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Conservative Defections and the Liberal Media Myth

By Brian Normoyle - Oct 18th, 2008 at 3:15 am EDT

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Tags: Andrew Bacevich, charles krauthammer, Chicago Tribune, Christopher Buckley, christopher hickins, conservative endorsements, elitism, elitist, Endorse, endorsement, Endorsements, endorses obama, Joe the Plumber, Journalist, Kathleen Parker, liberal media, mainstream media, McCain, mccain loss, media bias, Obama, Peggy Noonan, william f. buckley, William Kristol

In a FOX News interview Friday, John McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds complained about media scrutiny of "Joe the Plumber"--the newest character in the three-act farce that has become their campaign. Of course, McCain's "old buddy Joe" and the veracity of his narrative would have merely been a passing blip on media radar had the campaign not thoughtlessly forced him front-and-center in the final presidential debate as just another prop in their play. Bounds huffed and puffed about "[Barack Obama's] allies in the media"--otherwise known as journalists doing their job--but in so doing, he forgot McCain has a penchant for throwing otherwise ordinary persons under the bus by not properly vetting their "compelling" narratives before pitching them headfirst into the gladiator arena of national politics. If the campaign had done its job the way journalists are now trying to do theirs in this election, most of us would never have heard of Sarah Palin or Joe the Plumber.

One can hardly fault campaign surrogates for attempting to discredit the media and label them as biased, liberal or "in-the-tank" for Obama. The cultural myth of a liberal mainstream media is dubious, but conservatives have successfully framed political discourse for decades by propagating it among a credulous base.

This time, however, it seems terribly desperate and utterly disingenuous to denigrate journalists for doing something McCain should have done days earlier--and with respect to Sarah Palin--months earlier. At this point in a flailing and increasingly erratic campaign, the tactic of complaining about a liberal media bias is as futile as is it trite. But more importantly, it belies a more significant and insurmountable problem for the campaign: apostate conservatives. Traditional media conservatives are abandoning John McCain like rats deserting a sinking ship. Andrew Sullivan questioned his integrity, Peggy Noonan and Kathleen Parker his judgment. William Kristol advocated McCain fire his entire campaign and start from scratch and even Charles Krauthammer seemed perplexed by his frenetic behavior while admitting Obama passes the Reagan presidential-mettle test. Stinging as those resounding critiques may be, and they certainly have a bite, the final nail in McCain's campaign coffin may have been hammered in by conservative endorsements of his opponent.
Andrew Bacevich endorsed Obama in March and Wick Allison did it in September. Then there were the two iconic Christophers: recently Hitchins and last week Buckley, son of National Review founder William F. Buckley, who is widely credited as the father of modern conservatism. Hitchins endorsed Obama Monday in a rebuke of McCain's temperament and character, while Buckley cost himself a job at his late father's magazine by announcing he will vote for a Democrat for the first time in his life when he pulls the lever for Obama in November.

The nation also heard Thursday from David Brooks and Friday the Chicago-Tribune endorsed a Democrat for president for the first time in the 160-year history of the paper. As if it couldn't get any worse for McCain, we're likely to hear the revered Colin Powell offer his support, if not a full-throated endorsement, of Obama on Meet the Press Sunday morning.

With just over two weeks to go until the election, this repudiation by the right-of-center punditocracy doesn't bode well for a candidate who was never a darling of conservatives to begin with--particularly among the evangelical right. Does this mean McCain has already lost the election? No. There exists a real possibility for a McCain squeaker, though getting there will be an uphill war (not battle) at this point.

What it does mean is that Republicans will not be able to blame a mythical liberal media for their failure to energize the electorate. I have long considered the specter of a liberal media to be a fable born of paranoia. Invented as a strategy to win elections, it later became a defense against potential Republican failure and a tagline to foment mistrust among the electorate. But when used to perpetuate a patrician v. plebeian mentality, it's a script perfect for aiding campaigns that win and justifying those that don't.

Casting themselves as the underdog party of Jesus, small government and real patriotism, Republicans claim to fight for the common man while they brand academics and journalists as biased, elitist pigs (instant snobbery, just add education). Then they rehash the hackneyed line about liberals and how much better they think they are than the working-class, and the result is a seemingly impervious battleship of electoral dominance. That is until reality seeps in and that ship starts to sink, leaving many heretofore stalwart conservatives to reverse course or jump ship altogether.

If McCain fails to win in November, the campaign will have the sellout himself to blame, along with several other parties. This year, however, the imaginary liberal media will not be one of them.

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you may be a sage...or me just a fantasy nut | Report to Admin

By Jonathan from Tampa, FL Oct 18th 2008 at 5:50 am EDT (Updated Oct 18th 2008 at 5:50 am EDT)

This could be the day McCain lost the election and the political landscape forever changed. It won't be a big bang, and it won't with fireworks -- but there will be a moment, point of time that can be traced back to when the momentum hit a tipping point and the beginning of the end can be marked -- this is that time.

With these defections, 3 other major newspapers, the whispers of a Powell endorsement ALL spurred on by the filing of the legal plea to add Bush/McCain/GOP to the already existing Special Prosecutors docket of the DOJ judge firings.

Everyone knows, but no one could establish the chain of evidence of voter suppression dating back to Fla. in 2000, 2004 and even worse in 2006 – until McCain spoke in the debate about ACORN and voter fraud with an odd, forceful and foreshadowing command. The next day the AP reports a “non-identified”, self admitted illegal source from the DOJ about FBI investigations prior to the FBI making the announcement.

In other words McCain knew the FBI raids were going to happen prior to the next morning – this all has a familiar feel to it -- G. Gordon Liddy, Plumbers, Nixon, WaterGate? Only this time it is modern and runs straight through McCain, to Bush/DOJ and to the ROVE/GOP machine. Everyone from media to judges to campaign staffers know it has been happening, but no one could prove it until this unusual statement and resulting FBI actions on queue.

As soon as the legal filing was made, the horn was sounded, it was safe to come out, the “liberal” media could make their move and the clean GOP knew it was safe to align themselves with the Obama team.

In the coming days, we will see lots of odd endorsements, old-time GOPers and massive defection looking for protection under the alignment of the new administration.

Bush, Cheney, McCain, Rove, FOX, most of the NEO-GOP will collapse, go underground and cease to exist for many years as we have come to know them.

Although, just as with Nixon, it will all happen again in 50 years.

Republican Pundits Drink Obama Koolaid | Report to Admin

By Janet from Voorhees, NJ Oct 18th 2008 at 6:34 am EDT (Updated Oct 18th 2008 at 6:34 am EDT)

I think those Republican pundits drank a wee bit of the Obama Koolaid. They aren't thinking straight.

If Obama is elected, they'll have an Obama Koolaid hangover for the next four years.

Your last commenter mentioned all these people from the GOP's Nixon era . Gee, glad he has a memory.

Speaking of memories, let's remember Obama and Ayers, Rezko, Frank Davis, Allison Davis, al Mansour, his 2 Pakistani classmates, Rashid Khalidi, Auchi, Alsammarae, Prof. McKnight. Not to mention the SDS, ACORN, the failed Annenberg Challenge and the Woods Fund grants.

As far as the Obama MSM investigating Joe the Plumber, their time would be better spent investigating Obama and his controversial ties. That's long overdue, but the good thing is there's still time left.

Since the Obama MSM was investigating Joe the Plumber, and parked outside his home, I guess their back from their witch-hunting trip to Alaska.

Re: Republican Pundits Drink Obama Koolaid | Report to Admin

By shaka Oct 18th 2008 at 7:45 am EDT (Updated Oct 18th 2008 at 7:45 am EDT)

Oh Janet, you poor thing, you have been brain washed, but it is OK when Obama is elected President, he is such a good person he will help you also. You need to get your head out of McCains sand box, read the real facts, of how Obama wants to help the middle class, secure your retirement, secure Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, give you a tax break if you make under $250 grand a year, give your employer a tax break for every new American employee he hires, Hmmmn! sounds fair and logical to me, if you want to talk trash like the Man you support, I think you got your links mixed up.

Re: Republican Pundits Drink Obama Koolaid | Report to Admin

By Brian Normoyle Oct 18th 2008 at 4:09 pm EDT (Updated Oct 18th 2008 at 4:09 pm EDT)

And hence the reason Christopher Buckley was essentially fired from the very magazine his father (also considered the father of the modern conservative movement) founded: right-wing nuts will support the views of the conservative pundits, but only if those views are in lock step with their own.

These endorsement (en masse, nevertheless) are not a result of conservatives drinking the "Kool-Aid" or any other trite, cliched, tired, childish moniker you can dream up. These are right-of-center pundits, people who have made entire careers out of their conservative views, who are alo sentient, thinking minds. I don't usually agree with them, but at least in this case they are analyzing the realities of this race and its implications in an intellectually curious, rational manner rather than resorting to blind fury and emotion.

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