...although the general election in November is a completely different story.
It's hard for The Cable Gamer to believe that Barack Obama's can survive, for example, images of his good friend Bill Ayers
deliberately and delightedly stomping on an American flag.
But TCG offers this confident prediction: that photowill never be seen on MSNBC. Why? Because MSNBC is going to get out of the game of noting anything that might be wrong with Obama.
A case in point is the way that Sen. John Kerry shouted down MSNBC's Alex Witt. MSNBC is "the place for politics," of course, and so that would seem to mean that MSNBC would blitz-cover the political story of the day. Indeed, as noted here on Monday afternoon, that's what MSNBC did to Obama in the wake of the speech by Jeremiah Wright at the National Press Club. MSNBC covered the story heavily, and of course, Obama was hurt badly that week, by the combined weight of all the coverage, almost all of it negative.
Of course, it's not the job of the news networks to do favors (or disfavors) for anybody. But wait! We're talking about NBC and its offshoots, which Bill O'Reilly correctly describes as "Obama Headquarters."
So what does that mean, in terms of coverage? This is what it means. Now that the Obamans have got their legs underneath them again, they are spinning, and spinning hard--and that means that they are going to insist that the American people wish to "move on" from considerations of Ayers, Wright, etc.
Well, maybe they do, and maybe they don't. But we know that MSNBC is about to move on. And the lefty media will cheer. For example, Jason Linkins, writing for The Huffington Post, was eager to chime in, under the headline, "Kerry Rips MSNBC On Wright: 'You People Need To Let Go Of This.'" (That's a screen grab above.) And here's the Witt-Kerry transcript, as provided by Linkins at Huffpost:
WITT: Okay. He said it. A 20-year relationship. Reverend wright married him. He is the one who baptized a god parent. How personally painful is this for him?
KERRY: Can I say something to you? Obviously it is painful and he said it. You folks need to let go of this. Television needs to stop dwelling on something that is in the past. I thought Barack Obama yesterday gave America his second big presidential moment of this campaign. The first when he spoke out about the issue of race. The second yesterday, when he made it clear, every one of the statements of the minister are just unacceptable. They're not the person that he knew before. Now let's move on to how we'll put people to work. How are you going to give people health care? How are you going to create jobs in america? What Barack Obama is offering in this gas price issue is real leadership. I mean, do we want people who sort of put their fingers in the wind and throw out an idea for the short term that is sort of politically pleasing, or do you want a here who stands up and says, no, what we need is to really lower gas prices by having a real energy policy, an intelligent policy that puts in place the incentives for renewable fuels and alternative fuels. That's what Barack Obama is doing. And it is you guys have to focus on the thing that really matter to the American electorate. The other thing is just worn out, old history now. This guy had his narcissistic moment and it is finished.
WITT: Okay. Point well taken. Did I say to begin, can I just say, sir, I knew you weren't going to like that question. On the record.
KERRY: Let's move on to the thing that really matter to people. I think people in America are tired of this stuff.
WITT: Okay.
Don't we all wish that we could tell everyone else what we did, and did not, want them to ask us about! After we issue an order, we hear a meek "Okay" as the response. Now that's a power move!
Well, of course, that's exactly what the Obamans want--to change the subject. And then Witt and the rest of MSNBC, plus much of the MSM, will be happy enough to comply.
But there is one little thing. Actually, a not so little thing. Not all the rest of the media will be as obedient--make that eager--as MSNBC to overlook Obama's flaws. Most Americans, for example, are probably curious as to whether or not Obama is a radical who hangs out with radicals.
After all, others knew better. If Oprah Winfrey chooses to reveal that she stopped attending Wright's church in the 90s, according to The Chicago Tribune, well, then, what does that say about Obama, and his judgment, that he kept going till just a few months ago?
To MSNBC, none of this means probably means anything. Orders are orders. The party line is the party line. After all, MSNBC and its sister networks, NBC and CNBC, have a lot invested in Obama. As Jim Pinkerton observed on "Fox News Watch" over the weekend, Obama has won what Pinkerton called "the MSNBC primary," but now Hillary is competing in "the Fox News primary," viz. her interview with Bill O'Reilly.
It will be easy enough for the Obamans to mau-mau MSNBC into nothing but Witt-like servility. And some, such as Huffpost, will cheer.
But the rest of the media will be harder to intimidate. And less eager to please.
The Cable Gamer never makes political predictions, but it's safe to say that John McCain could win this election. It's at least a possibility, but you'll never know it from watching MSNBC.
