McCain and Palin are making fools of the media

[GoesTo11]

If the campaign says she's not going to answer questions, and the media lets her get away with it, they are fools. They should do nothing but bash both of them, speculate about what she's hiding - talk about CHICKEN SARAH - until she behaves like a candidate.

As long as they don't do this, they are fools. They are fools to think that the country should be entrusted (er, again) to someone who can't do anything but read a script. They are fools to give coverage to these people who are just using them. They are fools to have any 1st amendment protections and not use them. And they are fools just in terms of common sense. Of course they should be interviewing her.

As fools, they should lose prestige. We know that anyone of them who doesn't make a fuss over this is a fool.

So, go ahead media, let them make fools of you or stand up.

[Caribou Barbie]

1. I think Obama had it right

when his first attack ad after her announcement just ignored Miss Congeniality... she is irrelevant, just lipstick on his pig of a campaign. Attack him for the two-faced liar he is with his pill popping loser bitch wife!

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

7. Welcome Mooseburger!

[Cha]

20. We got our own

caribou barbie only with a brain!

[Caribou Barbie]

30. I should make it clear

I'm a dude... but I figure no matter what the GOP wants you to think... that's a man baby! And Mr. Macho Mom Palin is just a cuckold who tools around in a tobaggon carrying his Red Ryder claiming to be a manly man while he gets drunk and smokes pot as he masturbates over the thought of secession! Fucking trailer park trash!

[Cha]

31. Yep, that's pretty

Clear!

[Cha]

21. Ain't that a fact!

Welcome aboard the Obama-Biden Train For Real Change:bounce: :party:

[Arctic Dave]

24. Caribou Barbie...Oh snap!

LOL

[K8-EEE]

28. Agreed! Her Peyton Place crap is just a distraction

Hell they probably picked her knowing tabloid fodder would eat the rest of the election. Keep your eyes on McCain -- HE'S NOT FIT TO BE PRESIDENT.

[Cali_Democrat]

33. Welcome to DU

Love the name!!!!

:hi:

[HughMoran]

42. She is no doubt the embodiment of "lipstick on a pig"

That's how I think of her & why I don't want to waste too much time on someone so entirely vapid.

[noise]

2. Good call

Bush was a scripted candidate and we see how that turned out. The media should do their damn job!

[Jade Fox]

3. I've read the one thing that really pisses off the media....

is being shut out. Their happy to pitch softballs and let people lie their heads off, but they don't like a door closed their faces.

This non-access strategy may backfire on the GOP ticket.

[liberalla]

44. It SHOULD backfire!

This should come back and bite them in the ass! Media should go ahead with election coverage saying something like,

"Campaigning in Columbia and Springfield today, Republican V.P. candidate Sarah Palin continues to refuse interviews with the Press. In an effort to honor her request for privacy, we unfortunately have no reporting or video coverage of the events... One might ask why the V.P. nominee needs to be kept hidden and unavailable...

Meanwhile, Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama was busy..."

Put it on her and the Republicans!

______________________


I don't trust her...

What is she hiding?

[Kutjara]

4. They're not fools. They're willing enablers of a fascist regime.

They know exactly what they're doing and are using sophisticated mass psychology to brainwash the American people. Stop thinking of the media as a flawed example of "The Fourth Estate" and start thinking of it as an ultramodern version of the "Ministry of Propaganda" and you'll be closer to the truth.

[CitizenPatriot]

29. Bingo

the only hope is appealing to their egos (which stay just as fragile no matter how much money they have). They don't like being made fools of and having the veil lifted on their complicity. They do respond to attacks that they are not objective -- even Murdoch, evil moran that he is, admits he is embarrassed by Fox News now -- not that he does much about it.

Letters and general uproar about their failure as journalists also appeals to the actual pundits who still fancy themselves as ethical journalists (a thin film of self-delusion no doubt) -- or at least don't want to be perceived as less than that.

Yes, ratings and eyeballs count as well -- but of course, when they are ultimately working for the government in the sense that they wash each others hands, it's tougher (Fox is beyond that, of course-- they are unabashedly and unashamedly WH propagandists).

Again, with the republicans, the only thing they get is shame. that's why they do it to others all of the time (and no wonder they're so repressed...but I digress).

[EarlG]

5. This is what McCain's campaign is relying on

They've already acknowledged that they aren't running on issues. They will simply go out there day after day and lie with impunity, no matter how easily the facts can be checked. When the press calls them on it and publishes the truth, they will scream "media bias" until they're blue in the face. They're are attempting to create their own reality, and they hope the public will buy it.

It's incredibly audacious, even more so than the campaigns Bush and Cheney ran in 2000 and 2004. And they're doing it because they're desperate. But if it works...

I don't think I even want to finish that sentence.

:scared:

[Solomon]

18. It's not going to work because Obama is building a case with

his campaign, just like a lawyer in a big case. Setting things up. Look at all the benefits he's already reaped for having taken the high road. People moaned and groaned about it, but it's sure paying off right now. Otherwise this Palin thing would have crushed him. Now that he hasn't taken the bait, and has chosen to ignore Ms. Palin and focus on McCain, the reporters and bloggers are free to feast on Ms. Moose.

Obama has so much material to work with in my opinion, that it must be hard for his staff to choose from. For me the worst thing that Palin did was to ridicule the reading of rights to suspects. The provision of basic human rights to all individuals is what makes us "Americans". How can you waive an American flag and ridicule a quintensential principle of America?

[Marsala]

22. I blame 24.

People see Jack Bauer torture terrorists and think that it's just fine.

And guess what network 24 is on?

[Cha]

26. Oy vey! I didn't know she said that..why haven't

I heard any outrage about that one? Nevermind..I'm seeing it now..thank you, Solomon.

That and dumping on Community Organizers is just stupid but I'm grateful she showed us who she really is and didn't try to come off all "the new face of compassion"!

[Solomon]

19. It's not going to work because Obama is building a case with

his campaign, just like a lawyer in a big case. Setting things up. Look at all the benefits he's already reaped for having taken the high road. People moaned and groaned about it, but it's sure paying off right now. Otherwise this Palin thing would have crushed him. Now that he hasn't taken the bait, and has chosen to ignore Ms. Palin and focus on McCain, the reporters and bloggers are free to feast on Ms. Moose.

Obama has so much material to work with in my opinion, that it must be hard for his staff to choose from. For me the worst thing that Palin did was to ridicule the reading of rights to suspects. The provision of basic human rights to all individuals is what makes us "Americans". How can you waive an American flag and ridicule a quintensential principle of America?

[Triana]

25. Exactly - it's on Huffington Post...

Jay Rosen

John McCain's convention gambit is now a culture war strategy. It depends for its execution on conflict with journalists, and with bloggers (the "angry left," Bush called them last night) along with confusion between and among the press, the blogosphere, and the Democratic party. It revives cultural memory: the resentment narrative after Chicago '68 but with the angry left more distributed. It dispenses with issues and seeks a trial of personalities. It bets big time on backlash.

.... BIG SNIP - go to link to see it all ....

Journalists watching all this keep saying to themselves: wait until she gets out on the campaign trail. Wait until she sits for those interviews with experienced reporters and faces a real press conference.

* Strategy: double down on defiance by never letting her answer questions, except from friendly media figures who have joined your narrative; like Cheney with Fox. No meet the press at all. No interviews of Palin with the DC media elite-- at all. De-legitimate the ask. Break with all "access" expectations. Use surrogates and spokesman, let them get mauled, then whip up resentment at their mistreatment. Answer questions at town halls and call that adequate enough.

Meanwhile, the investigation of her performance in Alaska puts more and more pressure on the Palin appointment as things come out that would ordinarily disqualify a candidate from consideration or cast doubt on her truthfulness in a grave way.

* Strategy: Comes from Bush, the younger. When realities uncovered are directly in conflict with prior claims, consider the option of keeping the claims and breaking with reality. Done the right way, it's a demonstration of strength. It dismays and weakens the press. And it can be great theatre.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-rosen/the-culture-war-option-fo_b_123483.html

[redqueen]

6. And we thought BUSH treated them like dirt...

that was *nothing* compared to the McCain/Palin campaign.

They act like they think they're royalty or something.

[President Decider]

8. This really forces the medias hand ..... Let's see if they're really on the side of Americans

The media will be judged on how they respond to this nonsense. They'll either rise to the defense of Americans who demand to know answers about this person who wants to run for one of the highest offices in the world .... or their corporate colors of "yellow" will hide behind their corporate logos protecting the Republican party.

Time will tell. The press corps would do well to remind themselves of George Orwell's timeless words: "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."

[Rectangle]

9. I think the Women of the Dem. party (Clinton, Boxer

McCaskill, Pelosi Wasserman Shultz ect... Need to
SHOUT in unison "Quit hiding Sarah" that would at least
create a media fuss and some buzz.

[apocalypsehow]

10. I agree, the mainstream media is once again AWOL when it comes to

doing their jobs - especially when it comes to yet another pair of GOP presidential candidates.

[krkaufman]

32. Among the glaring evidence demonstrating the media's cowardice and incompetence ....

.... in recent days was their giggling at the "two books/no legislation" line from Palin. Obama's work w/ Luger on nukes and the ethics legislation are well-known, so there really is no excuse for they're sitting there giggling at Palin's childish joke/lie.

[Marsala]

11. They won't let them get away with it

The media must know that if they don't make a collective stand now, they'll become completely irrelevant. Bush batted them around for years, but at least he had the power of the presidency behind him. However, if McCain's campaign can just treat them like this when he needs them most and get away with it, they'll have had it.

Maybe the media's obsession with being "unbiased" will render them ineffective against McCain, but I'm sure that they won't just lie down and behave for him.

[shraby]

12. The media should just simply ignore

the fact that McCain/Palin exist. No news coverage at all until they are willing to give interviews. Zero Zip Nada. McCain/Palin would be forced to change their tune pronto.

[Caribou Barbie]

17. Excellent

Kind of like when my wife says no sexytime when she doesn't get what she wants... I eventually give in. lol

[JBoy]

34. This would be awesome.

Today the media showed live coverage of McCain and Palin, wherever the fuck they were, saying whatever.

What the should have done was just say "And today, Senator McCain and Governor Palin were again speaking to supporters in (wherever). Our requests for interview with either candidate continue to go unanswered". End of Story. No video, no pictures, no nothing.

[krkaufman]

37. Yep. So long as Palin is isolated from media access ...

... each network should withhold coverage of campaign events, not allow spokespersons on the network, etc.

They don't have to go ultra-negative against McCain, but if McCain isn't going to cooperate with the democratic process, the media should not facilitate him.

[liberalla]

45. Yep! I'm with you on that!

[Riddler]

13. The media has done enough to make fools of themselves the past 8 years

that nothing this bitch can do or say can make them seem any more foolish than they already are. Their feelings might get hurt, or their egos bruised, but it's their own damn fault for disappearing when America needed them the most.

[AtomicKitten]

14. Not really. The media will still vet her simply as a matter of interest.

And you know how the Media Heathers love dirt.

IMO McBush is an epic doofus with this I have no doubt Rove-inspired Kabuki theater. Obama is assessing this mess and will dispatch their bullshit in due time. I have no doubt in my mind about that. Obama clearly has his shit wired tight.

[krkaufman]

38. I was concerned about Obama's approach ...

... until his tarmac presser the other day, the morning after Palin's tantrum. He was masterful.

[Gabi Hayes]

40. except that McPalin got at least five times the coverage, all involving

nasty shots at Obama. free negative advertising

[AtomicKitten]

43. And that's precisely the tone that is turning off independents.

Why do you think Obama didn't pull a rabbit out of his hat to change the conversation today in the same way McBush launching Palin on the world about 15 minutes after Obama gave his acceptance speech?

It's pretty clear he's giving them plenty of rope to hang themselves. Rachel Maddow started the vetting today on Countdown and pointed out the plethora of lies coming from the RNC clambake. Next week she and Keith Olbermann have a 2-hour block M-F to knock their shit down.

You really have to stand back to appreciate Obama's work. He is deft, he is masterful, he is the next President of the United States and he's claiming it.

[opihimoimoi]

15. The Media should Stand Up and Fight for the TRUTH, Whats Right/Better for AMERICA

The Media has an obligation to inform the People

The McCaineMutiny dudes are framing the discussion...avoiding the real issues and going for Slogans as answers to our Problems

He is asking us to TRUST him and the GOP....even while knowing America got burned in the past 2 elections doing just that...Trusting the GOP

The Senator is using MOOT and MINUTIAE to FOOL the People once more....Does he ever explain the Big Picture....NOOOOoooooo

He speaks in generalities known as EMPTY LANGUAGE....Lotsa peeps do this.... you see them everywhere...a lot in Bars where blowhards spout their crap...A clue to look for is the "LEMME FINISH " phrase....

McScam is trying to worm his way into the Oval....he is not sincere...in fact...he has admitted to RAW AMBITION...not goody two shoes Patriotism....only ambition....

The Media must come to the side of REASON and not Slogans and rhetoric....

The Track Record exposes the miserable history of McCramps...He is part owner of the Status Quo fuck up in Washington....that he sez he wants to clean up...himself??? WTF?

[krkaufman]

39. for your consideration, some talking points to use i.r.t. Palin protection. n/t

[ShortnFiery]

16. No, the M$M is the Power Elite's #1 fall guy ...they make fools of themselves often to please MASTER

:puke:

[krkaufman]

23. Agreed. Letters to the editor and emails/calls to media are in order.

Here's a set of talking points, for your consideration...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6953287&mesg_id=6953287

[GoesTo11]

36. Nice list. I think also tell them you think they are fools.

They really should be personally embarrassed. I understand it's hard to feel shame when if you keep kissing ass, you'll make anywhere from $250,000/year up, and if you speak the truth you risk dropping down to sportscasting in Anchorage, but there would be safety in numbers.

[krkaufman]

41. HA!!

Yeah, I'm not sure the chattering class *or* Republicans are really capable of shame.

[Frank Booth]

27. I agree, except I think the media's complicit in perpetuating the charade.

[Quixote1818]

35. The should learn a thing or two from O'Reilly on this. nt