Are the allegations of editorial and media bias in the 2008 presidential elections fair or useful?

In Orange County, California, in San Diego, CA, in Los Angeles, La Jolla, Del Mar, Pacific Beach, Carlsbad, Oceanside, San Marcos, Mission Beach and Escondido or in the cities of Huntington Beach, Anaheim Hills, Yorba Linda, Buena Park, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Newport Beach, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, and Laguna Hills, Buena Park, Temecula, Indian Wells, La Quinta, or Palm Springs, unless you haven’t turned on the television or you read a newspaper during the 2008 presidential election, or you looked on the internet, you have seen claims primarily from the Republican campaign that the editorial media is biased.

For the most part in this presidential campaign, one candidate initially directed these attacks on the press regularly, the Republican candidate, John McCain. While the newspapers expect this to some extent, the public who is not married to one side of the fence or the other seemed weary of the attacks. And for editorial attorneys in California and electoral attorneys in California and the rest of the country, this has been the year that such attacks have seemed practically pointless and inconsequential.

In the 2008 presidential election, John McCain denounced the New York Times in the strongest terms, following a Times report that McCain’s campaign manager had received nearly $ 2 million from mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. McCain’s chief strategist Steve Schmidt said the New York Times is no longer a journalistic organization, but is 150 percent in Barack Obama’s tank. Schmidt previously attacked MSNBC for being a body of the Democratic National Committee and said the media is on a mission to destroy Sarah Palin.

Unfortunately for John McCain, it has since been reported in the press that McCain’s campaign manager’s lobbying company owned by his campaign manager has received $ 15,000 / month for almost three years and that and that the campaign manager received $ 30,000 / month for nearly five years by an advocacy organization he led that was funded by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to fight regulation. Additionally, McCain’s senior adviser, his campaign vice president, and his liaison with Congress were also reported to have raised large sums of money by lobbying Fannie and Freddie or were in companies that did.

In an apparent attempt to divert attention from his misguided attack to the New York Times story, McCain announced that he would suspend his campaign to fly to Washington immediately after waking up that morning to find a report in the Washington Post that he was late on the polls by nine points. Shortly after attempting to criticize that finding, and knowing what the disaster of Sarah Palin’s interview with Katie Couric that night would be, McCain decided to drop his appearance on David Letterman’s show, overshadowing Couric’s interview with his own interview on CBS News. . and announce the suspension of his campaign which was never really a suspension.

In hindsight, of course, McCain’s actions were a huge misjudgment. His New York nonsense after leaving Letterman was picked up and beaten mercilessly for two nights on the David Letterman Show and later on the Daily Show, other news shows, on the internet and in the press. By the time he arrived in Washington the next day, it had already been announced that there was bipartisan support for the bailout bill, which dissipated just as quickly upon arrival. It was reported that her campaign had not been suspended and Letterman, among others, joked at her expense why she must have felt she could not leave her campaign in the hands of Sarah Palin, when she was found unable to answer the simple questions she asked. Katie Couric. And after announcing that he would not take part in the debate until there was a bailout bill or great progress toward one, he had to fly back from Washington for debate without a bailout bill in hand and Congress. much less united than when it arrived. .

After John McCain was skewered by David Letterman for days, there was little he could do. He couldn’t attack David Letterman for being biased. David Letterman is not news, he is a comedian. He is licensed to make jokes at the expense of the candidate. On top of that, McCain had not only canceled his appearance, but David Letterman had shown his audience a CBS News livestream of McCain receiving makeup on his face for an appearance on CBS News with Katie Couric within walking distance. . When he later made up for his missed appearance on David Letterman two weeks later, he admitted his mistake by saying, “I screwed up.”

Attacking the media has long been a tactic of national candidates. In this election, once again, we have seen this tactic employed, but with little of the success it had in previous presidential campaigns. The John McCain and Sarah Palin skits on Saturday Night Live have been relentless and hilarious, and with that popularity, there has been little that either candidate could do more than laugh along with American audiences and wait for an invitation to appear on the show. .

Surprisingly, there have been fewer allegations of injustice than might be expected against two news channels that are ardent and recognized supporters of one candidate over another. The candidates have even made jokes about how some of the MSNBC anchors favor Obama and how many of the Fox News anchors favor McCain. With these jokes, there now seems to be an acceptance of bias by news stations and less effort by news anchors to remain impartial even on financial channels.

In the past, attacking the press has paid off for presidential candidates. This time, the attack has fallen on deaf ears and has been the exception to the rule that it will help a candidate, or there is a change in what a candidate risks if they make a mistake or are perceived as thin-skinned. .

As the elections wind down and major newspapers back the candidates, with some newspapers like the Chicago Tribune never having backed a Democratic presidential candidate before, backing Obama, accusations of media bias are They do it on the sidelines and the electorate will decide whether they push being fair or not, or just doing their job.

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