Photo: Pete Souza
IN A CONVERSATION that cites the biased coverage of 2008, as well as what it might mean for 2012, the interview ABC News’s Jake Tapper did with Laura Ingraham is not something you’ll hear every day.
Tapper said he thought the “media helped tip the scales” in ’08, which I prove conclusively in my book, though it’s about a lot more. Tapper went on to talk also about “story selection,” as well as “magazine covers, photos picked” and stated “that it wasn’t always the fairest coverage and I hope it doesn’t happen again.” Amen.
Ingraham also brought up something Mark Halperin said on the Mitt Romney tax coverage by the press.
“The press still likes this story a lot. The media is very susceptible to doing what the Obama campaign wants, which is to focus on this. Do voters care about this? I don’t think so.” – Mark Halperin talking to NBC’s Lester Holt
At least Tapper believes this is a legitimate issue. What Halperin misses is the overall narrative between taxes, Bain capital and Mitt Romney’s own behavior, as well as his wife’s, and the impression being left. It colors everything else, which I believe current polling reveals, though there is no evidence Romney-Ryan can’t overcome the obstacle, especially if they can turn the discussion back to the economy.
However, the most important back and forth came on Afghanistan. Tapper is writing a book on the Afghanistan. He mentions 50-60 Afghan troops plotting to kill U.S. soldiers that were thankfully stopped. He then goes on to say, that not only is it a real problem, but “… It’s a real question about whether the Afghan Army and whether the U.S. in an effort to beef up the troop level to hasten the exit of the United States has lowered the standard for these… Afghan troops, so that we actually have enemies of the U.S. or people who are at least hostile to the U.S. being accepted and trained by the Afghans” and being funded by the American people, it should be added. Ingraham pressed this point.
Pres. Obama committing American resources to Afghanistan through 2024 is a mistake. But what is occurring in Afghanistan, with green-on-blue killings now an epidemic, is something that is truly troubling. Both are more important than anything else we’re talking about today.
Tapper’s correct, we’re not getting sufficient answers about the killings, which I last noted when Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dempsey arrived in Afghanistan to address the killings, as well as the most recent assaults here and here. We need more answers, that’s for sure.
Tape of the full interview…
Yes, there was a media bias in 2008…almost every pundit trashed the Clinton campaign. However, the media new love affair is with someone else for 2012…good heaven’s, some of the things I’ve researched on my own about Mitt Romney have never been covered by the mainstream media…If they did ever shed light on it…the guy would not be running neck and neck with Obama right now.
Also, I think Fox News (let’s not forget they are #1 cable news source)…went “WAY” beyond any news organization in bringing to light Obama major political flaws…to the point they now are making up a bunch crap…to keep the negativity going…also the scary “foreign” memo for them is great for ratings.
Hell, if it was not for Fox news Obama poll numbers would be much better. If I remember correctly, Obama had openly whined about how hard Fox News was hitting his poll numbers…LOL
What specifically is Fox News “making up” about Obama?
As far as Afghanistan…GET OUT NOW and you don’t have to worry about Afghans killing Americans.
We shoudn’t even be there right now.
“What Halperin misses is the overall narrative between taxes, Bain capital and Mitt Romney’s own behavior, as well as his wife’s, and the impression being left. It colors everything else, which I believe current polling reveals”
It’s debatable whether “current polling” reveals that or whether voters care about what can be arguably described as side issues. The latest polls I’ve seen out of WI & MI, 2 historically blue states, show Romney/Ryan leading. If Obama is truly losing WI AND MI, he’s in deep trouble.
The daily tracking polls, which survey thousands of people with partisan breakdown that appear reasonable (ie Dem 35, Rep 33, Ind 32), consistently show Romney leading. You could argue it’s a fluke when only 1 shows him leading, but when both polls with their ginormous sample sizes show Romney ahead, then it becomes more credible. The only polls I see Obama leading are Dem sample sized juiced polls from NBC, CNN, Pew, PPP, NY Times, etc that ALWAYS seem to have samples where Dems are polled by 10+ or more over Repubs. Why these media polls always oversample Dems is a mystery. I can understand PPP, which is DailyKOS poster; I understand PPP will always oversample Dems to juice their polls to make their benefactors at DailyKOS & SEUI feel good and continue to fund them, But why all the other media polls continue to oversample Dems remains a mystery.
Again, It’s debatable if voters care about Romney’s taxes, Bain, his wife’s horse, his dog, etc. Relying on polls from NBC, CNN, NY Times which oversample Dems does not accurately measure whether voters care about this.
I’m 100 percent certain that once there are no Americans in Afghanistan, no Americans will by dying in Afghanistan.
As to the race- it’s dead even, and will continue to be dead even all the way to the end, because 48% of Americans are not going to vote for Romney and 48% are not going to vote for Obama no matter what. The billions upon billions spent over the next few months will be designed to swing less than 5% of the electorate, because everyone else has made up their mind.
It’s hard to imagine a situation in which a landslide is even possible anymore- I think Obama’s victory in 2008 is as close as we can get with the current alignment.
Afghanistan has never been “tamed” and will most likely never will. For most of the terrorist-sponsoring nations, they will change when a charismatic leader/group rises and stamps out certain destructive behaviors and beliefs. To even THINK we can win the “War on Terror” is naive since the factors that fuel terrorism are many and varied.
And let’s be real, Afghans have a foreign power in their land. Whether your against the Taliban or not, there is simmering dislike that the USA is there. The country is poor with warlords effectively controlling livelihoods via the opium trade. Poverty, crushing religious extremism, drugs, etc after the initial battlefield operations; . you have the fuel for the green-on-blue killings.