# Why isn't the media tearing McCain apart? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 19, 2008, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805 "2008-05-19T02:05:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/21 "2008-05-19T15:58:57Z")
[QUOTE=What the … !!! Once Obama is succesfully chosen they will waste no time in turning their guns on McCain.[/QUOTE] As opposed to giving McCain a free pass? Oh those awful Liberal media monsters!! ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/22 "2008-05-19T16:04:19Z")
Always refreshing to see people in the thread accusing media of bias in both directions. Sorta perks up my day. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/23 "2008-05-19T16:06:50Z")
[The Real McCain - Become An Expert Trader](http://therealmccain.com/?utm_source=rgemail) It is not because he is not vulnerable. He has a lot to answer for. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/24 "2008-05-19T16:07:10Z")
The facts have a liberal bias. The conservative is generally free of such taint. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/25 "2008-05-19T16:10:11Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Why would the media want to do that? [/QUOTE] Because they want the clean and articulate black guy to win. In part because they want to wash the Clinton slime that has accululated for 15 years off of themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/26 "2008-05-19T16:10:30Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Why would the media want to do that? [/QUOTE] To keep the race close and exciting. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/27 "2008-05-19T16:25:23Z")
[QUOTE=What the … !!!] Because they want the clean and articulate black guy to win. In part because they want to wash the Clinton slime that has accululated for 15 years off of themselves. [/QUOTE] That was a moronic premise when you based [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=467139) on it and it ain’t no smarter now. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/28 "2008-05-19T16:35:10Z")
I’m reading guys. I’m not ignoring you. You all have lots more access to this stuff than me so I’m just letting you go at it. Thanks for the replies. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/29 "2008-05-19T16:36:28Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] The facts have a liberal bias. The conservative is generally free of such taint. [/QUOTE] _golf clap_ Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/30 "2008-05-19T16:38:02Z")
[QUOTE=sqweels] So the fact that they’ve been unfair to Obama is of little concern. [/QUOTE] No, they haven’t been unfair to Obama. Just the opposite, in fact - they have been fawning all over him. When McCain wrapped up the Republican nomination, I don’t recall _Time_ magazine running a cover story on McCain calling him the “real winner” or such like. > [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > Always refreshing to see people in the thread accusing media of bias in both directions. Sorta perks up my day. Right, right - just like the fact that there are still creationists out there shows that the reality of evolution is still an open question. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/31 "2008-05-19T22:17:29Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] No, they haven’t been unfair to Obama. Just the opposite, in fact - they have been fawning all over him. When McCain wrapped up the Republican nomination, I don’t recall _Time_ magazine running a cover story on McCain calling him the “real winner” or such like. Right, right - just like the fact that there are still creationists out there shows that the reality of evolution is still an open question. Regards, Shodan [/QUOTE] The creationists are all conservative, by definition. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/32 "2008-05-19T22:23:12Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] No, they haven’t been unfair to Obama. Just the opposite, in fact - they have been fawning all over him. [/QUOTE] To the contrary, [it is the press corps that has kept **Clinton’s** campaign alive this long.](http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080602/alterman) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/33 "2008-05-19T23:31:25Z")
[QUOTE=Jonathan Chance] And that’s why I don’t like the word ‘pundit’. It is far more accurate to say that Cohen and the others who perform that task are the ‘opinion’ in the OpEd page. By holding them to journalistic standards you’re doing both them and the media at large a grave disservice. A standard front section of a newspaper consists of these sections: 1. Reportage 2. Editorials 3. Opinion I’d like to think that most of us can agree that straight reportage should be as non-biased and fact-based as possible. Editorials are the third person ‘we’ of editorial response. They give papers official pronouncements and positions. I, frankly, have some doubt about the value of such things even though I write a few of them each week at this point. Opinion pieces, on the other hand, state their opinion and interpretations of happenings and events. They are persons that, for whatever reason, are well-enough regarded by editorial boards, that they get the audience for their opinions. [/quote] OK, but what is their purpose? If it’s just to parrot their side’s POV, and nothing more, then my original question still stands. Presumably, their function is to critically interpret the news, with their underlying philosophy guiding them in this. > [@](#): > > Cohen, in the article you link, defines at the outset his connection to McCain and his favorable opinion of McCain, and then proceeds to kick McCain in his metaphorical balls regarding his positions and campaign style. Some quotes: We’re reading the same piece, but we’re not seeing the same things. What I see is a guy who’s still on the bus, despite his statement that he ‘once rode’ it. He’s found one thing he’s genuinely upset with McCain about - his attitude towards Hamas - but that’s it. The quote: > [@Richard Cohen](#): > > He’s [McCain] been running around the country costumed as a George W. Bush conservative. McCain’s tax plan is a joke, and his foreign policy is frightening. to me, appears to be a statement that he’s _costumed_ as a GWB conservative. Yeah, the tax plan’s a joke, and the foreign policy is frightening, but Cohen still expects him to take the costume off, and reveal sane policies in both areas. > [@](#): > > If anything, I’m pretty certain that McCain’s people perceived Cohen’s column as a slam and detrimental to their goal of positive media coverage. What we have there is a columnist saying “I dig McCain, but he’s being a dick and I’m rethinking whether he’s still worthy of support.” > > That’s not exactly the most supportive thing a writer can say about a candidate. It’s not. But my point is that this is also a columnist who’s missed all the signs going back to June 2004 that McCain wasn’t the straight talking maverick reformer of his recollection from 2000. Yeah, he’s found something about McCain that distresses him now, but he missed the 2004 makeover into Bush suckup, he disregarded the Falwell fellation (ditto Hagee and Parsley), ignored the flip-flop on the Bush tax cuts, ignored the Straight Talk bus-full-of-lobbyists, and _is only now_ penning a “something just now happened that makes me wonder about McCain” column. Remember, the straight news reporters aren’t going to ‘tear McCain apart.’ It’ll be the pundits, if it ever happens. Cohen is a pundit. That he admits to having ridden the McCain bus this long, and only now has his first publishable doubts, indicates just how far he was in the tank - and the text of his column, to me at least, gives little doubt that he’s eager to be won back from what he hopes is a brief show of doubt. To the extent that Cohen is representative of the Beltway opinion-maker class, this is why they aren’t tearing him apart. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/34 "2008-05-20T00:38:19Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] I don’t recall _Time_ magazine running a cover story on McCain calling him the “real winner” or such like. [/QUOTE] _Bzzzzt_ February 4th, 2008. “The Phoenix” ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/35 "2008-05-20T12:23:28Z")
[QUOTE=Punoqllads] _Bzzzzt_ February 4th, 2008. “The Phoenix” [/QUOTE] Sorry, don’t see anything there declaring McCain the winner. [Cite](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601080204,00.html). Obama’s been on the cover of Time, what, four times this year? Including that fawning piece about his mother, the Blessed Virgin Obama ;). McCain once. The MSM has anointed their savior. Pretty much the only coverage McCain can expect from here on is negative. And the closer to the election we get, the better the spin will be for BO. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/36 "2008-05-20T15:18:27Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] The MSM has anointed their savior. Pretty much the only coverage McCain can expect from here on is negative. And the closer to the election we get, the better the spin will be for BO. [/QUOTE] What’s your point? If he gets elected, it won’t be an honest reflection of the will of the people, but the result of an MSM propaganda campaign? ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/37 "2008-05-20T15:50:27Z")
MSNBC ran a few interviews today asking various political people if Michelle Obama is fair game because of her “…first time in my adult life I’ve been proud of my country.” Every one of them replied that Mrs. Obama is fair game, and as you know there’s even a state GOP arm running an anti-Michelle ad on the subject. (TN, I think.) Isn’t it curious that neither Obama nor his surrogates nor the MSM is talking about Cindy McCain’s, whoring, adultery, husband stealing (from a woman in a wheel chair), drug addiction, theft from the charitable organization ministering to Mrs. McCain’s addiction,and who knows what else? BTW, later, Obama was interviewed and warned the GOP to knock it off. I wonder what he had in mind. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/38 "2008-05-20T15:59:22Z")
“Whoring?” No, the Cindy McCain attack ads are coming…they’ve already got their message board acolytes starting the whispering campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/39 "2008-05-20T17:05:35Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] What’s your point? If he gets elected, it won’t be an honest reflection of the will of the people, but the result of an MSM propaganda campaign? [/QUOTE] Which word didn’t you understand? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/40 "2008-05-20T17:06:15Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] “Whoring?” No, the Cindy McCain attack ads are coming…they’ve already got their message board acolytes starting the whispering campaign. [/QUOTE] We’d be much better off without it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805.md?page=3)