Media Watch: The SO-Called "Liberal" Media and the Coverage of Candidates

It seems to have escaped the consciousness of "mainstream" news editors and reporters that Barack Obama had some pretty big news this past week. Instead, the night he won the needed delegates for the nomination, we saw John McCain's prime-time attempted take-down of Barack Obama. And then we saw Hillary's non-concession wrongfully asserting the number of votes she received (her math included zero for Obama in Florida and Michigan), despite her shameful Bush-like signing statement that she wouldn't run or campaign in either state. And so it went all week. The Hillary Rodham Clinton show, unfurled through the weekend. As if...

The media kept alive the false claim that Hillary lost because of sexism, despite the fact hat she got at least as many votes because of sexism (it is sexist to support Hillary because she is a woman). The media failed to consider that Barack Obama won because he ran a superior campaign. He raised and managed his money better. And he didn't base his tactics on the worn, tired strategies of the Mark Penns of the world. The media fanned the rift between Obama and Clinton supporters, and generally kept up the sour-grapes story-line. Her supporters will support McCain we were told. As if... If they vote against their own interests, they will have only themselves to blame. But I'm not buying it. had the shoe been on the other foot, despite how angry I became at Hillary's divisive tactics, I would never have voted for McCain, and would have, at minimum, voted for Hillary. I really don't think Hillary supporters are that foolish. But the media wants us to believe otherwise. It's a better story.

Last night NBC's Nightly News with Brain Williams had John McCain appear, as if by magic, right on the screen live, in a real-time interview with Williams, the Nightly News now used for a pro-McCain "conversation." Only softballs were lobbed. Obama got less than a minute, while McCain got an "in depth."

Today, Katie Couric used part of a McCain campaign speech in her CBS Evening News presentation. The clip featured McCain actually lying about Obama's tax/economic plan. No biggie. (She gave a few seconds to Obama's rebuttal.) And so it goes.

Rupert Murdoch, whose support of Hillary Clinton was always suspect, has given new piles of cash in support of Republicans. Did Hillary really think it would be otherwise when she allowed Murdoch to throw a fund raiser for her? And so we have the hint of things to come: Not even the faintest attempt to give Obama his due, not one ounce of fairness in the aftermath of his victory, and the usual McCain-fawning press. As Chris Matthews has said repeatedly, the press are his (McCain's) base. So, what's new?