Biden and the MSM

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2008
Biden and the MSM
24
Wed, 10-22-2008 - 6:39pm

The MSM treatment of the Obama camp compared to McCain's - specifically Biden v Palin - is simply laughable. This article spells it out pretty well.

From the NY Post - Kirsten Powers

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10222008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/bidens_bungles__a_blatant_bias_134700.htm

BIDEN'S BUNGLES: A BLATANT BIAS

October 22, 2008

Barack Obama's choice of Joe Biden as his running mate prompted a small wave of warnings about Biden's propensity for gaffes. But no one imagined even in a worse-case scenario such a spectacular bomb as telling donors Sunday to "gird your loins" because a young president Obama will be tested by an international crisis just like young President John Kennedy was.

Scary? You betcha! But somehow, not front-page news.

Again the media showed their incredible bias by giving scattered coverage of Biden's statements.

There were a few exceptions. On MSNBC's "Morning Joe," co-host Mika Brzezinski flipped incredulously through the papers, expressing shock at the lack of coverage of Biden's remarks. Guest Dan Rather admitted that if Palin had said it, the media would be going nuts.

So what gives?

The stock answer is: "It's just Biden being Biden." We all know how smart he is about foreign policy, so it's not the same as when Sarah Palin says something that seems off.

Yet, when Biden asserted incorrectly in the vice-presidential debate that the United States "drove Hezbollah out of Lebanon," nobody in the US media shrieked. (It was, however, covered with derision in the Middle East.) Or when he confused his history by claiming FDR calmed the nation during the Depression by going on TV, the press didn't take it as evidence that he's clueless.

And Biden is the foreign-policy gravitas on the Democratic ticket, so his comments are actually even more disconcerting.

The outakes of his Sunday remarks don't begin to capture the magnitude of what he said. After warning the crowd that there would be some sort of international incident - Biden could think of four or five scenarios - he told the donors: "We're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

What does that mean? Obama's election would provoke an international incident because of his inexperience and even Obama's biggest supporters won't be reassured by his response?

Then there were Biden's predictions on the economy: "I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, 'Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? . . . Why is this thing so tough? . . . I'm asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point, because you're going to have to reinforce us.

"There are gonna be a lot of you who want to go, 'Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don't know about that decision.' "

Biden is teling us that, at a time when Americans need to feel confidence in their government, they will be going "Oh my God." Not a great message.

Needless to say, if Sarah Palin said this about a McCain administration, the media world would be exploding.

Whether you believe Biden is exaggerating, as he is known to do, or is providing real insight, the double standard in the media does even more damage to their lagging brand.

Part of the problem is their "Obama love," but we're also seeing the media elite's belief - prejudice - that anyone with an R behind their name is dumb. So, if they say something dumb, they must be dumb. A Democrat, like Biden, can make wildly inaccurate or outrageous comments and they are ignored because the TV and press insiders feel they "know who he really is."

On the stump recently, Sen. Biden declared he had "three words" for what the nation needs: "J-O-B-S."

Lucky for him, his name isn't Dan Quayle, or that would have followed him for the rest of his career.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Wed, 10-22-2008 - 10:13pm

Well I can honestly say that I watch Fox News, and I use the internet.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2007
Wed, 10-22-2008 - 10:28pm
Good point.

Sopal

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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-05-2008
Wed, 10-22-2008 - 10:33pm

Palin does not have the gravitas that Biden does. I wonder if she will ever earn the respect that he commands...


what is there to respect about ethnic 7-11 statements?

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-05-2008
Wed, 10-22-2008 - 10:35pm
or laughingly tell a Indian man that it seems you can't go anywhere in X town (I've forgotten the town) and not see an Indian in the local donut shop or convenience store .......

yeah imagine Palin saying THAT one


or any republican.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-05-2008
Wed, 10-22-2008 - 10:40pm

Perhaps this statement is so neutral because Joe Liebermann already said something similar to it this week. It is not a controversial statement, no matter how much the McCaign campaign is

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Wed, 10-22-2008 - 10:40pm

Is Lieberman running for VP?

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Wed, 10-22-2008 - 10:43pm

I agree totally.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-05-2008
Wed, 10-22-2008 - 10:53pm

when you think about it, it's a poor strategic move on his part.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2007
Wed, 10-22-2008 - 11:01pm
I think that it is a "given" that any president will be challenged by events.

Sopal

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Wed, 10-22-2008 - 11:02pm
Uh huh.