Here's another good article. Someone else probably wrote about this already, but I couldn't find it. (I could use your help on how I can verify whether or not a topic has been taken).
The article focuses on McSame's use of outrage to grab the daily line on the news.
"The McCain campaign baited the outrage hook, and the Obama campaign and the national media bit," says Todd Harris, a Republican political consultant who worked for McCain in 2000 and Fred Thompson in 2008. "Hats off to the McCain guys for completely throwing Obama off."
The article describes how, Steve Schmidt learned to use outrage in the 2004 Bush campaign to cut through the media like a chainsaw.
It also talks about how Obama's evenhanded approach fails to grab the headlines.
Then last week, the Obama campaign shifted gears, launching two new negative attacks on McCain, one suggesting that he was old by highlighting his time in Washington and unfamiliarity with email. The second, which focused on the number of former lobbyists who volunteer or work in the McCain campaign, misled viewers by suggesting that these officials still lobbied for special interests.
Neither attack was outraged or outrageous enough to create a new political conversation — let alone a tangent. This imbalance has caused some soul-searching and second-guessing in newsrooms, as reporters realize that they are being successfully manipulated by the McCain campaign. "Stop the madness," said TIME's own Mark Halperin, in an appearance on CNN to discuss the controversy. "I think this is the press just absolutely playing into the McCain campaign's crocodile tears."
I hope the news outlets will realize that they are taking the bait and begin leading the conversation instead of following.