McCain: "Is anyone listening to me?"

I enjoyed this commentary on CNN.com by none other than Right Wing Drum Major, Glenn Beck. (as if Glenn Beck doesn't make his living doing this) Talk about whining! I kinda felt sorry for the ONE reporter that showed up

CNN article wrote: And then you have the almost embarrassing way the media have gushed over Obama's trip to the Middle East. There were 200 requests for the 40 press seats available on Obama's plane, and all three top network anchors (Katie Couric, Charles Gibson and Brian Williams) made the trip and are broadcasting live from each country Obama visits.

You can't buy that kind of publicity. And neither could McCain.

McCain made a trip to the Middle East in March and didn't have to worry about finding seats for any network anchors, because none of them wanted to go. And while Obama was flying from country to country this week in a plane packed with celebrity reporters, McCain flew to an event in New Hampshire. After his Boeing 737 landed in Manchester, he stepped out onto the tarmac and glanced at the one reporter who'd bothered to show up. Yes, one.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/23/beck.obama.media/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Why is it whining to point out an obvious media bias? If it was the other way around, we would be hearing about rampant racism at the major news networks.

Time out here ... back in 2000 all of the "conservatives" said the MSM media was in love with John McCain and cozying up to him in his "straight talk express". Still to this day I think there is a media biased in that the MSM likes John McCain and refuses to run bad pr on the guy. Sure they don't flock with him to the middle east and europe, but he pretty much gets a free pass from the press. Case in point, Tuesday night on the CBS evening news they altered an exchange between Katie Couric and him because McCain was flat out wrong, they pieced over that part of the interview. CBS's response to this .. "yea, it was probably a mistake to do that but mistakes happen". I am sure it is still on Keith Olbermann's website and maybe still on CBS's website, the apology was on CBS's website last night still.

So McCain might not get as much press coverage as Obama, but Obama is scrutinized and they blast him every chance they get and McCain seems to get a free pass because the MSM is still lovin' him.

Beck can kiss my white ass!

So you're saying Obama gets more press coverage, whether it's good or bad? That's still a media bias.

Markwes wrote:So you're saying Obama gets more press coverage, whether it's good or bad? That's still a media bias.

Gosh, I didn't read it that way.. I read the transcript and watched Olbermann's commentary on the Kouric editing boo boo. It just seems that McCain's campaign 'it is what it is', what more is there to say? How many reports, mis-steps, gaff's, squirmy clips, evaded questions, etc. does the GOP really want to air? If McCain has got the goods, he'll get air time. If not... well... uh... then obviously something is "weak".

You're really going to argue that the media likes McCain more than Obama? Flip the script and put McCain with personal relationships with suspected mobsters, racist preachers, a wife who essentially hated America until now and see how good the press is on McCain.

I won't argue that they aren't as hard on him as others, but they aren't hard on either one. My guess is because Obama is black, so the media is afraid of being called racist, and McCain is a war hero and no one in their right mind will try and take down a former POW.

meta4 wrote:

Markwes wrote:So you're saying Obama gets more press coverage, whether it's good or bad? That's still a media bias.

Gosh, I didn't read it that way.. I read the transcript and watched Olbermann's commentary on the Kouric editing boo boo. It just seems that McCain's campaign 'it is what it is', what more is there to say? How many reports, mis-steps, gaff's, squirmy clips, evaded questions, etc. does the GOP really want to air? If McCain has got the goods, he'll get air time. If not... well... uh... then obviously something is "weak".

You've lost me. Unless you are saying the GOP somehow controls what CBS and others air, what does McCain's campaign have to do with how much scrutiny he gets from the MSM? Or what does McCain's campaign have to do with how many reporters show up when his plane lands?

cardinal5150 wrote:You're really going to argue that the media likes McCain more than Obama? Flip the script and put McCain with personal relationships with suspected mobsters, racist preachers, a wife who essentially hated America until now and see how good the press is on McCain.

I won't argue that they aren't as hard on him as others, but they aren't hard on either one. My guess is because Obama is black, so the media is afraid of being called racist, and McCain is a war hero and no one in their right mind will try and take down a former POW.

Good point. One could almost flip the script. But I think you'll realize why Beck won't try weak sh*t like that.

McCain, the former Episcopalian turned 'unbaptized baptist' aligned himself tightly with radical right wing preachers who want to usher in an apocalyptic war in the Middle east... men of God who can't seem to scrub the bloodstains off their teeth and dream of the Lord's cleansing fire from above. (the biblical origins of which describe fury that would scarcely leave a soul on this planet, or so the story goes). His first marriage ended because of Adultery. His next wife, of the trophy variety (hmm, and very rich too) a millionairess who he called the "C" word and Trollop in 1992, who was addicted to pain killers (20 per day is a lot isn't it?), and stole drugs from a medical charity. McCain tried to get this covered up, she paid fines and enrolled in a deferment program. Mafia? Two words, "Joe Bonano". One word "Keating".

I don't think I need to continue. With a guy that old, skeletons abound.

I seriously doubt the media is afraid of Obama's skin. Do you? Really?

Markwes wrote:

meta4 wrote:

Markwes wrote:So you're saying Obama gets more press coverage, whether it's good or bad? That's still a media bias.

Gosh, I didn't read it that way.. I read the transcript and watched Olbermann's commentary on the Kouric editing boo boo. It just seems that McCain's campaign 'it is what it is', what more is there to say? How many reports, mis-steps, gaff's, squirmy clips, evaded questions, etc. does the GOP really want to air? If McCain has got the goods, he'll get air time. If not... well... uh... then obviously something is "weak".

You've lost me. Unless you are saying the GOP somehow controls what CBS and others air, what does McCain's campaign have to do with how much scrutiny he gets from the MSM? Or what does McCain's campaign have to do with how many reporters show up when his plane lands?

Yep, you misunderstood. What I didn't mean to say in those 4 words "really want to air?" tripped up my whole entire post for you. I don't want to tangent into how the MSM is operated because I don't know all that much about it. What I do know is that McCains campaign leaders regularly address members of the media with opportunities that they feel the MSM may want to cover.

Here's a superb example... a smackdown of sorts by David Shipley... this has "weak" written all over it.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/the-times-and-the-mccain-op-ed/

And when that fails...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/23/politics/politico/thecrypt/main4284732.shtml

McCain is getting the coverage shaft in the media, but I really don't care since I have no intention of voting for him anyways.

Interesting discussion but I think the real losers here are the American voters.



ETA: Not to add fuel to the fire but from a casual observance the photos of Obama tend to be much more flattering than those of McCain. We know the power of images as witnessed in the Nixon-Kennedy debate: a majority of those who only listened to the debate felt that Nixon won it and those that watched and saw an ill Nixon with a grey suit and grey background, no make-up and sweating under hot lights and fever felt that the attractive Kennedy in his blue suit and make-up won it.

Vis wrote:Interesting discussion but I think the real losers here are the American voters.



ETA: Not to add fuel to the fire but from a casual observance the photos of Obama tend to be much more flattering than those of McCain. We know the power of images as witnessed in the Nixon-Kennedy debate: a majority of those who only listened to the debate felt that Nixon won it and those that watched and saw an ill Nixon with a grey suit and grey background, no make-up and sweating under hot lights and fever felt that the attractive Kennedy in his blue suit and make-up won it.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/24/obama.trip/index.html

On the Blackberry edition of this article the picture showed obama with his right hand outstretched toward the crowd which I felt may have suggested a Hitleresque salute. ... I said "MAY"!!

Nah, there's three pics with the actual story. In one of them you'd think he was the Messiah or had some healing powers. The pic here has his left hand up so maybe there are few different pics. <Clinton voice> I don't know if Barrack Obama is a Nazi or not. </Clinton voice>

Vis wrote:Nah, there's three pics with the actual story. In one of them you'd think he was the Messiah or had some healing powers. The pic here has his left hand up so maybe there are few different pics. <Clinton voice> I don't know if Barrack Obama is a Nazi or not. </Clinton voice>

I know what it shows in the web article. I just wanted to give an independent eye witness account of what I saw. I know it was probably unintentional, but it got me thinking. Just like the McCain/Couric I would be willing to guess that small corrections like these are made intentionally or not, regularly, to the benefit of both candidates.

meta4 wrote:
Good point. One could almost flip the script. But I think you'll realize why Beck won't try weak sh*t like that.

McCain, the former Episcopalian turned 'unbaptized baptist' aligned himself tightly with radical right wing preachers who want to usher in an apocalyptic war in the Middle east... men of God who can't seem to scrub the bloodstains off their teeth and dream of the Lord's cleansing fire from above. (the biblical origins of which describe fury that would scarcely leave a soul on this planet, or so the story goes). His first marriage ended because of Adultery. His next wife, of the trophy variety (hmm, and very rich too) a millionairess who he called the "C" word and Trollop in 1992, who was addicted to pain killers (20 per day is a lot isn't it?), and stole drugs from a medical charity. McCain tried to get this covered up, she paid fines and enrolled in a deferment program. Mafia? Two words, "Joe Bonano". One word "Keating".

I don't think I need to continue. With a guy that old, skeletons abound.

I seriously doubt the media is afraid of Obama's skin. Do you? Really?

Nice embellishment there...

I think the marriage issue makes McCain seem human. He messed up. And how many well to do people do you know that turn around and marry a poor ugly person? Seriously. Rich people marry rich people, once you get over the $200K mark you're arguing whether or not you can afford 2 or 4 vacation houses.

I really don't know much about Cindy McCain, and frankly, I don't care much. She's not who I'm voting for, and she's not out campaigning for her husband, which to me means she wants to be left out of it, so I'll be happy to do so. Now, if she starts giving him knuckles on TV and talking about how proud she is of America now, my opinion will change.

The religion thing doesn't really sit well with me, he changed to stay in the good graces of the party. I think he's shifted to the center of the two positions he held on that since then. He's not beating the bible, and he's not knocking the religious right. But I don't think there is any way to win when you take on the religious right, it's best to just ignore them, IMO, which is what he appears to be doing now.

You're also talking about examples taken over what, 20-30 years as opposed to what, 5-10 years?

cardinal5150 wrote:

meta4 wrote:I don't think I need to continue. With a guy that old, skeletons abound.

Nice embellishment there...

You're also talking about examples taken over what, 20-30 years as opposed to what, 5-10 years?

Embellishment? Where?

Like I said, there's 25 years between the candidates. Time is on Obama's side. You mentioned associations, and I flipped the script.

Know your candidate!

cardinal5150 wrote:
Nice embellishment there...

I think the marriage issue makes McCain seem human. He messed up. And how many well to do people do you know that turn around and marry a poor ugly person? Seriously. Rich people marry rich people, once you get over the $200K mark you're arguing whether or not you can afford 2 or 4 vacation houses.

I really don't know much about Cindy McCain, and frankly, I don't care much. She's not who I'm voting for, and she's not out campaigning for her husband, which to me means she wants to be left out of it, so I'll be happy to do so. Now, if she starts giving him knuckles on TV and talking about how proud she is of America now, my opinion will change.

The religion thing doesn't really sit well with me, he changed to stay in the good graces of the party. I think he's shifted to the center of the two positions he held on that since then. He's not beating the bible, and he's not knocking the religious right. But I don't think there is any way to win when you take on the religious right, it's best to just ignore them, IMO, which is what he appears to be doing now.

You're also talking about examples taken over what, 20-30 years as opposed to what, 5-10 years?

Card do you ALWAYS talk out of your ass? Get some fact some time ... please. Cindy McCain IS campaigning. She was on the Today Show not too long ago saying how "she IS proud of her Country and she was not sure what Michelle meant by that comment" ... that was political. You don't call going to VietNam as part of an organization that difuses landmines was not political? How many landmines do you think she difused? Why was she there? Oh ... a photo op, just like Obama in Europe ... a photo op. Cindy McCain hosted The View BEFORE Michelle Obama did, was that campaigning?

Just wanted to interject some facts into Card's shit.

Bman wrote:Just wanted to interject some facts into Card's shit.

South Park Trivia: What was the name of Mr Hanky's son? ... the one with a piece of corn stuck in his head that diminished his mental power...

meta4 wrote:

Bman wrote:Just wanted to interject some facts into Card's shit.

South Park Trivia: What was the name of Mr Hanky's son? ... the one with a piece of corn stuck in his head that diminished his mental power...

If memory serves the name was Bman...

Bman wrote:

cardinal5150 wrote:
Nice embellishment there...

I think the marriage issue makes McCain seem human. He messed up. And how many well to do people do you know that turn around and marry a poor ugly person? Seriously. Rich people marry rich people, once you get over the $200K mark you're arguing whether or not you can afford 2 or 4 vacation houses.

I really don't know much about Cindy McCain, and frankly, I don't care much. She's not who I'm voting for, and she's not out campaigning for her husband, which to me means she wants to be left out of it, so I'll be happy to do so. Now, if she starts giving him knuckles on TV and talking about how proud she is of America now, my opinion will change.

The religion thing doesn't really sit well with me, he changed to stay in the good graces of the party. I think he's shifted to the center of the two positions he held on that since then. He's not beating the bible, and he's not knocking the religious right. But I don't think there is any way to win when you take on the religious right, it's best to just ignore them, IMO, which is what he appears to be doing now.

You're also talking about examples taken over what, 20-30 years as opposed to what, 5-10 years?

Card do you ALWAYS talk out of your ass? Get some fact some time ... please. Cindy McCain IS campaigning. She was on the Today Show not too long ago saying how "she IS proud of her Country and she was not sure what Michelle meant by that comment" ... that was political. You don't call going to VietNam as part of an organization that difuses landmines was not political? How many landmines do you think she difused? Why was she there? Oh ... a photo op, just like Obama in Europe ... a photo op. Cindy McCain hosted The View BEFORE Michelle Obama did, was that campaigning?

Just wanted to interject some facts into Card's shit.

Should tell you a little something about media coverage there then... Cindy does that and gets little/no mention in the nation press... Michelle comes out and it's all over the news.. but I wouldn't want to accuse the national media of having a bias or anything.....

cardinal5150 wrote:
The religion thing doesn't really sit well with me, he changed to stay in the good graces of the party. I think he's shifted to the center of the two positions he held on that since then. He's not beating the bible, and he's not knocking the religious right. But I don't think there is any way to win when you take on the religious right, it's best to just ignore them, IMO, which is what he appears to be doing now.

After re-reading I wanted to comment more about this post. What concerns me about McCain is that he's too willing, and too hastily changing his stance to be "middle". This switch from Episcopalian to Baptist ca. 2007 is IMHO a symptom of the internal conflict with ordaining gay and lesbian clergy. The Episcopalian church is the US wing of the Anglican Communion in the UK and they are going through the same schism. The baptist church is much more conservative and leans to the right where he needs to rest/place his positions on Abortion and Gay Marriage which are not only the hot issues with religious conservatives, they're also key positions on where McCain differs from Obama.

I agree with you that he would need to distance himself from the religious right and let them eat cake. They are the ones placing so much importance on these issues, and IMHO, that's not what the hot issues for most Americans. The Gay/Lesbian thing is a minority issue. Abortion and Gay marriage are issues for the Supreme Court and Congress, and not so much issues for the President. The series of domino's has already started to fall on same sex marriage, first California, next New York, and I see these issues rising from the states rather than initiated by the federal government. They are looking for another leader to overstep his responsibilities and nip it in the bud but that's not how the constitution grants it's powers.

If only it were that easy to say to the right - look to your elected congressmen for change in these issues and quit making this a huge issue for a Presidential candidate(s). I guess maybe they think they're trying to prevent the next huge disaster or reverse the effects of global warming by supporting a president that is anti-[wickedness] and willing to overstep his constitutional authority.

cardinal5150 wrote:

Bman wrote:

cardinal5150 wrote:
Nice embellishment there...

I think the marriage issue makes McCain seem human. He messed up. And how many well to do people do you know that turn around and marry a poor ugly person? Seriously. Rich people marry rich people, once you get over the $200K mark you're arguing whether or not you can afford 2 or 4 vacation houses.

I really don't know much about Cindy McCain, and frankly, I don't care much. She's not who I'm voting for, and she's not out campaigning for her husband, which to me means she wants to be left out of it, so I'll be happy to do so. Now, if she starts giving him knuckles on TV and talking about how proud she is of America now, my opinion will change.

The religion thing doesn't really sit well with me, he changed to stay in the good graces of the party. I think he's shifted to the center of the two positions he held on that since then. He's not beating the bible, and he's not knocking the religious right. But I don't think there is any way to win when you take on the religious right, it's best to just ignore them, IMO, which is what he appears to be doing now.

You're also talking about examples taken over what, 20-30 years as opposed to what, 5-10 years?

Card do you ALWAYS talk out of your ass? Get some fact some time ... please. Cindy McCain IS campaigning. She was on the Today Show not too long ago saying how "she IS proud of her Country and she was not sure what Michelle meant by that comment" ... that was political. You don't call going to VietNam as part of an organization that difuses landmines was not political? How many landmines do you think she difused? Why was she there? Oh ... a photo op, just like Obama in Europe ... a photo op. Cindy McCain hosted The View BEFORE Michelle Obama did, was that campaigning?

Just wanted to interject some facts into Card's shit.

Should tell you a little something about media coverage there then... Cindy does that and gets little/no mention in the nation press... Michelle comes out and it's all over the news.. but I wouldn't want to accuse the national media of having a bias or anything.....

BZZZZ--wrong answer! cindy got coverage. there wasnt bias on the view coverage. both had flattering pics on mag covers and extensive articles and interviews. she has also made appearances on larry king and other shows, as has michelle. just because you didnt notice doesnt mean it wasnt there.
and will have to look for it, but i know i saw on news a couple days ago..after mccain whining because he cant get any coverage, a couple cable stations wanted to come to his next town hall. mccain said no because that kind of media circus just encourages complex questions about too many issues...in the town halls he prefers to stick to the topix affecting the local folk. so...doesnt that make his whining seem like just whining?