Did The "Whore Media" Annoint Dean Before A Single Vote Was Cast?

[DrFunkenstein]

I know it seems like ages since Dean was on top, but I seem to remember that the media had pretty much pegged Dean as the winner as early as last September. They also seemed to systematically downplay the candidacies of anyone else running. They seemed fond of Clark for a short time, but grew listless when he didn't gain steam. They were butchering Kerry way back in the day and dramatically helped to tear him down from the front-runner status last year through consistently negative coverage.

My question is to the people who repeatedly decry the influence of the media: Where was this outrage earlier? If you are disgusted now by the influence, why was there no outpouring of indignation back when the media was calling the race before a vote was cast?

Kerry completely surprised the media, who had been telling the public for weeks that Dean was a shoo-in and biasing them towards sticking with a "winner."

If there are complaints that the coverage was negative towards Dean even as they crowned him, while Kerry gets a free ride now, think about this: Was the coverage of Kerry positive back then? Was the coverage of Kerry ever glowing until after he won (and won resoundingly)?

[jpgray]

1. The media loves making a winner, and they love tearing a winner down

Expect them to do both on either side during the primary. In the GE, they will shill for Bush.

[bigwillq]

2. The "Whore Media" did annoint Dean but that led to

one of Dean's downfalls. Yes, Dean had something to do with his support lagging but the media played a big factor too early in the race. Now that the voters have given Kerry a few wins, the media is really annointing Kerry now.

[blm]

5. Democratic voters are annointing Kerry now.

Big difference.

[bigwillq]

9. I think I mentioned that in my post when I said

"The voters have given Kerry a few wins". I agree that the voters are speaking and it's in Kerry lingo but it's still a long race.

[Terwilliger]

3. Actually, they didn't report on Kerry much

because he was so damn dull and couldn't generate even the most moderate interest in his campaign

[jpgray]

4. Not true, they ripped him to pieces when he fired his manager (nt)

[philosophie_en_rose]

8. True.

Kerry is the "it" boy right now, but there is a lot of time for the media to turn on him.

[FrenchieCat]

6. Yea, the media was fond of Clark....

for about one millisecond......until the airplane ride on the day that he announced....starting the next day...it was attack, ignore, attack, ignore...

But what is the sickest thing is that the media does end up getting who they choose....as long as that person doesn't self destruct!

[aquart]

7. Annoint him or set him up?

With the raised expectations, not winning hugely and at once made him a non-contender (to the media) which was just what they wanted.

Now they can do seamy, "loser" stories about "lost glory."

Think of the other images they could be using: boxer on the mat, leaping up for a winning finish? David aiming for Goliath?

I tend not to let rich Republicans make my decisions.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. When 5,000 people show up to a rally.....it's news.

When 200 do....it isn't.


When insiders make backroom deals to ensure an insider win, it produces a victory.

When a victory occurs, it produces "momentum."

When "momentum" occurs it produces "inevitability."

When "inevitabilty" occurs it produces a "presumptive nominee."

When a "presumptive nominee" occurs it produces sheep.



Baa.

[NV1962]

11. May we should complain less and Faux Cuss more

Writing letters and calling helps - as long as it's not a barrage of copy/paste vitriol, but frank expressions of "concern" over their obsession with "entertainment value" where it's Democracy itself that is at stake.

[YouMustBeKiddingMe]

12. Thank you! I've been saying that over and over!!

The same Dean supporters opining now that it's the media that has picked Kerry as the winner conveniently refuse to acknowledge the fact that it was Dean who got the Lion's share of coverage over the past years and was all but crowned the inevitable Democratic nominee.

The truth is that the people did NOT let the media make their choice for them and they looked over the candidates for themselves and made their OWN decision. The other factor was that the supposed vast support for Dean was an "illusion" and did not materialize.

No, the people screaming about the media now were not shocked appalled and outraged when Dean was getting constant attention and the assumption the he was a shoo-in before the primaries even started. Back when Kerry was getting butchered.

The cries now are very disingenuous indeed.

[stickdog]

18. What is disingenuous is all the supporters of other candidates who

were clapping while Repukes, Gephardt and the media were destroying the only Democrat in history who ever managed to connect up 150,000 meeting supporters and over a half million small donors.

They all told us that it was either great or normal or expected or inevitable that the media tear into any front-runner over any perceived mistatement, pore over every word he said over the last 15 years, call him to task on everything that ever went wrong in the world while he was alive, and flood the papers and airwaves with anecdotal "trend stories" like "Doubts About Dean Surface Among the Three People I Interviewed."

So where is that critical coverage now, when we need it, before we nominate the biggest loser in the field? Nowhere to be found except the pages of the National Enquirer. And not one paper even dared ask Kerry for his reaction about the parts of his biography that come after Vietnam. You know, the parts that make him a SITTING DUCK in the general election!

[LSdemocrat]

13. They ripped him to shreds before a single vote was cast

[Julien Sorel]

14. Judy Woodruff for months:

Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is picking up steam.

Kerry is dull. Kerry is running a bad campaign. Kerry is stuck in the dark ages of campaigning. Kerry sucks. Kerry is tired. Kerry is a disaster. Almost no other politicians were discussed, except to use as contrasts for Howard Dean.


Of course, Dean's supporters were saying he had 'earned' that kind of coverage, because he was the frontrunner. Now it's all some kind of corporatist conspiracy which the unions have joined in on somehow. Amazingly pathetic, and not a little bit frightening.

The truth is, Dean never learned how to use all the media attention he received. He never learned how to shape his image, and was unable or unwilling to rephrase his message when it was obviously becoming tired. The reality is that Howard Dean is an extremely limited politician, and when the landscape changed, he was behind the curve in changing with it -- so he lost. Had he been a little less stubborn and arrogant, maybe even if Saddam hadn't been caught, we'd likely be seeing the spectacle of obnoxious Dean supporters running around here rubbing it in in the face of a crushing
GE loss; now we see them creating wild conspiracy theories that fly in the face of the facts. C-R-Y

[NashVegas]

16. I Believe You Misspeak

Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is angry. Howard Dean is arrogant. Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is angry. Howard Dean is arrogant. Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is angry. Howard Dean is arrogant. Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is angry. Howard Dean is arrogant. Howard Dean is picking up steam. Howard Dean is angry. Howard Dean is arrogant. Howard Dean is picking up steam.

[stickdog]

17. What's pathetic is people who applaud the way the media elite

choose our dismal candidates for us.

Kerry over Dean & Clark.

Bush over McCain.

Mondale over Hart.

and the list goes on and on and on ...

[Edwards4President]

20. SO True!

Almost no other politicians were discussed, except to use as contrasts for Howard Dean.

"We're here with Senator Edwards who is running against Howard Dean. Yesterday, he was in a debate with Howard Dean and some other people and, by all accounts, he held his own against Howard Dean. It's pretty much a given that he doesn't have a chance against Howard Dean, but he's still plugging away. We presume he knows he'll never beat Howard Dean but is angling to be Howard Dean's VP choice. So, Senator Edwards. Enough about Howard Dean, let's talk about you. What do YOU think of Howard Dean?"

[stickdog]

15. Maybe 5% if the nation was paying attention back then, if that.

When people's eyes turned to Iowa, they saw Dean getting nailed to the major news sevice cross, and Kerry in full uniform rushing to save a man's life across the Vietnam jungle.

[sistersofmercy]

19. Pretty much the way I saw it!

Especially after the Gore endorsement.