MSM Set to Build Up Clinton in Final Day Before NH Primary

[Bullet1987]

Have have a good feeling how the pundits will play the debate tomarrow. I think they're going to run with a very pro-Clinton angle. You see, it is in the media's best interest to keep the Dem nomination a horse race. They don't want Obama to win New Hampshire with a comfortable lead the same way he did in Iowa. They know that Clinton would be as good as done if that were to happen. Even though the Clinton campaign and her supporters would say otherwise...that's the realist point of view. Even though Obama didn't do BAD or damage himself, admittedly, Clinton hit him hard a couple of times. But he held his own and it's not as if Clinton wasn't hit as well. It'll be interesting to see what the polls say tomarrow. They all seem to be close outside of Rasmussen, I don't think some of them are calculating the Independent vote right...because they largely support him.

[gaiilonfong]

1. O course that is why CNN is replaying it

And then having THEIR pundits talk bout it,

It will all be about the boys ganging up and HOW STRONG Hillary was....NOT

[itsrobert]

11. James Carville is on speed dial

lol

[jackson_dem]

2. Why? They have been tearing her down for a year

It is very clear that Clinton is not the press' candidate. Look at who always gets great coverage...

[Bullet1987]

5. What are you talking about "tearing her down"

The MSM took part in that whole coronation crap months ago and how Clinton was the inevitable nominee. It hasn't been until recently that they started being hard on her.

[jackson_dem]

22. Obama is in a league of his own when it comes to the press

http://www.journalism.org/node/8187

In the early months of the 2008 presidential campaign, the media had already winnowed the race to mostly five candidates and offered Americans relatively little information about their records or what they would do if elected, according to a comprehensive new study of the election coverage across the media.

The press also gave some candidates measurably more favorable coverage than others. Democrat Barack Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, enjoyed by far the most positive treatment of the major candidates during the first five months of the year—followed closely by Fred Thompson, the actor who at the time was only considering running. Arizona Senator John McCain received the most negative coverage—much worse than his main GOP rivals.

Meanwhile, the tone of coverage of the two party front runners, New York Senator Hillary Clinton and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, was virtually identical, and more negative than positive, according to the study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.

[aquart]

15. Hush! Obama is the underdog. Pass it around.

After a year of lying that the MSM has picked Hillary for the candidate and only the brave and strong and morally righteous can defeat their corporatist choice...the choice turns out to be Obama...

Do you expect the poor things to turn on a dime? Do you expect them to STOP lying and distorting?

I don't. Nice ethics-free darlings going out for "change." Looks SSDD to me.

[Windy]

20. You make an ass out of yourself continually with baseless barbs

Clinton has received her share of bad press, but she has also benefitted immensely from the Clinton legacy and the press hype.

Please.

[jackson_dem]

24. While Obama has received no significant bad press

;)

[creeksneakers2]

3. The MSM never misses a chance to trash Hillary

even if they have to make stuff up. They love the Obama story now too. It will be "Hillary desperately lashes out." They had that one written before the debate even started.

[LucyParsons]

28. Obviously we are watching totally different media.

They declared her the "frontrunner" 300 years ago, before there were even any primaries!

ha ha ha

They want her - they think she will energize the GOP base, or, at the very least, in a worst-case scenario, she wins and is far far more corporate-friendly than any of the other Dem candidates.

Pushing Hillary is a win-win for the Establishment.

[Skip Intro]

4. Clinton shined last night, Obama stumbled. If that's the way the MSM reports it, then they'll have

gotten it right for once.

[Bullet1987]

8. Obama didn't stumble on anything

Clinton attacked...period, and Obama held his own.

[Joe the Revelator]

9. Please tell me at what point Obama stumbled

Words are pretty when you don't have to back them up.

[Skip Intro]

25. He stumbled when he couldn't compliment her as she had just done him.

He stumbled when trying to defend his supposed rules that don't allow reps to buy food on the floor, unless they're standing - Edwards was laughing at him.

He came across as weak and meandering, confused.

It's not just me that thinks so...

Boston Globe's James Pindell - 'Hillary Clinton tonight had a very strong performance.' "I need to say this. We enter these two debates, very important debates here at WMUR with two candidates up against the ropes. Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton. One candidate, Mitt Romney did not get off the ropes. Hillary Clinton tonight had a very strong performance, and I think she did." WMUR, 1/5/08

Washington Post's Chris Cillizza - Hillary showed 'she was willing to fight for it' and that could 'resound with New Hampshire voters.' "Clinton seemed to show tonight that she was willing to fight for it and that could potentially resound with New Hampshire voters who, unlike their compatriots in Iowa, tend to like a bit of combativeness in their politicians." Washington Post's The Fix, 1/5/08

NBC News' Chuck Todd - Hillary made 'a very effective hit on Obama and Edwards.' "Clinton just made a very effective hit on Obama and Edwards because she was able to do as a counterpunch rather than as a direct hit. She got it out there to New Hampshire indies that Obama's chief state supporter is a state lobbyist. And she was able to hit Edwards for not passing anything in the Senate. BTW, not sure why the moderator just inserted himself on this, but... Clinton is getting a much-needed opportunity to make her change argument." MSNBC First Read, 1/5/08

ABC News' Rick Klein - Hillary's gave 'a tour de force of an answer' on Pakistan. "Pakistan... Hillary Clinton is the first to connect it to her campaign message: 'We have to be very conscious of all the consequences.' She finds five consequences... A tour de force of an answer. Experience begets change. That's the campaign message." ABC News, Political Radar, 1/5/08

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder - 'Very Sophisticated.' "HRC...gives a very sophisticated answer about the interrelationship between insecure weapons and India's fears." Atlantic, Marc Ambinder, 1/5/08

ABC News' George Stephanopoulos - Obama looked 'a little peevish, a little small.' 'Not a good moment for Barack Obama there. I thought he looked a little peevish, a little small.' ABC News, 1/5/08

The Hill's Sam Youngman - Hillary 'showed a fire Thursday night that was new to her debate performances.' The Hill, 1/5/08

[Bullet1987]

26. Again, he held his own and didn't commit any gaffes

That's all that's important at the end of the day.

[Skip Intro]

31. Standing still while someone else runs away with the show - all important?

[aquart]

17. Not a chance.

[Evergreen Emerald]

6. MSM have attacked Clinton for over a decade. I cannot believe

they would suddenly switch. Not going to happen.

[regnaD kciN]

16. They haven't attacked her since she became a Senator...

...whose votes put her squarely in the "old boy's club." Since then, she's become the CMC darling.

[Evergreen Emerald]

29. She has been pummeled since she started running for President.

My God, it is ugly!

[suston96]

7. "They don't want Obama to win New Hampshire with a comfortable lead the same way he did in Iowa."

A one delegate lead over Hillary is a "comfortable lead"? Obama 16, Hillary 15.

I'll take that same "comfortable lead" for Obama in NH. They share delegates in NH also.

[Joe the Revelator]

13. This is a real Bush type angle to take. The popular vote means nothing, eh?

:rofl:

[Bullet1987]

14. No...winning Iowa by 9 points over Clinton is a VERY

comfortable lead. No one was talking about delegates. Super Delegates that will begin to leave her anyway if she keeps losing.

[suston96]

32. Not counting superdelegates. Counting delegates won in Iowa....

Out of 45 delegates available, Obama 16, Clinton 15, Edwards 14. That's it.

New Hampshire is next. Delegates are split there also by some formula, maybe different from Iowa. You can hope.

That is NOT a very comfortable lead and the gross percentage of caucusers won means very little.

[Tactical Progressive]

34. I didn't realize Obama got a 1 delegate lead out of Iowa

I think the Hillary campaign really should think about packing it in.

I mean, I like Hillary, but even her fiercest supporters have to face the numbers sometime.

[regnaD kciN]

10. The CMC (Corporate Media Cartel) don't just want a horse-race...

...they want HRC as the nominee because a) she's one of them (i.e. a Beltway insider), and b) because she's been covered for so long that she'll be easy to report on, unlike a less-familiar person who would require more work on their part.

[Cha]

18. Yeah, they like to phone

it in from their bar stools.

[aquart]

19. Wow. Still lying. I'm impressed.

Just like the sorcerer's apprentice. Even when exposed, you can't stop.

[Lucinda]

12. What I have seen today is very pro-Clinton, but thats mostly CNN.

No idea how it's been going elsewhere. I suspect you're right. They have been manipulating things all along, I don't expect them to stop now.

[Windy]

21. the only biased reporter has been Suzanne Malveau, but she has always been pro-clinton

the rest of the coverage has been balanced and objective.

[Lucinda]

27. I was thinking about the number of times they've shown pro-Clinton clips

of last night's debates. It's good to hear that you're seeing more balanced coverage.

[avrdream]

23. You want to put money on that statement?

I don't believe it whatsoever.

The positive spin for Obama and negative spin for Clinton even exists down here in Oz. (Of course, that's on a conservative newspaper's website).

[DemocratSinceBirth]

30. You Have Two Competing Forces

The MSM desperately wants to see a race and they desperately want to see Obama beat Clinton...I don't know which force will win but I am certain New Hampshire's results are out of the MSM's hands...

[Tactical Progressive]

33. Uh-huh. I can't wait to see Chris Matthews

overflowing with appreciation of Hillary.

I'm guessing that won't happen until he is relegated to screaming Hillary's praises to heaven continuously for all eternity in order to keep the temperature just below broil.