Why won't the media boot McCain off the "Straight Talk Express?"

[NNN0LHI]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200609010002

What would it take for the media to boot McCain off the "Straight Talk Express"?

Summary: Despite Sen. John McCain's numerous flip-flops, reversals, backtracks, and inconsistencies, the media continue to describe him with words such as "honest" and "authentic." Is there anything John McCain could do that would cause the media to stop portraying him as a "straight talker"?

During the 2000 presidential race, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) sought the Republican nomination by campaigning as a self-styled "straight talker," touring the primary states on a bus called the "Straight Talk Express." Though McCain ultimately lost the party's nomination to President Bush, the reputation McCain created for himself as a "straight talker" has endured in the media -- to the point where even today, six years later, the media often refer to comments of any sort from McCain as "straight talk." McCain has done his part to keep this image alive, telling NBC's David Gregory on the August 20 broadcast of Meet the Press that he would "straight talk" with him.

McCain, however, has done anything but "straight talk" on all manner of issues -- he has backtracked, flip-flopped, and displayed stark inconsistency on issues ranging from the Iraq war and the Bush administration to his opinion of certain conservative Christian universities. And yet, the media continue to describe McCain with words such as "honest" and "authentic." He has even been described as "honest" immediately after being called out for being less than truthful. Such treatment of McCain leads to the question: What exactly would McCain have to do for the media to stop portraying him as "honest," "authentic," and a "straight talker"?

As Media Matters for America noted, various media figures touted as "straight talk" McCain's August 22 remarks at a fundraiser for Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH), in which McCain criticized the Bush administration's optimistic assessments of the Iraq war as having "contributed enormously to the frustration that Americans feel today." For example, New York Sun staff reporter Josh Gerstein, appearing on the August 23 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, said that McCain had delivered the criticism "in his straight-talk fashion." Absent from Gerstein's commentary was the fact that McCain himself has offered similarly optimistic assessments of the Iraq war -- at one point echoing Vice President Dick Cheney in claiming that the United States would "be welcomed as liberators." Gerstein also ignored the fact that McCain had recently defended Bush from criticism that he has mischaracterized the situation on the ground in Iraq, and that he has consistently defended the Bush administration's conduct of the war.

Notably, Gerstein, responding to MSNBC host Tucker Carlson's claim that McCain's August 22 remarks were "not straight talk" and "a crock," agreed with Carlson but immediately afterward claimed that McCain was "being honest." From the August 23 edition of Tucker:

[Nozebro]

1. What it would take is a NON-CORPORATE media. EOM

nt

[nradisic]

2. Why bother with the MSM

Folks....the vast majority of the American public has finally got it:

- The MSM is not worth watching, reading or paying attention to - You want real news? - Go online! I've known that for over three years - I could not care less what the MSM says or does not say.

- Polls are showing us that the Republican ranks are thinning - the only ones left are the religiously brainwashed, the greedy, the racist, bigoted and of course the ignorant. That's it. The rest of America has abandoned the GOP - you'll see that come Nov. 8th.

- It has taken a while, but even a good chunk of the morons who voted down the "R" line last time have either switched sides or they won't really even bother to vote come November - They've had enough of the Republicans, yet they can't get themselves to vote Democrat.

- The fat lady sang a while ago, but about 30-35% of the population did not hear it....yet...

[AX10]

3. The Internet may do for the left what talk radio has done for the right.

[orwell]

4. Consumers...

...are addicted to branding. McCain has successfully branded himself and the media will shamelessly repeat ad-nauseum.

Why confuse a good narrative with facts...