As I write this, the front page of MSNBC shouts, in world-emergency-sized letters, "Palin delivers, but doubts linger."
Are you kidding me? The debate that I watched was a drubbing of Palin. In the debate that I watched, Palin wouldn't/couldn't even respond to the prompts given by the moderator. In the debate that I watched, I learned a new, useful fact every time Joe Biden opened his mouth. The debate that I watched was a debate that David Gergen called "the debate of Joe Biden's life."
I want to focus on that for a second. The sentiments of David Gergen, the only CNN commentator whose opinions I always find insightful, happen to have been seconded by uncommitted voters who were polled after the debates. Joe Biden gave a stellar performance, earning the trust of something like 98% of all respondents, period. THAT should be making headlines.
Instead, we have MSNBC jabbering on about "Palin delivers, but doubts linger." Just last week, Obama beat McCain with similar polling numbers, and the media rightly called it a solid Obama victory. Now, Biden courteously devastated Palin. Biden gave a masterful performance. And we're reading headlines about what Palin "delivered"?
Look, I don't think the MSM is in the tank for McCain, but, as my mother has said often of late, "They diminish us." For those folks who didn't get to watch the debate, it is crucial that the media accurately portray it. The NYT did a fine job with this; it described what happened without making judgments about the victor. In other words, they were objective, which is always acceptable. It would also be acceptable to declare Biden the winner, since all available polling data support this subjective view. But it is unacceptable to design your "news" coverage so narrowly that the actual news doesn't make the headlines. That's not "news;" that's "generating ad revenue."
The media concluded that a Palin "success" would occur if she did anything better than literally falling down during the debate. THAT is why MSNBC produced this absurd headline. But in my world, a world in which a large, proud country is looking to select a new President and VP for leadership in tough times, not falling down is not "success". Joe Biden earned trust tonight, slamming McCain the whole time. Sarah Palin defended Sarah Palin (apologies to Paul Begala); only in a world where you think she might literally fall down does her unsteady, unthinking approach earn the headline "Palin delivers."
Biden and Palin are not equals; they come from different backgrounds and have vastly different experiences. (Not Experience, the buzzword, but experiences; you know, the things that happen to you while you're alive.) But they are competing for the same job, and I expect them to be held to the same standard.
I feel like I just watched a Superbowl where the score was 70-7 and the headlines roar, "Both teams fight hard; neither team shut out." Oh, and the actual score will be buried somewhere deep on page C-13.
The Fourth Estate is failing.