# 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:** 3
**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, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/41 "2008-05-20T17:09:59Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] Which word didn’t you understand? Regards, Shodan [/QUOTE] For one thing, “MSM” could do with a bit of clearer definition. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/42 "2008-05-20T17:19:56Z")
> [@](#): > > But never fear, I don’t doubt that the mainstream media will begin acting as the de facto Obama publicity wing soon enough. Yes, just like they were the de facto John Kerry publicity wing. And the de facto Al Gore publicity wing. ---
**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, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/43 "2008-05-20T17:34:12Z")
[QUOTE=DoctorJ] Yes, just like they were the de facto John Kerry publicity wing. And the de facto Al Gore publicity wing. [/QUOTE] In **Shodan’s** universe, they **were.** :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/44 "2008-05-20T17:34:24Z")
[QUOTE=BarnOwl] 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. [/QUOTE] Can you clarify? Surely you’re not suggesting that a statement made by a candidate’s wife during a campaign speech should be off limits to criticism? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/45 "2008-05-20T17:47:03Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] No, the Cindy McCain attack ads are coming…they’ve already got their message board acolytes starting the whispering campaign. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=BrainGlutton] For one thing, “MSM” could do with a bit of clearer definition. [/QUOTE] Clearly, the Mainstream Media includes the Straight Dope Message Board (an internet community with a few thousand active members), but does not include Rush Limbaugh (a man on the radio for three hours every weekday in every city in the country). ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/46 "2008-05-20T17:47:29Z")
Inflection and cadence is what reveals here. I agree with the opinion that Ms Obama was using a fairly standard hyperbole that is clear when spoken, not so clear when printed, and most definitely not clear if one has a vested interest in misinterpretation. Of course it wasn’t the first time in her life she had been proud to be an American, she used the phrase for emphasis. Like the old joke goes “I’ve told you a million times, don’t exaggerate!”. The lack of special emphasis on that phrase reveals that. If the point of the phrase was that she had never been proud previously, she would have stressed the phrase, the way people do when they are saying something pretty strong, and mean to. They pause between words and emphasize, like bullet points. “For the first…time…in my\* life\*!..” (This doesn’t work well in typing, but thats my best illustration…) If she were actually saying she had never been proud of America before, she would have known she was saying something that was likely to raise the eyebrows of her audience. When people knowingly do that, they give verbal signals that say, in effect, yes, this is strong medicince, and yes, I know it, and yes, I mean it. But she didn’t, she simply tossed it off and got to her real main point: that she is proud of America that Obama has gotten so far. ---
**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, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/47 "2008-05-20T17:49:15Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] Clearly, the Mainstream Media includes the Straight Dope Message Board (an internet community with a few thousand active members), but does not include Rush Limbaugh (a man on the radio for three hours every weekday in every city in the country). [/QUOTE] Now sure what my post had to do with MSM, but, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/48 "2008-05-20T17:59:49Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] Now sure what my post had to do with MSM, but, whatever. [/QUOTE] You quoted **BarnOwl** and then referred to “message board acolytes” of some ill-defined “they”. If you did not mean to suggest that members of this message board are furthering the goals of the mainstream media, what did you mean? ---
**Author:** ![Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Key_Lime_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/49 "2008-05-20T18:04:09Z")
I’ve been watching **Good Morning America** for no good reason, and they really ought to just rename it **Go Hillary**. It’s really pronounced and unforgivable. ---
**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, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/50 "2008-05-20T18:11:01Z")
[QUOTE=KSO] Can you clarify? Surely you’re not suggesting that a statement made by a candidate’s wife during a campaign speech should be off limits to criticism? [/QUOTE] Not at all. Nor should her checkered past. Don’t you agree? ---
**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, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/51 "2008-05-20T18:11:52Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] You quoted **BarnOwl** and then referred to “message board acolytes” of some ill-defined “they”. If you did not mean to suggest that members of this message board are furthering the goals of the mainstream media, what did you mean? [/QUOTE] Why, Rush Limbaugh, of course, to use your distractor. Clinton had a blowjob! ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/52 "2008-05-20T18:14:52Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] For one thing, “MSM” could do with a bit of clearer definition. [/QUOTE] MSM = any media outlet that does not agree with **Shodan’s** far right ideology. Simple, really. ---
**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, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/53 "2008-05-20T18:37:11Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] Clearly, the Mainstream Media includes the Straight Dope Message Board (an internet community with a few thousand active members), but does not include Rush Limbaugh (a man on the radio for three hours every weekday in every city in the country). [/QUOTE] You folks have really never heard of _Time_ magazine? Wow. You need to read something beyond DailyKos. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/54 "2008-05-20T18:56:54Z")
I’ve never read DailyKos in my life. I’m just tired of conservatives who portray themselves as courageous crusaders for truth against a conspiratorial elite. If the most listened to radio host in the country is not “mainstream”, who is? ---
**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, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/55 "2008-05-20T19:07:47Z")
_Time_ magazine, for one. Oh, that’s right - you never heard of it. 😉 Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/56 "2008-05-20T19:43:04Z")
For 2006: Time magazine: ~110 pages per week, circulation 4.1 million. Rush Limbaugh: 15 hours per week, 13.5 million listeners. To say that _Time_ magazine is “mainstream” and the _Rush Limbaugh Show_ is not is absurd. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/57 "2008-05-20T20:02:51Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] I’ve never read DailyKos in my life. [/QUOTE] Why not [start now](http://www.dailykos.com/)? ---
**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, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/58 "2008-05-20T21:27:51Z")
[QUOTE=BarnOwl] 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. [/QUOTE] :rolleyes: Would you **believe** [he’s getting Pitted over it?!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=468592) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/59 "2008-05-20T21:30:32Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] You folks have really never heard of _Time_ magazine? Wow. You need to read something beyond DailyKos… [/QUOTE] I got an idea! Why don’t you read it and then come here and tell us how full of shit it is, you know, with examples, and proof and cites, stuff like that! Which ought to be totally easy for you since you already know about how its full of lies, right? And the facts are at your fingertips, right? A slime dunk! ---
**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 21, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805/60 "2008-05-21T16:49:27Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] 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. [/QUOTE] Sorry, I just can’t keep from bitterly clinging to the possibility that some of you folks will admit the obvious one of these days. Is my [antipathy](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antipathy) showing again? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-the-media-tearing-mccain-apart/449805.md?page=4)