Michigan MSM isn't in the tank for Obama at aaaaaaaaall...
By RightMichigan.com Posted in Archived | McCain | Media Bias | Michigan | Obama | www.RightMichigan.com — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Cross-posted on Right Michigan at www.RightMichigan.com.
All those weeks ago when Barack Obama visited Grand Rapids you'd have thought the Beatles had just arrived from Liverpool. That the allies had rolled into Paris. That a certain foot touched the top of a certain mountain. You could watch an hour's worth of constant coverage, leave the house, drive downtown, find parking, go to the event, sit through security sweeps and pomp and circumstance and all of the speeches, find your way through the crowd, get back in your car, fight traffic the whole way home, cook a frozen pizza, open an ice cold beverage, kick back in the lay-z-boy and the anchors at WOOD TV 8 still hadn't taken a breath. Wall-to-wall media coverage for hours without commercial interruption. When McCain comes to town you get a five minute blip on the eleven o'clock news.
Here we go again...
Did you catch the headline in this morning's Ivory Tower? It trumpets:
Michelle Obama on first Michigan visit Wednesday; McCain also will make stop
One might get the impression Michelle was running for President and McCain a VP nod, based on the billing. Or that the mysterious McCain they refer to was actually the candidate's wife. Of course neither are true.
John McCain is one of two men who could next be the President of the United States of America. Readers of the Free Press will be surprised to learn he will be in Michigan this week. Michelle? Not running for anything. When folks go to the polls in November and pull the lever, or fill in the box... or punch the chad... her name won't be listed on the ballot. His will. Try telling that to the FREEP.
Now, we could blame the headline on the notoriously liberal editorial staff at this particular fish wrap, but in the best media tradition, it's even worse once you get to the article itself. Kathleen Gray and Todd Spangler give five paragraphs to Michelle, one to the Republican nominee and they bury it at the very end of the article. One-hundred-and-one words for the non-candidate, thirty-two for the Presidential candidate.
We learn where Michelle will visit. We learn how many times she's been here so far (zero). We learn the title of her speech. We learn about the limited space. We learn when tickets become available and how to get them. We learn how much they cost. We learn about additional visits later in the day and the week.
McCain? He's hosting a town hall to talk about something to someone somewhere. Some company. How do you get tickets? Don't know. When do they become available? Don't know. How many times has he been here? Don't know. What's the title of his speech? Don't know. How much space will there be? Don't know. Where else will he be this week? Don't know. Is he actually running for President? Maybe the FREEP doesn't know.
He is. He's actually locked up the GOP nomination. He'll be on the ballot in November. Republican or Democrat, conservative or moderate, maverick or stick-in-the-mud, it's sort of a big deal when a Presidential candidate comes to town.
My favorite phrase arrives when after five glowing graphs of what can either be described as thorough logistical reporting or blatant hype about Michelle they submit: "Also Wednesday..."
And suddenly Rush Limbaugh's decision to refer to the mainstream media as "Barack Obama campaign staff" makes that much more sense.
Better if RNC focuses on the strategy of going house to house instead of large media mileage.
It's better that McCain's representatives, young and old, small names and big ones, go to the community and talk sincerely to the people.
If McCain makes statement, MSM will just twist it in favor of Obama.
Somehow, Rush is right! As always.