Memo to media: Please keep giving McCain a pass!

You read that correctly.  Please don't tell the traditional media to diss McCain.  We want them to treat him with kid gloves... for now.

We especially don't want them bringing up the "100 years" comment (unless they treat it this way).  We don't want them discussing this, either.  It's okay if this flies under the radar, too.

Why?  Think of a symphony.

We have a dynamic, press-coverage eating contest happening on our side.  McCain, by contrast is behind in fundraising, saying dumb things, and generally being ignored (geez, even Fox thinks so!).

This is a good thing, because we are nowhere near the climax of the symphony.  The themes being sounded are intended to resonate later -- when our candidate starts bringing them up, in forums where they will be noticed.  

For example, consider the Presidential debates.  Let me offer you a few choice McCainisms from one of the links above:

Promising to try to woo black voters, McCain told radio interviewer Tavis Smiley, "I know that I'm not going to get a majority of the African-American vote. But I'm going to campaign all over this country. I'm going to go to South Philadelphia, I'm going to go to the Black Belt in Alabama . . ."

If McCain wants to win over black voters, first he'd better know where to find them.

John, a hint: They're in West Philly and North Philly, if they're concentrated in Philly at all.

McCain has admitted he "doesn't really understand economics." Neither do most people, but we expect more, and need more, from a president.

Yep.

Is McCain a moderate, as many believe? He has been called the worst senator in Congress for children by the Children's Defense Fund, rates a zero for his environmental voting record from the League of Conservation voters, and thinks Roe v. Wade should be overturned.

And at the moment, America is unaware of McCain the radical Republican.

Though Pat Buchanan, of all people, is:

Right-wing pundit Pat Buchanan has said, "McCain will make Cheney look like Gandhi." That's scary talk, but hardly noticed.

Like a symphony, a campaign requires careful timing.  Let the press find, then bury, the themes.  They're still there, little nuggets of melody to be fleshed out in later movements.  A good symphony builds; it doesn't waste all the good stuff in the first movement.  Our symphony has as its climax the Presidential debates.  By then, the themes should be sounding loudly, with our candidate giving them full voice.  The Machivellianly brilliant thing that Karl Rove did in 2004 was to time the Swift Boat strike for the interlude between the conventions.  We don't want McCain answering questions when the voters are not noticing.  John shoots from the hip, and he's angry when he does it; we want Americans to see this in living color, when our candidate is bringing game directly to him.

Timing is everything.  While we don't want to wait too long to define McCain, the narrative needs to shift, not now, when most of America is back watching network television, but in the summer, when we should be flush with money and interest returns to the campaign.  Right now is indeed steno time.  Gather the themes, sort them out, and get them ready.  When the media sees blood, they will forget all about their little barbecue -- except as how it serves as a metaphor for what McCain's opponent is doing to him.

•  Tip jar

  Fight the right fight.  My slogan.

  by mspicata on Tue Apr 08, 2008 at 07:06:11 AM PDT

•  Your simile strikes a lovely chord

  I just don't know if the media will ever figure it out or care to report it even if they do. Dry rubbed ribs are a powerful thing.

  by alasmoses on Tue Apr 08, 2008 at 07:14:33 AM PDT

  •  It's hard not to get excited

    by the "Ode to Joy" in Beethoven's Ninth, even if you were sleeping through the whole rest of the evening.  Journalists, in the end, are really just like the rest of us; they're happy to be nice to McCain when there's nothing better to report.  Everything will change when we take it directly to him -- becaus the story will be irresistible.  

    by mspicata on Tue Apr 08, 2008 at 07:18:24 AM PDT

•  The same media

  that looked down their noses at John Kerry are so eager to give McCain a free pass, it's sickening.
       Remember the purple heart band-aides? Maybe democrats should start wearing small band-aides with tiny microphones on them!

  by lyvwyr101 on Tue Apr 08, 2008 at 07:15:47 AM PDT

•  I tend to disagree

  Right now is the time to start defining McCain. Otherwise he gets to decide how to define himself.

  Once his narrative is in place, it will be harder to redefine McCain with information that goes counter to his narrative, regardless of its veracity.

  by MingPicket on Tue Apr 08, 2008 at 07:15:48 AM PDT

  •  I'm advocating

    for a sub rosa defining right now.  Frankly, if no one's paying attention, McCain's attempts to define himself aren't going to work.

    McCain is his own worst enemy on this, anyway.  Bush at least had the discipline to stay on persona, phony as it was.  McCain simply can't do it, and that's what I'm banking on.  He will be easy to redefine, no matter what he tries to do now.

    by mspicata on Tue Apr 08, 2008 at 07:22:02 AM PDT

•  As Dean says, McCain is such a flawed candidate,

  and I feel confident he will be toast in the November election -- I don't care how in bed he is with the media, or hoe close the national polls are now.

  There is SO much ammunition the Democratic nominee will have to fire, we should all be salivating.

  As you say, let's let McCain continue to talk and say stupid stuff like he tends to do, and let the media ignore it -- for now.

  Just wait -- his time for vetting will soon come. There's just too much there to attack, and even if the MSM wants to continue to give him a pass, the Democrats don't -- and won't. And the public will become much more informed about the Republican nominee -- about how un-maverick, non-straight talking, and conservative he actually is.

  Let the show soon begin! I'll make the popcorn.

  by Kim from Pgh PA on Tue Apr 08, 2008 at 07:46:47 AM PDT

  •  Make my popcorn

    organic and multicolored.  I'm with your analogy too:  If this was a DVD, we're skipping through the previews; we're being forced to watch the FBI warning; the time will come when the opening credits are over.  I'll be glued to the screen, and so will Americans.

    by mspicata on Tue Apr 08, 2008 at 07:51:07 AM PDT

•  Sorry - spell check! hoe = how

  by Kim from Pgh PA on Tue Apr 08, 2008 at 07:47:36 AM PDT

•  Heh!

  Though he still needs to be tenderized before the big barbecue.

  by Phoenix Woman on Tue Apr 08, 2008 at 07:51:41 AM PDT

  •  Oooh! Overextended analogy alert!

    Marinade takes time.  Ten-minute marinades make lousy barbecue.

    by mspicata on Tue Apr 08, 2008 at 07:53:18 AM PDT