Media Overreacts

I know that comes as a huge surprise that the media would overreact to something. I'm trying to understand the reaction to the red phone ad. I'm not sure how exactly this is an attack ad. Also the comparison to the 1964 Lydon Johnson ad of the girl picking petals off of a flower is just over the top.

Howard Kurtz from the Post has a great article on it. I think this part of the article really reflects my opinion on this whole thing:

Michelle Cottle has the good sense to agree with my argument in this New Republic piece:

“Enough with all the whining. Also enough with all the smack talk about how there must be something seriously wrong with Hillary/Obama as a candidate or s/he would have been able to close the deal by now. Horsefeathers. This isn’t a primary in which Democratic voters are having a hard time making up their minds because both candidates are so disappointing. That’s what’s happening with the other team. Democrats’ problem is that they have two candidates who are firing up the electorate, as seen in the consistently high turnout at the polls and the jaw-dropping fund-raising figures. ($30 million and $50 million in just one month? John McCain would kill for that kind of trouble.)

The media has also decided the story line going forward:

The Hillary/Obama contest is "increasingly brutal" (Boston Globe); in danger of "tearing the party apart" (L.A. Times); a "political party trying to destroy itself" (New York Post); the "most cutthroat political campaign in years" (Boston Herald); "depressing and distressing" (Time), and facing a "nightmarish scenario" (Baltimore Sun) that "will heighten racial, ethnic, gender, and class divisions" (Politico).

Could this happen? Yes it could. But it is not happening now. If anything, the continuation of the contest could suck all the air out of any coverage of the McCain campaign. What if the contest for the Democratic nomination goes right up to the convention? Do you really think there will be any coverage on McCain? No the media will be too busy working itself up into a lather over the Democrats.

And once again it would be nice if the pundits would just shut their collective mouths and let the voters decide whom should be the nominee. But then again where would all that hot air go.