Things have really heated up today. The lastest moves by the McCain campaign, and ultimately proof that the McCain campaign itself is waging a Sexist Counter-Offensive to end legitimate vetting by the MSM Media. In the words of Joe Klein,
The story of the day out here in Minneapolis is the McCain campaign's war against the press. This has been building for some time. Those of us who have criticized the candidate--and especially those of us who enjoyed good relations with McCain in the past--have been subject to off-the-record browbeating and attempted bullying all year.
Steve Schmidt has decided to slime the press. He wants the public to believe that there is an unfair--sexist--personal assault going on against Palin and her family. This is a smokescreen, intended to divert attention from the fact the very real and responsible vetting that is taking place in the media--about the substance of Palin's record as mayor and governor... But the media coverage of the Palin story has been well within the bounds of responsibility. Schmidt is trying to make it seem otherwise, a desperate tactic.
Klein goes on to encourage the media to continue to do their job.
But I hope my colleagues stand strong in this case: it is important for the public to know that Palin raised taxes as governor, supported the Bridge to Nowhere before she opposed it, pursued pork-barrel projects as mayor, tried to ban books at the local library and thinks the war in Iraq is "a task from God." The attempts by the McCain campaign to bully us into not reporting such things are not only stupidly aggressive, but unprofessional in the extreme.
Sexism? We've not encountered a situation like this before, and so some of the questions are uncomfortable to ask, and maybe we are holding Palin to a different standard. In some ways, the McCain strategy of noun-verb-gender card is getting tiresome, but the media seems to be backing off....even as Levi Johnson is now, because of Gov. Palin, in the spotlight.
This I believe is astonishing, especially considering how clearly the dots are connected
It was the McCain campaign that announced Palin's daughter's pregnancy. That alone might be understandable since it appears a supermarket tabloid was about to print the story. But it was the McCain campaign, entirely on its own, that dished up unsubstantiated claims about maternity tests and all sorts of other lurid nonsense that had never been seen in print anywhere. And now the McCain campaign has staged a ceremonial laying-on-of-hands on the tarmac in St. Paul in which Sen. McCain has given his official blessing to the young couple and embrace of Bristol's boyfriend Levi.
Let's be clear about what's happening here. Overwhelmingly, reporters are pressing eminently reasonable questions -- her role in troopergate, her lack of experience, her connections to the AIP, her history of earmarking and lobbyists, etc. Meanwhile, the McCain campaign is going absolutely non-stop about Palin's daughter. It is unmistakable.
The McCain campaign is certainly cowering behind the charge of Sexism to deflect legitimate Drip, Drip, Drip inquiries over Palin's qualifications. That in and of itself reeks of the whining sexism that Palin herself railed against when Clinton was running this spring.
This defense via offense should not be tolerated by the press, and certainly whatever GOP lead offense versus Daily Kos and other Liberal blogs must not relent. Obviously, there is an effect here; otherwise they wouldn't have launched a war with 60 days to go.
So I dare say, bring on more amateur journalism, dig up more stories, find more facts relevant to the voters. Otherwise, the GOP and John McCain will get off scott free as they used to, and besides, it's fun to watch them squirm this time isn't it...
UPDATE:
TPM Finds some Open Mic fun with some real feelings about Palin