Sunday, July 20, 2008

Media Covering Obama As If He Were Already President

That's what Howard Kurtz said on Sunday's Reliable Sources on CNN. NewsBusters has the transcript of this incredible discussion, which included quotes like these:

KURTZ: But by dangling the offer of exclusive interviews with the candidate, exclusive for one night a piece, that is, the Obama team persuaded Katie Couric, Charlie Gibson and Brian Williams to trek halfway around the world to cover this trip. What that means, of course, is that the "CBS Evening News," "NBC Nightly News" and ABC's "World News" will be broadcast from Europe and the Middle East this week, throwing an even brighter spotlight on Barack's excellent adventure.

John McCain, meanwhile, was accompanied by zero anchors on his three foreign trips since wrapping up the Republican nomination in March...

BERNARD GOLDMERG: If needed any more proof, Bill, that the networks were on the Barack Obama campaign team, this is it.

MIKE BARNICLE: And the Obama campaign coverage is going to be 5-1 to what McCain gets.

MICHAEL CROWLEY: I think this is just a great story.

When McCain goes overseas, it's sort of dog bites man. There's not really that much of an interesting angle to it. This is an incredible story, the first African-American nominee going abroad after a long period of anti-Americanism, promising a new start and a new direction for the country. There's so many fascinating angles, whereas McCain is sort of offering somewhat more of a continuation of what we already know.
DAVID FRUM: Here you have one of the -- the oldest men ever to run for president, winning his party's nomination against the odds through sheer hard work and tenacity, and getting up earlier and campaigning harder than men 20 years his junior? That's a pretty exciting story.

We've seen this scenario before. It played out in the 1992 presidential election where Bill Clinton could do no wrong, even with the various leaked scandals surrounding him. Journalists mostly lean left, but pretend they are playing it down the middle. Now, there isn't even a pretense of objectivity.