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"McCain's Hero Aura Inoculates Him Against Critics"
That is actually the real life headline running on top of an Associated Press story moving right now, just before John McCain's big speech tonight.
No joke. The AP story is here.
The story itself actually doesn't say this. It's an analysis that points out, quite accurately, that the GOP is using McCain's POW past as a shield against any and all legit criticism. The story also points out that this is at odds with the constant claim that McCain is "reticent" to discuss that past.
But the AP had to slap on a McCain-fluffing headline about his "hero aura." Couldn't just have a hed that told us what the analysis actually said.
What can one say at this point?
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You can't say it, but I can: people? Donate to Obama, volunteer for Obama, and then donate more money to Obama, because he's running not only against the straight talkin' hero mavericky McCain and the woman who can tear a moose in two with her bare hands while simultaneously giving birth, he's running against the media.
September 4, 2008 7:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Donate, $10M before McCain speaks, THAT'S (serious pocket) change we can believe in!
September 4, 2008 8:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
just gave $25.
it didn't help me feel any better, but its about all i can do.
September 4, 2008 8:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can we bring up the fact that Rupert Murdoch possibly wants to buy the NYT's too?
September 4, 2008 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Err, I meant to ask this here, but accidentally posted it at the bottom: where did you hear that Murdoch wants to buy The New York Times?
September 4, 2008 7:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
NYT-by and large- has become a newspaper of irrelavent psuedo-philosphical political bull shit. Bizzare, abstract headlines coupled with episodic, hole-filled reporting. Where is the times that broke government scandals and held them accountable?
Unfortunately, others are only worse.
Anyways, that's my only concerns mostly. Not Obama tactics, or McLame strages, or Palin B.S., if anyone can sink this election it's the MSM.
September 4, 2008 8:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
NYT-by and large- has become a newspaper of irrelavent psuedo-philosphical political bull shit. Bizzare, abstract headlines coupled with episodic, hole-filled reporting. Where is the times that broke government scandals and held them accountable?
Unfortunately, others are only worse.
Anyways, that's my only concerns mostly. Not Obama tactics, or McLame strages, or Palin B.S., if anyone can sink this election it's the MSM.
September 4, 2008 8:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
NYT-by and large- has become a newspaper of irrelavent psuedo-philosphical political bull shit. Bizzare, abstract headlines coupled with episodic, hole-filled reporting. Where is the times that broke government scandals and held them accountable?
Unfortunately, others are only worse.
Anyways, that's my only concerns mostly. Not Obama tactics, or McLame strages, or Palin B.S., if anyone can sink this election it's the MSM.
September 4, 2008 8:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
NYT's Dealbook, "Does Murdoch Dream of Owning The New York Times?", 9/3/08 - http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/does-murdoch-dream-of-owning-the-new-york-times/
I'm sure it's a pipedream, but still. He's got the money and the ballz to try it. If the NYT's falls, the world is f'd.
September 4, 2008 9:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
It goes without saying that it would be a travesty if Murdoch bought the Times. But their coverage of this political season especially the Plain pick has been weird. They've been completely defanged by their article about McCain last spring. Ironically, WaPo which has been so right wing for so long, has suddenly sprung to life and doing tons of editorial and reporting work on the story.
September 4, 2008 9:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Real strong endorsement in that article. In short nothing from nothing has not changed
September 4, 2008 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
What did John Stewart say about the Hanoi Hilton...who would have thought that it turned out to be a leadership academy.
I feel like the McCain team is holding us all hostage with the POW excuse. Attica! Attica!
September 4, 2008 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
In the old days, stories from TASS, Xinhua, etc. were always introduced with the tag 'State-run ', as in "State-run Soviet news service TASS reported today...'
This usage needs to be revived for AP.
September 4, 2008 7:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yawn....I'm a bumbling, fumbling idiot who picked a Narcissistic VP, can't put afford a real solution for our economy because i was a POW.
September 4, 2008 7:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
The suggestion that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, may have "jumped the shark" in exploiting his status as a former prisoner of war is insulting and outrageous. For five and a half years, John McCain couldn't see sharks at the aquarium, watch "Jaws" on television, eat sharkfin soup, or even enjoy a cup of Manhattan clam chowder. This campaign has been brought to new lows which disparage the service of our men and women in uniform.
September 4, 2008 7:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL
September 4, 2008 9:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
The article itself is actually pretty good.
You don't even need to check the byline to know that it was NOT written by tire-swingen and donut-fetcher Ron Fournier.
~
September 4, 2008 7:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, on topic, here's a piece by Fournier that, while a little fairer than most of his work, has a similarly misleading headline above it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080904/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_measure_of_a_nation_padding_the_resume;_ylt=AtMcVcgbdw0CQ5.0tMXCtYZh24cA
September 4, 2008 8:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
We've been Prisoners of W for nearly 8 years. We're all qualified to be President.
September 4, 2008 7:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great Meme!
September 4, 2008 7:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
The more I think about it: POW = Prisoners of W. How true!
We're all POW's. But we don't all play the victim card!
September 4, 2008 7:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Eh, I don't know. I've been playing the victim card for the better part of eight years when it comes to Bush.
But yes, we're all POWs now. Prisoners of W unite!
http://pufferfish.typepad.com/
September 4, 2008 8:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Love your stuff. The Comedy Central bits have been excellent the last two days. Keep it coming!
September 4, 2008 8:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm hoping for some serious POW / hero fatigue. How long before everyone will have read and heard enough of it? Sixty more days seems a long time to endure the persistent needling.
September 4, 2008 7:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
For one thing, every Dem. who mentions McCain can stop prefacing their criticisms with some remark praising his heroism, or how they are his friend.
September 4, 2008 7:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why then would he need the pitbull with lipstick?
September 4, 2008 7:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now that's a pitbull we can believe in.
September 4, 2008 8:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where did you hear that?
September 4, 2008 7:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jesus wept.
September 4, 2008 7:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
And no wonder, by Christ.
(h/t Simon Dedalus)
September 4, 2008 11:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Talk about a Messiah complex!
September 4, 2008 7:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can this get any more like a tent revival, Thera?
September 4, 2008 7:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
If God loves McCain so much, why did him shoot him down and let let him be a POW for 5 years?
September 4, 2008 7:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lessons are hard to learn sometimes. Look, I get it the guy suffered (i.e. was "beaten," not tortured). If it was my dad, I'd say: "Shut up, dad. I get it already."
Of course, I'd then tell him I was disowning him for his lack of values, honesty and ridiculous judgment in running mates.
But I digress ...
September 4, 2008 9:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
More ethics violations!
http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/04/1347737.aspx
September 4, 2008 7:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I actually like the headline. It will sucker a lot of wing nuts into reading it.
"Ahhh, just what I need. My daily Maverick fix to remin----oh.. what the.. oh MY, WHAT IS THIS?! WHAT HAVE I WALKED INTO?! NO!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
September 4, 2008 8:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain is the perfect New Republican 'war hero': Got plum assignments because his father was an Admiral, never commanded a unit, crashed more US planes than enemy planes shot down, and who rests his reputation on being a martyr from a(nother) war the US should not have been fighting.
September 4, 2008 8:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
im so depressed right now. it feels like this thing is slipping away from obama.
if the american people are really dumb enough to think electing a 72yr old man who's been in washington for 30 years who is EXACTLY THE SAME as Bush is an effective way to bring about change than we're going to get what we deserve.
September 4, 2008 8:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Alright, don't make me give you the chicken dance lecture. Jesus Christ, its their convention. They get lots of coverage and they get a transient poll spike. That's how it works. Its how it worked for us last week. Next week no one will remember it.
September 4, 2008 8:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama got played by O'Reilly. Fox chopped it up into a four part interview, and uses Obama as a lure to try and sell Palin and other OP propaganda to those tuning in to see Obama. They've also gave him later billing, even Rove was on ahead of him, all in an attempt to diminish him.
Obama should have NEVER did this creatures show - HUGE MISTAKE.
You don't do partisan hack shows. Jon Stewart nailed him yesterday, first showing Billo defending Bristol Palin and calling it a private family matter, however then showed an older tape where Bill trashes Jamie Lynn Spears and said it's a reflection on her parents and that they are bad parents.
September 4, 2008 8:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, the headline and the story don't bother me, they make explicit what the strategy is. Won't matter much except on the margins, but it is calling a spade a spade (no racial overtone intended!)
September 4, 2008 8:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
MSNBC reprots that Palin switched colleges six times in four years. Student privacy prevents knowing her grades, and only vishnu knows WHY, but all of the schools MSNBC contacted said no one from the McCain camp had been to see them.
September 4, 2008 8:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
And to think we believed that no one could be more incompetent than the current administration.
September 4, 2008 9:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Greg - what's up with Eric?
Come on - his conclusion above is bullshit and I wish he wouldn't try to tell me what to think about things -
September 4, 2008 8:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
"McCain's Hero Aura Inoculates Him Against Critics"
Tomorrow's AP headline:
"All True Sons and Daughter of the Fatherland Love and Obey the People's Tribune, Comrade Sen. McCain"
Or:
"Strive Diligently to Learn From the Wisdom of Sen. McCain's Thoughts"
This stuff really is getting beyond parody.
September 4, 2008 8:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is anyone watching the convention now?
It's terrorist night with a gawd awful video, exploiting the victims of 9/11. At MSNBC Brokaw is clearly in the Republican tank, with Keith in the Dem, slamming the film.
On CNN, Paul Beglia is calling the terrorism card, appalling.
September 4, 2008 8:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's still ALL they've got. Fantastic, now we can add 9/11 to every POW.
Whoo-hoo. I just stepped into the time machine.
September 4, 2008 9:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
don't play this drinking game...
Every time McCain says "My Friends" take a shot.
September 4, 2008 8:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
John McCain knows how to deal with the enemy.
What? Wait until they decide to let you go?
September 4, 2008 9:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
The AP has, for all practical purposes, become Fox News Wire Light. With Zell and Murdoch on the AP Board, I'm sure this won't change any time soon.
September 4, 2008 9:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
What is it with these Republican women? They are trotting out their families for display, cuddling their babies and making the case for war!!!
Oh hell.
September 4, 2008 10:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kiss my aura . . . Dora . . .
M-M-M . . . it's real angora
Would y'all like some more-a? Frank Zappa
Sen. Webb, fellow Vietnam comrade in arms, says "McCain has lived through so much he is entitled to use his past any way he wants."
By "lived through so much" Webb did not, definitely not, mean to imply that McCain is, you know, old.
Using his past any way he wants has been the Entitled Prince Johnny Sidney III's MO for a long time. His past as son and grandson of Admirals got him into - and through, barely - Annapolis and into Navy fighter planes.
But now, EPJS III has been convinced or coerced, by people who previously have trashed him, to use his past in a way so reminiscent of Viet Nam: McCain must destroy his reputation to save it.
September 5, 2008 3:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
I thought the bio-vid made him look weak, a spoiled lifer's son, wiseass hotdog fighter jock, injured victim.
Where is the leadership?
September 5, 2008 9:05 AM | Reply | Permalink