Can Mitt Romney catch a break from the legacy media?
On Wednesday, Walter Russell Mead (from whom I learned the term, “legacy media”) blogged that President Obama has been complaining how the media just doesn’t like him. (Via Powerline Picks.) As most anything by Mead, this one merits your attention.
Wonder why Mr. Obama isn’t grateful to media Mead labels mainstream (MSM) in this particular post for not showing greater interest in administration embarrassments, like the bankruptcy of Solyndra (and other “green” energy companies receiving federal money) and the Department of Justice’s “Fast and Furious” program and the failure of that department to provide more than 90% of the documents subpoenaed by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (related to said program). Not to mention the near obliviousness to his budgets which even his fellow partisans in Congress reject.
“Few incumbents”, observes Mead, “have ever had this kind of support from the Fourth Estate; few challengers have ever had such a hard time getting a break from the media as Governor Romney.” (Emphasis added.) It does seem the media amplify every error Mr. Romney makes — or they perceive him to be making.
Maybe that’s changing. The New York Times reported yesterday that the presumptive Republican frontrunner had helped a Texas couple (“who could not qualify for a mortgage”) buy a home that they had once rented from him. (Via Powerline.)
We can only hope that the publication of this article marks a change in the media coverage of Mitt Romney. Previously, their focus had been largely critical, with critiques strikingly similar to attacks coming from the Obama campaign.
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If we had a honest msm rather than a pure progressive/liberal press; obama’s lawlessness, crony capitalism, corruption and racism would be headlines every day. He would have been impeached long time ago!
Comment by cali — August 10, 2012 @ 4:49 am - August 10, 2012
If Obama is so great, why are slanderous attacks his only path to victory.
Comment by V the K — August 10, 2012 @ 9:07 am - August 10, 2012
Obama whining about media coverage just gives the MFM the cover to say, “See, we’re not biased. Even Obama complains about us being hard on him.” It’s complete bullsh-t.
Comment by V the K — August 10, 2012 @ 9:12 am - August 10, 2012
The MSM will slaughter Romney if he lets them; they have too much tied to Obama.
Comment by Sebastian Shaw — August 10, 2012 @ 9:31 am - August 10, 2012
Although I’m troubled by the obvious partiality the media has toward Obama, I nevertheless have to question the effectiveness of their methods. Not only has Obama tried to distract the public from the main issues, the media has also attempted to do the same. Consider Romney’s supposedly failed overseas trip. What we heard is that it was bad for Romney to parrot the BBC’s own criticism of Olympics security and that an aide got overreacted to a bunch of journalists acting like kindergarteners at a solemn site. There’s really no substance there. Perhaps if things were doing great, people will vote for POTUS the same way they vote for American Idol, but things are lousy. I don’t see the media doing or saying anything that would soften opposition to Obama or make a marginal Obama supporter become more committed. People will end up voting on serious issues, and right now, the media is avoiding them.
These days, Romney’s campaign is relatively silent due to FEC rules that don’t allow him to yet spend general election funds, and Obama’s side is burning through a lot of money. We aren’t going to see the disproportionate advantage in advertising by Obama after Labor Day. If current fundraising trends continue, we may even see a pretty heavy advantage by Romney just before the election. People have a short attention span, and there’s really be quite little said against Romney of any substance by the media. Childishly asking “What about the gaffes?” shows what side the media is on, but I don’t think anyone is going to walk into a polling booth this November and say, “I was seriously thinking of voting for Romney, but man, those gaffes of his when he was in Europe just are too much for me. Let’s give Obama another four years.”
Comment by chad — August 10, 2012 @ 1:06 pm - August 10, 2012
I keep wondering what is wrong with Romney´s campaign staff. The lack of or tepid responses to Obama´s hard blows. Romney is starting to look like Rocky Balboa bloodied and with his eyes half closed in the 11th round of the first fight with Apollo Creed. Obama is winning the fight on points. Romney´s staff should start taking their cues from Dick Morris. When Fox, shows that Obama has widened his advantage, that´s troubling. The latest Obama spot that Romney is responsible for Sopic´s (sp) wife´s deathfrom cancer, Morris suggested that Ann Romney counter with Mitt´s concern for the cancer she endured. The complaint that Mitt will only make public two years of taxes should be countered with the fact that it took Obama three years to make public his birth certificate, which some people still doubt the validity thereof. The assertion that Romney doesn´t want to make public his tax returns is because he has money squirreled away offshore. His staff should point out that many Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, and others, also have offshore accounts, and that Obama should not only make public his college transcripts but his applications to the university, to see if he claimed to be a foreign born student, and to claim any benefits therefrom. The most revealing thing about Obama´s advantage and possible victory in November is, how gullible the elctorate can be.
Comment by Roberto — August 10, 2012 @ 1:33 pm - August 10, 2012
entitlement, entitlement, entitlement
If the USA could monetize the massive sense of entitlement and the unprecedented hubris of this dirt-bag, you could bail out your public debt a zillion times.
Kim jong il was modest and humble in comparison and overall a more likeable person (if the rumors were true he at least appreciated american movies)
Comment by susan — August 10, 2012 @ 3:05 pm - August 10, 2012
“Can Mitt Romney catch a break from the legacy media?”
In a word, Dan – no.
Next question.
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — August 10, 2012 @ 5:15 pm - August 10, 2012