Thursday, September 25, 2008

No. No. No. Go back and do it again.

If Palin had been groomed for the veep position just a bit longer, picking her would have been an even better idea. She has yet to find her sea legs with only a short way to go until the election, and it's not like anyone in the press is going to shirk their responsibility when it comes to illustrating that where they can.

Nobody came out asking Obama substantive questions when he first hit the national stage. Some might say that the mainstream press is still shying away from doing so. Certainly where the substance of the issue has been hair-raisingly negative, they have shied away from doing so even more.

Yeah, I gripe. But the fact is that the blame here doesn't go entirely to the press, especially because they shouldn't be faulted for asking susbtantive questions (they should be faulted for extreme bias). The issue here is the stupidity of the Republican camp for throwing Palin out there as 'just as or more experienced' than Obama where it counts, while failing to take into account some very obvious and significant facts that impact her presentation.

Obama's had a couple of years to build up the stage persona, and certainly has a better team of puppeteers and speech writers behind him than Palin does. In addition, the press is almost entirely and solidly in his camp. This means that he can sit down with a Couric or a Gibson (and let's not even discuss Chris "Tingling" Matthews and Keith Olbermann) and get away with dodging questions and blatant lies. In order to come out of an interview looking 'bad', he'd pretty much have to grunt, spit, and start eating the set. And even then, MSNBC might portray his actions as a brilliant new take on the environment and a recommendation that we return to our roots.

Palin... well, other than hardcore conservative base, I'd say she's still "gaining acceptance." And that means that you don't put her in a position where she comes off looking like this because she's still in her political diapers.

Damn it, people. You make it so hard to vote with a clear conscience these days.

More later. School time.

-A

6 comments:

CrunchyJew said...

I find it infinitely interesting that both sides think the media is so obviously biased against them.

A said...

Ah. I find it predictable. You see, the conservatives are correct and thus are entitled to complain. The liberals are wrong but love to complain and go negative so they do.

I'm not quite seeing the mystery here. :)

Really though, even a total lib show like SNL was calling the media on the Obama worship this season. This isn't one of those points that is really up for any legitimate debate.

CrunchyJew said...

Can't tell if you are being facetious or not. You do realize that liberals feel exactly the same way just with the words liberals and conservatives reversed.

A said...

Excuse me, but even the liberal Hillary supporters were criticizing the media's approach to Obama. This is almost universally agreed upon.

Don't fight me when I'm right. :)

CrunchyJew said...

Notice, no where did I say you were wrong, just that as strong as your convictions are, there are those on the Obama side that believe the exact reverse. I'm just trying to get you to come up a level and see the humor.

Adam said...

It could be that because these are "media" sources, they are also biased towards Obama. But with that caveat, for your leisurely reading enjoyment:

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3612

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=media-bias-presidential-election

And assuming (without admitting) that what say is true and the media have been more harsh with McCain/Palin, it could be that there is just more negative news about one candidate or the other. Blatant and easily verifiable lies in political ads are going to cause negative reporting. Shutting a VP candidate in seclusion, away from any and all media scrutiny is going to raise questions.

And just for the record, any defense of Palin's performance during the past couple of weeks is absurd. She is simply not qualified to be VP (or god forbid, President) of this country. She doesn't have the intellect OR experience that is required. "Cramming" to try and LOOK like you're prepared for holding either of those offices is not sufficient.