My media world makes no sense anymore.Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, the symbol to liberals of all that's evil, rushed to the defense of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton after Chris Matthews of MSNBC pointed out that she owed her political position to the fact that her husband "messed around.... That's how she got to be senator from New York. We keep forgetting it. She didn't win there on her merit."
Now Matthews, who now reportedly is upset that Keith Olbermann is the rising star at MSNBC, is being lambasted by media types over those remarks, that came after Clinton's surprising victory in the New Hampshire primary. Greg Sargent of Talking Points Memo accused the pundit of, "oversimplifying complex voter sentiment in the most crude and reductive fashion he can muster."
In his report on Fox News (transcript from Media Matters), O'Reilly pontificated that " Mr. Matthews has a perfect right to say whatever he wants to say because he is not a reporter. He is a commentator, as I am. But ... that is a personal attack. And it is questionable whether a network should allow that or not."
Let's leave aside the irony of O'Reilly, the master of the personal attacks, criticizing Matthews for doing the same thing and focus on how this all happened. Matthews, like many other pundits, was caught flat-footed by Clinton's victory in New Hampshire. One of O'Reilly's pet peeves besides the evils of Hollywood is NBC, which happens to be the employer of his nemesis Olbermann. So sticking up for Hillary was the perfect opportunity for him to jab the General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) cable channel, which in this case deserved it. No doubt News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), Fox's parent, was delighted by this as well.
This also underscores a growing phenomena in the media of Obama mania. Barack Obama is the fresh, exciting story while Clinton is yesterday's news. That was the conventional media narrative heading into New Hampshire anyway and boy was it ever wrong.
The reason why the media blew it was simple: people lie to political pollsters. They don't mean not to tell the truth but someone people's natural instinct is to tell someone what they want to hear.
Some Democrats that have grown weary of the Clinton soap opera may feel the New York senator is the best hope to win the presidency but will never admit it publicly. Other people may like Obama but when push comes to shove will never vote for an African-American to be president.
This is why all polls and pundits who love them need to be viewed with a huge amount of skepticism because as in the case of New Hampshire they are far from perfect.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-11-2008 @ 2:24PM
Jack smith said...
Chris Matthews is a big bully. The man needs to loose some weight and have a life.He is not capable of being fair. The top gun, Tom/B was correct when he mentioned to Chris that it's time for commentators to listen to the people and be fair.
1-12-2008 @ 9:18PM
David said...
Hopefully, voters in Nevada and South Carolina will prove to be as tough and sensible as New Hampshire voters, and that they will choose competence over charisma and action over words.
Hillary has so much experience, it''s ridiculous:
1970, provided free legal advice to the poor and researched for the Senate Subcommittee on Migratory Labor.
1974, member of the Watergate impeachment staff.
1977, co-founder of the Arkansas Advocate for Children and Families.
1978, board member of the Legal Services Corporation successfully fighting President Reagan’s attempts to reduce funding.
1979, chair of the Rural Health Advisory Committee, successfully expanding health care funding in poor areas of Arkansas.
1982-1992, chair of the Arkansas Educational Association, raising educational standards statewide.
1992-2000. Most important advisor in the White House.
2000-2008. US senator, sits on several important committee.
Meaning Hillary has been a public servant since Obama has been in diapers. He dipped his toe in the Senate, and now a year later he thinks he's qualified to be President? Really? Change? Change what? Fired up and ready to go...ready to go where? Yes we can...do what? All slogans, no specifics. All words, no actions? All charisma, no competence.
He's just not qualified to be President, sorry.
1-12-2008 @ 9:16PM
bs4shure said...
Perfect! Go Hillary
1-14-2008 @ 10:19PM
White said...
I stick up for Hillary. Though she asks her husband Bill for help, I think no matter who is elected they will ask the last previous Dem president for advice. The more they use him, the more they will accomplish. Hillary, I think I grant that eight years of being a very politically involved First Lady do count for something in terms of experience. A book I found --- "For Love of Politics: Bill and Hillary Clinton": http://dealstudio.com/searchdeals.php?deal_id=75031&ru=279 tells something. The stories and anecdotes reveal a study in contrasts - Bill's smoothness to Hillary's steel, Bill's talking to Hillary's planning, Bill's meandering to Hillary's focus. I really think Hillary has to lay claim to some substantive policy role to prove she actually has some experience to be president.