Dissing Obama and Promoting McCain

[babylonsister]

Dissing Obama and Promoting McCain
posted by Ari Berman on 06/18/2008 @ 11:39am


Barack Obama says John McCain has gotten a free ride from his friends in the media. A good case in point: how ABC reported the news of its latest poll, which showed Obama leading McCain, 48 percent to 42 percent. Good for Obama and bad for McCain, right?

Well, not according to ABC News. George Stephanopoulos (fresh from co-moderating the worst debate in primary history) sees "danger signs" for Obama. Obama is losing married women, elderly voters and faces skepticism from a quarter of Clinton supporters. True, given President Bush's unpopularity and the number of Americans (84 percent) who believe the country is on the wrong track, one could argue that the Democratic nominee should be trouncing the Republican. But the closeness of this race has more to do with McCain's strengths than Obama's weaknesses. The GOP lucked out by nominating the one Republican candidate who still appeals to independent voters.

It also doesn't hurt McCain that his electoral flaws, in this article and so many others, go virtually unmentioned.

Here are a few statistics {pdf}, ignored in the article, worth noting: 26 percent of McCain supporters are "not enthusiastic" about his candidacy, compared to just 9 percent of Obama supporters. That means McCain could have trouble expanding his base of supporters and turning them out at the polls. By wide margins, voters believe Obama "would do more to bring needed change to Washington," "better represents your own personal values," "better understands the problems of people like you" and "would do more to stand up to lobbyists and special interests groups." A majority also believes that "new ideas and a new direction" are more important than "experience and strong leadership."

So why doesn't ABC report all those latter points? Perhaps because the press, as Frank Rich noted in an excellent column on Sunday, are still hopelessly attached to a "Democrats divided" narrative. "This is reality turned upside down," Rich wrote. "It's the Democrats who are largely united and the Republicans who are at one another's throats." But ABC News is not alone in burying Obama's lead. NBC did the very same thing last week. As Rich elaborates:

more...

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/330857

[psychmommy]

1. i totally agree.

that's why we have to keep the message out there. they use mainstream and dirty emails to bring him down.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

2. I have been screaming this over and over! McSame is the one with the weaknesses

Last night, Tweety continued on about Obama's supposed problems with these polls. But he's not the only one.

As the so-called pundits continue to dissect Obama's standings in the polls, they also deliberately neglect to mention one major point:

John McCain's numbers hover around 45% or 48% percent, depending on the poll. The guy with all his supposed "advantages" cannot break 50%. That's really the larger, more important story here.

Upon further investigation, these pundits should be telling us that:

1. McSame has a minority problem! He is losing among key groups: blacks, Hispanics, Jews and Asians.

2. McSame also has an evangelical problem. He could lose as much as 40% and that's huge! Obama is improving among Catholics, a constituency that Kerry lost even those he's Catholic.

3. McSame has a Bob Barr-Ron Paul problem, particularly in the South with Barr, in the northeast and west with Ron Paul.

4. McSame has a woman problem. Obama is doing better among women than Gore or Kerry. Of course the pundits are only looking as the so-called white, suburban "soccer moms."

5. McSame has problems even in states where he should be opening up large leads like OH, FL, PA, VA, and other traditionally RED states. The pundits are not telling the public that McSame is much more vulnerable in swing states than Obama. They are also not telling us that the more people get to know Obama, the more they like him; whereas the more they get to the The Real John McCain, his numbers stall.

6. McSame has an Indie and Repug problem. Disaffected Republicans are defecting to the Democratic party in droves, and they are not Rush "zombies," either.

7. Most important, the pundits are not tell us that these polls and surveys cannot account for new, young, black and Hispanic voters and new Democratic registrations that far outpaced the Repugs.

The bottom line is that they want this race to be close. That is the only way to keep their ratings up. Add Hillary Clinton to Obama's ticket and you got hot, controversial stories to keep the talking heads busy for the rest of the summer.

Obama is a threat to their way of life. The media cannot risk allowing the election to be close or for Obama to win.

Our job is to keep working harder...

[Cha]

3. This is a great article, babylonsister..

More should know about it..it's indicative of our media and thank you, Ari Berman and Frank Rich.

We have to do something about the m$$$fm..they'll keep it up if not called on it. If only their bottom line could start evaporating 'cause they won't stop manipulating.

[democracy1st]

4. i know babylonsister that crap drives me crazy