Just answer me this: When has anyone failed by playing to the basest aspects of Americans?

Joe Klein one of the few in a sea of compliant MSM talking heads who do little else but repeat Repug talking points.

Thank you for underlining this and calling attention to it. I can't overestimate how important it is for journalists to call this what it is, namely, "the big lie." Fascist politics is built on "the big lie," and journalists have a responsibility to make the lies known. Gov. Palin continues to lie on the stump. And some journalists--like WaPo's Broder, a man I used to respect--have their eyes and ears and mouths all closed. It's a pretty depressing spectacle.

...Just answer me this: When has anyone failed by playing to the basest aspects of Americans?...

McCarthy?

Expediency over honor. It's the McCain way. Then, after the moment of decision has past and he surveys the damage, McCain offers a heartfelt apology. It's a pattern (flyboy hijinks, abondoning first wife for rich heiress, Keating 5, South Carolina confederate flag, etc, etc.) McCain won't be president, but his contrite memoir should become a bestseller in a year or two.

I'm not sure if the repulsivecan's strategy will succeed or not. If recent history is any indication, it just might

They practice Orwellian politics

Giving credence to our troll is as absurd as calling Palin qualified to be VP.

[Knock off the spamming or have your IP banned. Do you actually have anything to say? -Mod]

Just watched Bill Schaffer interview McCain. There was not a single challenge him on Palin.
Schaffer did ask him when Palin would take interviews and McCain said he would like to see her on Face The Nation next week.
At the end of the interview Schaffer said he looked forward to seeing her next week, McCain laughed and said soon.
"Soon" as it ain't gonna happy.
The funny thing is Palin could easily handle any softball Schaffer throws her way. He never challenged a single statement McCain made. It was a 1 hour infomercial for McCain/Palin.

The success of Rove-style politics is based on a few premises of human behavior: that people will unite against a clearly defined enemy and that a leader that comes out swinging will be seen as stronger than one who just speaks reasonably.

Every election, the Democrats believe that if the have the facts, the truth and the best arguments on their side that they will win. Anyone working in the public policy sphere knows that decisions made at election time aren't based on facts but a combination of values and beliefs.

It's for the Democrat to show some strength by taking some strong shots and appealing to people's values and not just their sense of reason.

I am a long ago former member of the mainstream media. Edward R. Murrow would be disgusted on how "reporters" are commenting on hearsay and rumors rather than reporting the facts. From network news to daily newspapers to the comedy commentary shows, they all slant the news to meet their agendas -- and 80 percent of the agenda is liberal. That's not me saying this; a poll of media indicated that editors and reporters vote democrat or liberal 80 percent of the time. When reporters become commentators and wear their personal feelings on their sleeve and let it creep into their stories, we are all the pooer for it. Journalism today, with a few exceptions, is a joke and embarrassment.

How might the current McCain campaign attacks on the media shape the debates?

I've got some advice for Klein, and it comes from the movie "The Godfather":

"You can act like a man! What's the matter with you? Is this how you turned out? A Hollywood finocchio that ah cries like a woman? 'What can I do? What can I do?'"

Or in other words, man up.

Mr. Benen, why don't you call the Waaaahhhhmbulance?

I believe John McCain is senile and suffering from Alzheimers. His recent actions would show that he has lost control of his facilities if his actions weren't part of a similiar pattern throughout his life. The pick of Sarah Palin tells me that he is insulated and surrounded by people that have cut him off from reality and our now manipulating him and making decisions for him.

I tremble with indignation at what the Christian Conservatives are doing to this country. It appears that they have put in motion their final solution in their plan of ruling the United States of America. Why is no one writing this story?

If Palin and McCain win the children of this nation, their children, and generations upon generations will be ashamed to admit that their fathers and mothers voted Republican in 2008.

to murrow's conscience upthread, joe klein isn't a reporter, and i'm sure your entirely original "point" about the voting habits of journalists (never mind their employers) spun your ancient head around when those hippies sold the iraq clusterphuck.

How might the current McCain campaign attacks on the media shape the debates? -tomj

I'm sure the media will do what it always does.

Try harder to please their Republican overlords.

When we learn that what happens depends more on what WE do than what THEY say? This is not a campaign that will be won or lost by who owns which news cycles during the campaign, but on the strength of the Obama campaign on the ground, by how much money can be raised from people, by OUR strength and consistency in finding and talking to undecided, or unmotivated voters and potential voters.

Just watched This Week with Stephanopoulos. Is Palin avoiding the media a problem with their guest? Nope.
Chris Wallace voiced more skepticism than either Schaffer or Stephanopoulos (and company).
The media will not do their job.

it's nice to see joe klein typing honest comments, but, in fact, klein has been part of the problem for years: he's been more than willing, for example, to dis the "angry left."

as far as i'm concerned, klein needs at least 5 more years on probation before i take him seriously.

Steve Benen quotes Joe Klein: ".. the people I talk to when I go out on the road really are having a harder time paying for things like health care, gasoline and college tuition ... the Republican attempts to derail the conversation ... to sell a big lie -- that the election is about the ... 'angry left'"

From the point of view of America's Ultra-Rich Ruling Class, Inc., ordinary Americans who are "whining" about "having a harder time paying for things like health care, gasoline and college tuition" ARE the "angry left".

They are certainly angry. And poll after poll after poll shows that they overwhelmingly support liberal Democratic policies to address the high cost of health care, energy and education among other concerns.

The Republican Party is waging the ruthless, rapacious class war of the ultra-rich against everyone else. It's no wonder they have nothing to campaign on but bullshit.

Ironically, given the popularity McBushlin now has among the angry retroconservative base, the election may hinge on principled conservative people voting with reservations for Obama, or going to Barr etc. in protest. (No put down meant of the enormous important of our own GOTW efforts, etc.)

Let's give Klein credit for being open about his revulsion, considering how the hacks on e.g. ABC forum today with Step-on-top-of-us, Raditz, etc. flacked for Palin with childish glee (Raditz's cheesy grins and effusiveness were particularly nauseating - and consider that "thoughtful" conservative writers like G Will (there but more approving today) and Krauthammer have panned the Palin pick.

Go BO-Joe, defeat McBushlin!

As for Mr. Klein's "disgust" and "disappointment", allow me to express my deep sympathy for him and all the other "on-air personalities" and "pundits" of the corporate-owned media, who have worked so diligently these past eight years, hand in hand with the Bush administration, the Republican Party, and the openly partisan right-wing extremist media, to enable and create a media environment in which John McCain and Sarah Palin know that they can lie -- brazenly, openly, offensively, repeatedly -- with utter impunity.

I can only hope that as they choke back their "disappointment" and "disgust" and perhaps even some small twinge of self-loathing at what bootlicking tools they have become, or regret over the criminality and corruption that they have aided and abetted, they will be comforted by the thought of the huge corporate paychecks they continue to receive as the price of their betrayal of the American people.

And hey, with McCain in the White House they -- and especially their bosses -- will get more tax cuts, so whatever, you know?

McCain doesn't have any real confidence in his policy agenda, or the merit of his vision for the future.

What policy agenda? What vision? Seriously, do these things even exist?

Mike Virgintino said: a poll of media indicated that editors and reporters vote democrat or liberal 80 percent of the time

As part in his name implies; he must be a virgin when it comes to understanding the current MSM.

It is easy to confuse the liberal media from the 60's and pretend that it is still a liberal media today...

There simply isn't enough room in your so called 20% to squeeze ALL the conservative pundits and reporters.

As SecularAnimist said above... The current pundit/reporter crop has been carrying water for the Republicans for more than 8 years. Are you suggesting that the Bush Administration is actually liberal? It was the so called liberal press hounding Clinton during the Lewinski episode?

I think you're confusing true journalism with punditry. The general public is too lazy to actually read journalistic articles... It's a lot easier to turn on the tube and have a pundit tell you what you should think.

When a news channel tell the truth, it doesn't mean that news channel is automatically liberal. Of course, we all know that truth has a liberal bias.

It's funny watching liberals trying to deflect the idea that there isn't a liberal media bias. To liberals, if a member of the liberal media criticizes a Democrat, then this is an example of right-wing media bias. If a member of the liberal media isn't pronouncing every word uttered by a conservative a lie, then this is also an example of right-wing media bias (read Greenwald; that's exactly what he does).

"It was the so called liberal press hounding Clinton during the Lewinski episode?"

It was the liberal press sitting on the story until Drudge broke it. Kind of like they did this year with the Edwards scandal.

To borrow from the Frogs (MKE represent!), I believe the only truth of Joe Klein is this:

He's only a pundit for the money. He doesn't give a [deleted] about reality.

Ol' Boy is just hedging his bets, in case Obie pulls it out & defeats teh MAVRICK, against all odds. (& I mean that. Even Jon Stewart still slurps Johnny Walnuts like it's January 2000 in New Hampshire.) JK doesn't want to lose his credibility as a commentator, & more importantly, his job, if he cannot spin the result to exactly how he called it.

I'm not sure it's true, as you wrote, that McCain doesn't have any confidence in his policy agenda. I think he truly believes policy to be irrelevant. Because he has "served" his country so faithfully and honorably all these years, it's his country's turn to reward that service by electing him president. That's all there is to it. He should be president because he deserves it; he's earned it. Policy has nothing to do with it.

So, I take it that SteveIl wants the Corp Media to pick up the Palin Adultery with Hubby's Business Partner.
Right.
SteveIl, I'm sad that that you don't live in a country where all the media praises Dear Leader. You should move to North Korea, it's your kind of place.

yqazibnxl rode jmwnfhvk xmhtde lwjf hjonpmt tyqawmz