UPDATE: To all the people saying "OMG stop complaining it's not helpful, I'm so sick of whiners": There are dozens of diaries posted every day. I did not trick you into reading this with a deceptive title. Anyone with half a brain can tell by the title that I'm about to complain about something. So when you come in and start going off about my silly concerns, what you're saying really translates to: "I simply must click on this diary in which someone is complaining so that I can complain about how much it annoys me when people complain." If people's complaining annoys you, DON'T FUCKING READ IT!!!!!
I'm a bit pissed right now. The latest Zogby poll has McCain up by 5 nationally. If it were just this one poll, I'd blow it off. But unfortunately every poll in the last 2 weeks points to the same trend - the race is becoming unacceptably close. And I blame this on the Obama campaign's decision not to debate John McCain in the town halls.
Now, clearly, I understand the justification for their deciding not to engage McCain in these town halls - why give McCain free air time, right? And if skipping these town halls meant that McCain would be in relative obscurity for a few months while Obama dominated the spotlight and the narrative, then it would be an excellent decision. But that's NOT what has happened.
The McCain campaign ended up buying (almost) as much air time as Obama anyway! And what REALLY pissed me off was the Obama campaign letting McCain outspend them on Olympic advertising. I mean, can someone PLEASE explain to me - what the fuck is the point of having a Goliath of a fund-raising machine if you aren't using it to crush your opponent?!?!? But I digress, because even that isn't the biggest problem with Obama's opting out of these town hall debates. Here's the big problem...
THE MSM WANTS A HORSE RACE! Period. And they will get it if Obama lets them (which he has been).
In order to tighten the race, the MSM has consistently been amplifying, dramatizing and repeating ad nauseum any and all charges that McCain makes against Obama. Ironically, I actually think that most journalists in the MSM personally favor Obama. I think they want him to win... but just by only a point or two. A blowout gives pundits nothing to pontificate about and it's bad for ratings. So the bigger the lead for Obama, the more likely it is that EVERYTHING he does is seen as a problem and justifies the pundits asking: "Does Obama have a XYZ problem?"
And so here is what's been happening...
- MCCAIN: "blah blah blah complete lies and bullshit blah blah blah."
- MSM has an orgasm. They validate it. They lend credibility to the incredible by refusing to call out pure lies for what they are, because those lies give them something to talk about and make the race exciting.
- These charges end up STICKING. Damage is already done.
- A day or two later, the Obama campaign replies. The MSM says "ooh, Obama has responded. But will it matter?" to which the answer is usually, and unfortunately: no, not much.
It's a purely defensive strategy. And it's weak. It waits for McCain to float some bullshit idea or accusation, lets that get some traction, and then tries to clear up whatever lies have been planted in people's minds.
And the ONLY reason McCain can get away with this is because Obama has not been there - standing next to him - putting McCain in his place. McCain has ended up getting all the airtime that the Obama campaign wanted to prevent them from getting via town halls (and then some). So this whole process of letting McCain spew his bile and then trying to clean it up is just NOT working.
Yeah, I know that he's been hitting back harder lately, but it's not enough. It's still hitting back, it's still defensive - it's just a stronger defense. These debates need to get under way ASAP, because there ARE enough stupid people in this country for us to be worried about the efficacy of McCain's low-road tactics.