The story of splits in the usual Republican base is being largely ignored by the media. (I sure can't remember any coverage by mainstream media of the growing likelihood of a Ron Paul-Bobb Barr Libertarian coalition in November, but it's very real.)
After all, we know there is still an adoring McCain fan club of reporters on the "McSame Express"- plus a desire by corporate media to keep the illusion of a tight race for the presidency going. The long primary season we Democrats just finished gave cable news channels the "reality show" drama and hype they crave for their advertisers, and the boys just can't let it go. They're like teenagers in love with that unattainable girl. They just keep trying, even if they make fools of themselves.
Gee, after all, they thought up all those cliches that echo sports, especially horse-racing:
"Clinton defiant at the finish line," "Bill Clinton stumbles on the stump," McCain surges to the front while Clinton hangs on," "Huckabee stumbles and McCain surges," "Obama stumbles in battle for Clinton supporters," and on and on ad nauseum. (There's a whole lot of "stumbling" going on there.)
By the way, I found those cliches just by Googling various combinations of candidates' names and some sports words. I could have copied hundreds of them.)
Now that Obama has secured the nomination and the election isn't until November, one would think the cable talking heads might cover something else for a change...like the faltering war in Afghanistan, China's ever-enlarging role in the Middle East and Africa, the rising anger of the American consumer, the possibility of peak oil production being here, etc.
Nope. It's still lots of glitzy graphics of election scenarios and breathless "analysis," but with cut-aways always for really graphic car chases, floods, big fires - any visual containing sex, violence, speed, or disaster, just as long as good video is available from the satellite.
Yep...Wolf Blitzer and cohorts at CNN, Faux News Propaganda channel's sexy blondes in low-cut clothing and its angry men, bombastic Chris Mathews and buddies at MSNBC - all still pretend that John McCain is the Second Coming, while trying mightily to avoid saying a good thing about Barack Obama.
Let's face it: Mainstream media is business-oriented and conservative in its coverage of politics with a bias toward the Republican Party. It does not matter one whit whether the talking head with the script has personal politics that are liberal or Democratic since it's the owners and bosses who decide the news slant.
For many Americans corporate media is increasingly irrelevant in an age of the Internet and YouTube and blogs, of the ability to get news from European sources and other international outlets.
So, what is the best thing about the media approach to the Obama campaign, its insistence that John McCain is in an even race with the Illinois senator?
Well, all that propaganda by Biltzer, Matthews, and the rest of them that McCain is almost "ahead" should keep those of us who support Obama from getting over-confident. If we are smart, it will give us the incentive to work all the harder to insure his election.
So - in a strange way - please, please keep it up, media guys!