There is a near-total disconnect between the media opinions about the Obama-McCain debate last night, and what debate viewers are saying. The news media is reporting the debate as a McCain victory or a tie, while polls of viewers show that a significant number favored Obama. A composite of the polls I could find, by my calculations, puts Obama ahead 55-45. That’s a resounding defeat of Senator McCain, often touted as a superior debater.
There are several possible reasons why the corporate media opinion differs from the public in general, so let me bring a few up here, and later you can talk about them amongst yourselves.
First, the media has had a long and torrid love affair with Senator McCain. They are not ready to forgo the loving caress of his rough hands and fall into the arms of the handsome, exotic, young black man just yet.
Second, as a man who has based his entire career on his unfortunate imprisonment in Vietnam, it is difficult to attack Senator McCain, even when he’s clearly wrong because he’s certainly not shy about playing the POW card as the answer to every question.
Third, the large media outlets are owned, controlled, and censored by corporate conglomerates. Certainly, those corporations have a vested interested in the continued Republican deregulation of the media and the expansion of the unfettered corruption the Republican party brought to Wall Street and nourished and tended there, like a garden of corruption fungus fed by shit-laws. The Republican party represents corporate control of society and government, as such, it will always be favored by the corporations that own all of our media outlets.
Fourth-and this is actually to the credit of the reporters-they may have put less emphasis on the appearance of the candidates, because if they were paying attention at all, they would have noticed, as the viewers did, that McCain was unfriendly toward Obama, never called him by his first name, and never looked at him. Obama, on the other hand, was Miss Congeniality. He smiled, called Senator McCain by his first name, and looked at him when he spoke. Contrary to what McCain and his camp hoped, McCain’s behavior didn’t convey strength; it conveyed dickishness. It fit in well with his proposed policy of never speaking to his adversaries. It is his history, at any rate, to just hurl obscenities and insults at his adversaries, so it probably worked out better for him to pretend Senator Obama wasn’t there.
If Senator McCain, on his turf, could only battle Senator Obama to a draw, things don’t look good for the old warrior from Arizona. Obama is not a good debater. He consistently looked second-rate in the Democratic debates. He did well enough last night, and that’s all he needs to do right now.
Though the media will give Governor Palin a pass and a get out of jail free card during her debate with Senator Biden, it’s unlikely that the American public will be impressed with her performance. She can be difficult to watch, even with Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson. I didn’t watch her with Sean Hannity, because that would be enough whiny, creationist nonsense in one room to cause a Pentecostal singularity into which my intelligently-designed body would be sucked, never to emerge.
If Biden eviscerates Governor Palin too badly, the corporate media will be on him like the Bumpus’s dogs on the Christmas turkey. If he doesn’t eviscerate Governor Palin, the corporate media will say she won. He needs to walk a fine line, and that’s not something Senator Biden is famous for. He’s a sharp-tongued, intelligent, highly-skilled debater who has a tendency to err on the side of saying too much rather than too little.
The Democrats, however, have a history of misunderestimating every half-wit the Republicans put up against them, with disastrous results. This may be risky, but I say, if there’s any opening to attack like a wild dog, Biden needs to take it.
Be kind when the stakes are low.
Anyone who has seen Sarah Palin answer questions knows that she should not be allowed anywhere near Washington, DC, and certainly not the White House.
Tags: Biden, corporate media, debate, democrat, McCain, media, Obama, Palin, republican
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