Last week I called for the media to fight back against politician attacks and lying campaign claims. That is exactly what is happening now, to the point where the McCain team is lashing out in frustration:
Today, the Arizona Republican's presidential campaign went to war with the Grey Lady. Asked to respond to an article that brought to light the fact that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis had earned nearly $2 million in lobbying fees from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (based, almost primarily, on his access to McCain) at the same time that he was attacking Barack Obama for his own ties to those very institutions, aides to McCain went off.
"We are first amendment absolutists on this campaign and the press and everyone who wishes to cover this race from a blogosphere and media perspective is constitutionally protected to write whatever they want," said Steve Schmidt, the campaign's chief strategist. "But whatever the New York Times once was, it is today not by any standard a journalistic organization. It is a pro-Obama advocacy organization that every day attacks the McCain campaign, attacks Gov. Palin and excuses Sen. Obama. There is no public vetting... there is no level of outrage directed at his deceitful ads... This is an organization that is completely and totally 150 percent in the tank for the Democratic candidate.... Everything that is read in the New York Times should be evaluated by the American people from that perspective. It is an organization that has made a decision to cast aside its journalistic integrity and advocate for the defeat of one candidate and the election of another."
Shorter Steve Schmidt: Why aren't you letting us get away with the crap that we got away with in 1988 and 2004?
Keep fighting, people. Re-double your efforts to fact check McCain, and investigate Obama just as hard (so he can't get away with ads like these.) My sense, living in a battleground state with lots of commericials, is that the truth factor in advertising has improved in the last week -- some of that is the nature of the financial crisis, but some of that is the media pushback.
So....no retreat, baby, no surrender.*
(* Obligatory pop-music reference.)
Yes, because YOU called for the media to "fight back", everyone acted. You are truly blessed and an inspiration for all mankind. Stop the self-serving shameless self-promotion please. Mr Media. And what happened with your obession with BBW Candy C? Moved on? Or did you call for something else?— shoeshineboy- "Everything that is read in the New York Times should be evaluated by the American people from that perspective. It is an organization that has made a decision to cast aside its journalistic integrity and advocate for the defeat of one candidate and the election of another." Seems to me that's a pretty fair description of Attytood lately as well.— db_cooper
- Will, please tell your tech guys to put the article content back into the RSS feeds. The font here is really small and it's a lot easier to read your posts in my RSS reader.— tonycpsu
- Oh, and Will, since you say you are interested in investigating Obama's antics, perhaps you could dig into the blog-driven investigations into the Obama campaign (through Axelrod) astroturfing bogus allegations against Sarah Palin. I doubt you will, though, given that you helped spread one of the false allegations yourself (that she was part of a separatist party). But just in case you are more than just talk regarding covering both sides, http://hillarynme.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/caught-obamas-alexrod-hired-pr-firm-to-slim-palin/— db_cooper
Comment removed.- What else are YOU calling for? Can you do something about the weather? What about my carbon footprint? Bunchie -saving the world and patting his back, one post at a time. What a pathetic creep.— shoeshineboy
- Just amazing how the messenger is attacked rather than the message. It's as if there are not right wing propagandists out there to ensure that McCain gets his propaganda across without challenge, such as Fox News, the WSJ, the majority of the NY Times Editorial Page (someone forgot to tell McCain that Kristol writes there, among others) and virtually every political talk show now that Olbermann has been muzzled. The right wing has plenty of opportunity to make its case. What it does not have is fact: These are the facts: Wars of aggression financed by printing money. Economic meltdown caused by elimination of regulatory authority not only over securitization of loans, but also of negligent regulation by Republican headed agencies. Who was reviewing the loan portfolios of the WAMUs and Wachovias? Deficit spending that has blown the Clinton surplus to create the largest debt ever owed by the US, largely held by China, during the greatest spending increases in American history. Oh yes, huge tax cuts for the rich at the same time. While we are at it, there has been the utter destruction of any idea of a meritocracy in American government, replaced with a right wing litmus test as we have seen in the Attorney General's office, the Pentagon, the State Dept and of course, at EPA and FEMA. Absolute disregard of diplomacy, to the point where America is hated all over the world for its unilateral exercise of power and arrogance. Hell, 2 wars at a time aren't enough. Bush and McCain have favored taking Georgia into NATO (after encouraging Georgia to take on Russia) after which time we will be committed to defending them in a war with Russia. Are you guys kidding? There is nothing McCain can say other than attacking the messenger---he was in favor of the entire Bush policies. Red vs. Blue is a cover up for the worst administration in American history.— Palestra Jon
- Couldn't agree more with that assessment of the NYT— Phillysub
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I can't see you through the computer, but I can just imagine the wink-wink you give when you call for the activist press to go hard investigating Obama.— jmc- republicans are such whiners.— Jess Wundrun
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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