# The Mainstream Non-Biased Media **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 26, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695 "2008-10-26T23:40:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/1 "2008-10-26T23:40:52Z")
[http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/14951](http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/14951) Particularly, this quote: "I guarantee you that two weeks from now, you will see this has been a very close race, and I believe that I’m going to win it,” McCain told interim “Meet” moderator Tom Brokaw. “We’re going to do well in this campaign, my friend. We’re going to win it, and it’s going to be tight, and we’re going to be up late.” Does that back up the article’s title that “McCain Guarantees Victory”? I call bullshit on the supposed non-bias of the broadcast media… ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/2 "2008-10-26T23:44:49Z")
I agree. Clearly the article is an attempt by the biased media to encourage Democrats and independent Obama supporters to sit this one out as a waste of their time. (I really wish/hope you were being facetious, but I suspect that you actually think you’ve made a point.) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/4 "2008-10-26T23:48:40Z")
Isn’t “We’re going to win it” sort of guaranteeing victory? I mean, obviously, I don’t know what else he’d say. It would probably hurt the campaign if he went on Meet the Press and said, “You know Tom, we’re going to go down in flames. It’s going to be an Obama landslide. I mean, internal polls show us losing Utah, even. \ We’re pretty much fucked.” See, that would be bad for him to say. It wouldn’t really fill his supporters with the kind of confidence you need going into the last campaign week. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/5 "2008-10-26T23:49:16Z")
> [@tanrulapt](#): > > McCain said “I guarantee you,” and “We’re going to win it.” > > So McCain guaranteed victory. > > What’s the issue here? > > If it said “McCain victory guaranteed,” that would be a completely different thing. But that’s not what it said. McCain said he guaranteed IT WOULD BE CLOSE, and that he BELIEVED he would win. Very lame headline. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/7 "2008-10-27T00:25:04Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I call bullshit on the supposed non-bias of the broadcast media.. I call bullshit on your pathetic persecution complex. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/8 "2008-10-27T00:32:48Z")
> [@tanrulapt](#): > > But later in the paragraph he said “We’re going to win it.” Sounds pretty definitive. > > Anyway, there’s no semantic difference between “We’re going to win” and “I believe we’re going to win,” the “believe” is just implied in the first instance. But there is a difference between “i believe we are going to win” or “we are going to win” and “i guarantee we are going to win”. Everyone always says they are going to win, the guarantee is the issue. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/9 "2008-10-27T00:36:38Z")
I don’t see any bias here, but I do see shoddy journalism by attempting to further sensationalize a preposterous statement. To guarantee a close race, fine but then “guarantee” a victory would be reckless or foolish if the word guarantee had any real meaning. Most of us wish that guarantees had some accountability, but we don’t really believe them I think I just talked myself in agreeing with the OP. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/10 "2008-10-27T00:37:40Z")
Well, now I know McCain is going to lose. He’s jinxed himself. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/11 "2008-10-27T00:41:06Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Everyone always says they are going to win, the guarantee is the issue. I don’t see it as an issue. This is politics; he’s got to keep his workers, his supporters, and his voters at least minimally enthused. Now if he said, “I win, or double your contributions back!” that might be interesting. Oh yeah, re the OP, I do not think the headline is inappropriate for McCain’s quote. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/12 "2008-10-27T00:54:05Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > I don’t see any bias here, but I do see shoddy journalism by attempting to further sensationalize a preposterous statement. > To guarantee a close race, fine but then “guarantee” a victory would be reckless or foolish if the word guarantee had any real meaning. Most of us wish that guarantees had some accountability, but we don’t really believe them Enh. I see it more as the excessive exaggeration of a quote to make an attention-grabbing headline. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/13 "2008-10-27T01:10:37Z")
I can’t even tell which direction the media is supposed to be biased towards according to the OP. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![IdahoMauleMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71c47a/32.png) [@IdahoMauleMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IdahoMauleMan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/14 "2008-10-27T01:18:42Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I can’t even tell which direction the media is supposed to be biased towards according to the OP. > > -FrL- Me too. And I’m even more confused because it was the candidate himself saying something, not a news anchor or talking head. Have to admit I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/15 "2008-10-27T01:29:24Z")
\*\*LIBERALLY BIASED MEDIA SHOWS McCAIN IS UPBEAT AND CONFIDENT OF VICTORY \*\* Editors and journalists admit “We screwed up the spin on this story.” ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/16 "2008-10-27T01:34:30Z")
I don’t see bias or shoddy journalism. I see sensationalism. Par for the course. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/17 "2008-10-27T02:04:18Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > [http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/14951](http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/14951) > > Particularly, this quote: > > "I guarantee you that two weeks from now, you will see this has been a very close race, and I believe that I’m going to win it,” McCain told interim “Meet” moderator Tom Brokaw. “We’re going to do well in this campaign, my friend. We’re going to win it, and it’s going to be tight, and we’re going to be up late.” > > Does that back up the article’s title that “McCain Guarantees Victory”? > > I call bullshit on the supposed non-bias of the broadcast media.. I haven’t been following the election coverage too closely, but this does smack of a conscious or subconscious effort to discredit McCain by making him seem unreasonable and foolish, when his actual statement was (apparently) quite reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/18 "2008-10-27T02:06:48Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > I haven’t been following the election coverage too closely, but this does smack of a conscious or subconscious effort to discredit McCain by making him seem unreasonable and foolish, when his actual statement was (apparently) quite reasonable. In what way does the title misrepresent the quote? ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/19 "2008-10-27T02:12:48Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > In what way does the title misrepresent the quote? The title makes it sound like McCain is very confident of winning compared to the actual quote. Which of the following statements express the most and least confidence? (1) I think I’m going to win; (2) I’m going to win. (3) I guarantee I’m going to win. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/20 "2008-10-27T02:16:40Z")
Don’t forget people, McCain has Obama right where he wants him (up 10 points and flush with cash 8 days before the election.) Clever strategy, John. Get Obama so over-confident that he goes on vacation next week and then BAM, bring out William Ayers and Joe the Plumber and watch Obama’s lead disappear. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/21 "2008-10-27T02:17:01Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > The title makes it sound like McCain is very confident of winning compared to the actual quote. > > Which of the following statements express the most and least confidence? > > (1) I think I’m going to win; > > (2) I’m going to win. > > (3) I guarantee I’m going to win. Fair enough. He only guaranteed that it will be close, and in the next sentence said he’s going to win. Would a headline of, “McCain guarantees election will be close,” have been fine by you? ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695/22 "2008-10-27T02:22:07Z")
A non-biased take would be “McCain says he will win despite all evidence to the contrary”. Would that make you happy? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mainstream-non-biased-media/469695.md?page=2)