Feeding Frenzy

The Corner is in a frenzy, churning out post after post about the media's preferential treatment of Obama, a simple fact in their circular world.

Jonah Goldberg: If the media were more objective, we’d be hearing a lot more about the racism at the heart of the Democratic Party. (Imagine if the black nominee this year were a Republican!) But such objectivity would cause too much cognitive dissonance for a press corps that defines “racist” as shorthand for Republican and sees itself as the publicity arm of the Obama campaign.

Jonah Goldberg: To listen to most MSM commentators and analysts, you'd think Obama's problem with racist voters is some how the Republican Party's fault. Guess what? Republicans (including racist Republicans) are going to vote for the Republican.

Andy McCarthy: [...T]he always terrific Scott Johnson has nice things to say at Powerline, including wondering aloud (as has our friend John Podhoretz at Commentary) why the mainstream media has ignored the book.

Mark Steyn: Re Joe the Plumber, if I hear another bigshot media correspondent stating that Joe's feeble earnings mean he would not pay more tax under King Barack the Wealth-Spreader and thus has nothing to complain about, I'll pull over, rip the radio out, and stomp it into the shoulder, as Frank Sinatra is said to have done the fifth time he heard "Light My Fire" on a road trip from Palm Springs to Los Angeles.

Byron York: I have a new story up about John McCain's rally Saturday in Woodbridge, Virginia. You've heard all that talk about how angry and hate-filled such gatherings are. And I have to say, there was some anger at the Woodbridge event, but it wasn't, as some erroneous reports from other McCain rallies have suggested, directed at Barack Obama. It was directed at the press. That morning, the New York Times had published a thin and mean-spirited front-page story on Cindy McCain (more on that later), and many in the crowd were still angry over the media's treatment of Joe the Plumber.

Re: Confused Broadcasting System [Mark Steyn]
Attention, crack CBS News Fact Check Unit! The man in this picture claiming to be a Berliner is, in fact, from Massachusetts. Furthermore, as a citizen of the United States, he is not eligible to vote in Berlin municipal elections.

Mark Steyn: Last post of the day, first post of the day. Oh, dear, I hope I haven't chased the last three conservative pundits away to The Plank or The Atlantic. Re Joe*, Jim (Treacher) puts it this way:

The whole "He's not a licensed plumber!" non sequitur is really fantastic. So, if you happen to be standing in front of Obama when he publicly reveals his socialism, what does the media do? Demands to see your papers. That's just delicious, is what that is.

Mark Steyn: Back in the glory days of the 2000 New Hampshire primary, his media buddies used to translate "old and cranky" as "maverick", "feisty", and so forth. But let that pass.

And the incessant sniping of conservative pundits is having an effect in the so-called real world. From The Washington Post:

"No, I'm not mad, I'm pissed," said Joan Schmitz, who owns a plumbing company here. She said she was frustrated with polls showing Obama surging, McCain's performance in a Tuesday night debate, Obama himself, the media, and the liberal group ACORN, which she said was registering voters fraudulently.

Noting Obama's connections with Ayers, she said that "if it was a Republican, it would be nonstop," referring to what she said was the media ignoring the controversial acquaintance.

"I can't stand to look at him, I don't trust him. I don't like the circle of friends he keeps, I don't like his policies," Schmitz said of Obama. "I'm pissed off by it. I'm beyond mad. How is he climbing up in the polls?"

On the way into the event, the Republican Party of Wisconsin handed out fliers reading "Your Vote Is Being Stolen," an anti-ACORN leaflet that concluded, "Why is vote fraud allowed? Vote fraud is allowed since it benefits Democrats."

The crowd showed equal disdain for the media, fueled by comments from Palin, who encouraged the Republican supporters to take the campaign's message around the media. "I can't pick a fight with those who buy ink by the barrel," she said. "It's dangerous territory whenever I suggest the mainstream media isn't asking all the questions."

That message was clearly shared among the crowd. Mike Payne, who traveled from Madison, Wis., for the rally, rejected the idea that McCain's supporters are angry, preferring to use the word "frustrated."

"It might have something to do with you guys," he told a reporter.

"It's not anger at all. It's frustration. There's millions of people around the country that think like we do. You guys refuse to acknowledge that, and you insult our intelligence by misreporting the information. You are treating [Obama] like he's Britney Spears and covering him like he's Paris Hilton, instead of the next president of the United States, potentially."

McCain advisers dismissed the crowd's angry tone as an exception and not representative of most of the campaign's events. And they noted that those gathered seemed most upset by the media's handling of the contest, and simply wanted McCain to be more aggressive.

Finally McCain was embarrassed often enough in public to tone down his supporters, but Palin doesn't have McCain's (tenuous) control. If the McCains and Palins will continue to avoid the media, the media will feel free to print drivel like this article on Cindy McCain. And it will continue to print articles like the Post article.

It's a vicious circle, with the weasels at the Corner biting and snarling at the foxes in the media. There's a small entertainment value in watching the fur fly, but it would be really nice if people didn't try to incite hate during difficult times.