. GE and other corporations have a nice little deal going for them with the republicons. They get to keep all their stolen money, not pay taxes, get welfare from the government, while their boughten politicians kill off all possible competition. Corporate interest lies with the republicons.

So the corporate media spin the McCain as if he had a chance in hell to win. No McCain's only chance is if he takes it to the Supremes like the bushes did in 2000. There are too many states the republicons would have to flip vote counts on to win. They are good at flipping maybe 4 but anymore than that will show their hand. They may have been able to flip more states back in 2000 because they had control of state legislature and executive branches. Now, a lot of that control has slipped out of their hands.

But the Supremes are wide open. There is even precedent for the court to select our president for us. Will Obama fight back when the election is stolen from him? Or will he back off and lick his wounds like Gore and Kerry?

[Postman]

3. Good point.

I agree.

[KharmaTrain]

8. 6 Of One...Half A Dozen Of Another

The corporate media's main reason to exist is for their own profit...first and foremost. And, yes, a corporation like GE uses its broadcast properties to enhance its other ventures..."they bring good thing to life"...but IMHO, there are many motives at work here. All the networks have billions riding on the "deregulation" of our public airwaves and see Democrats as a threat to that gravy train.

The difference between this year and the past is the advanced ground game Senator Obama and the Democratic party has set up. It's led to a large surge in voter registration and a ground game that we didn't have. Inversely, Gramps has almost no ground game...and with more Democrats in control of state governments (who do the counting), election fraud won't be the problem...voter supression will be...and the Obama campaign is working hard at blowing past that roadblock. Gone is Blackwell in Ohio...that in itself is a big difference.

[gratuitous]

7. We'll get the truth along about the middle of November

That's when all the reporters will finally tell us how they knew all along that the McThuselah campaign was doomed. But they couldn't tell us that in real time because . . . well, they just couldn't, okay? The reason isn't important, and it has nothing to do with being in the tank, so stop saying that.