One of the most fascinating parts of watching the media, at least to me, is to see the subtle ways in which they try and impart their view to the public. Matt Drudge is of course one of the main proponents of this type of "journalism" as seen in part by his selective use of polls that favor Obama and quotes in stories that will be read, but knowningly taken out of context.
However as the election has gone forward, Drudge has taken these attempts to another level, culminating in his headline today. While putting forth a quote from Zogby calling the election a "landslide like Reagan", Drudge puts up a photo of Obama that he knows will have inflammatory results. In his picture, a group of African American leaders are "placing hands" on Obama, a Christian act that is often misunderstood by those outside of the faith, but is a deeply spiritual act by those that are involved in it. In the picture, every person shown is black, and all have their heads bowed....most certainly in prayer. But the picture looks to the common observer as if they are worshiping Obama, a notion that has continually been perpetrated by the right-wing press for months.
In so doing, Drudge (whose power matters due to his huge number of visitors) is trying to of course scare the general public. Look, here is the guy who has a chance to win a landslide like Reagan and look at how this devoted group of African Americans worship him....you must be scared. The subtle racism would play strong in parts of this country, where people might be scared by the sight. There is no doubt that playing to this "fear" is the goal of Drudge and the selection of this picture.....out of ALL the pictures he could have chosen with that headline....is intended to have that effect.