Blowback from Media Assault on Sarah Palin

Rightfully so, the McCain campaign responded to the lib media's aggressive campaign to destroy McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin.

Now, Jonathan Martin of Politico is whining about the complaints from the McCain people.

I suppose it's hard for those in the media to admit that their excessive coverage didn't rip the Republicans apart as planned. They can't be happy that instead of bringing down Sarah Palin, their coverage served to bolster voters' support for the candidate.

You'd think the media would have learned a lesson after Barack Obama's World Tour. It's not a good idea for the media to serve as arms of the Obama campaign.

Their bias is killing the lib media. They're self-destructing, and that's not helping their man Obama.

Martin writes:

Faced with tough questions about Sarah Palin, John McCain's campaign and other Republicans are responding with a defensive crouch — lashing out at the media to deflect Palin from scrutiny and to rally a party base that has fallen hard for the conservative Alaska governor.

McCain aides, responding to questions about Palin’s qualifications to be vice president as well as her family life — including her pregnant and unwed teenage daughter — have aggressively turned the tables on the media by questioning reporters' motives and suggesting a sexist double-standard.

Throughout the party, at at various venues throughout the Twin Cities, other Republicans have picked up the media-bashing banner, knowing instinctively that little else can better rally the spirits of their faithful than pitting the purportedly “liberal media" against their new shining star.

Good grief.

"Media-bashing"?

"Republicans have picked up the media-bashing banner, knowing instinctively that little else can better rally the spirits of their faithful than pitting the purportedly 'liberal media' against their new shining star."

This has nothing to do with an instinctual reaction to the media or appealing to the faithful.

This is a legitimate issue.

It's ridiculous for Martin to try to flip guilt on to those simply pointing out the inexcusably offensive conduct of the lib media.

The lib media aren't being victimized. They are being called to account for their actions.

In a span of about 72 hours, the lib media and loony Left bloggers completely went off the deep end trying to get John McCain to abandon Sarah Palin. They set out to destroy her and they didn't care if that included harming her children in the process.

They tried to flex their muscles and display their power but it didn't work.

Now, they don't know what to do, other than whine that Republicans are using dislike for the media as a way to energize and unify the party.

What the lib media have done to Sarah Palin and her 17-year-old daughter is inexcusable.

...Thompson’s us-versus-them rhetoric comes a day after a top McCain aide expressed incredulity when asked by a reporter whether Palin could be vice-president with an infant and her 17-year-old daughter due to give birth this fall.

"Frankly, I can't imagine that question being asked of a man,” McCain’s Steve Schmidt told reporters who mobbed him as he arrived at the convention hall. “A lot of women will find it offensive."

Tuesday, the campaign ratcheted up the criticism, singling out New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller for her reporting on whether McCain sufficiently vetted Palin.

“Ms. Bumiller, if you'd like to try reporting instead of writing fiction, here's a link to our press line,” campaign blogger Michael Goldfarb wrote, snarkily offering a phone number to the campaign headquarters.

McCain’s campaign has also put its words into action, stripping CNN of an opportunity to interview the candidate after what it felt was unfair treatment of an aide in an appearance Monday on the cable channel.

So it's the McCain campaign that's ratcheting up the criticism?

That's backwards.

Of concern to me is how rabidly and inappropriately the media went after Sarah Palin and her family, especiallly her daughter, Bristol.

Elisabeth Bumiller's article was an absolute joke!

I don't think it's snarky of Jonathan Martin to charge Michael Goldfarb with being snarky.

Martin fails to grasp that the McCain campaign is simply responding to an unprecedented barrage of strikingly personal attacks.

...“It's always good to get back on the attack,” said a McCain aide, acknowledging the political benefit of taking after a favorite target of the right wing.

And Palin could help buttress the line of attack this week by validating the hopes the party faithful have placed in her and surprising her critics.

“If the criticism is matched by a strong performance by Palin this week, it becomes effective as a two-part counterpunch,” said Steven Schier, a political science professor at Minnesota’s Carleton College.

Eventually, though, the tough questions about Palin will have to be resolved and the water-muddying will run its course.

“The risk is that media bashing doesn't address the charges about Palin, and won't convince anyone but true believers,” Schier said.

But for now, Republicans are trotting out a tried-and-true defense, portraying the media as an out-of-touch adversary.

I really think it's out of line to suggest that McCain's camp is demonizing the media for political gain.

Martin says that "tough questions about Palin will have to be resolved and the water-muddying will run its course."

OK. The media want answers.

I think there are some tough questions that the media need to answer.

Should they have launched that despicable offensive against Palin's pregnant 17-year-old daughter, dragging her through the mud?

Are the countless "snarky" remarks from commentators casting Palin as a bad mother, actually blaming her for bringing on her baby son's Down Syndrome, and even raising doubts about whether she actually gave birth to Trig appropriate? Are those really the sort of tough questions that need to be resolved?

Martin wants to blame Republicans for "trotting out a tried-and-true defense, portraying the media as an out-of-touch adversary."

What planet is this guy on?

The media are an out-of-touch adversary when they resort to character assassination, going after Palin and her family like a pack of wild dogs, to do the bidding of Barack Obama.

This isn't about Republicans feigning indignation to score political points.

It's a matter of decency.

The media have some very tough questions to answer.
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More, from Politico:

The McCain campaign has compiled "a list of critical media mentions that it called 'smears' of Palin...

The campaign announced: 'The McCain campaign will launch a television ad directly comparing Governor Palin’s executive experience as a governor who oversees 24,000 state employees, 14 statewide cabinet agencies and a 10 billion dollar budget to Barack Obama’s experience as a one-term junior Senator from Illinois.'

The ad is what the campaign calls 'a forward-leaning effort to counter the shameless smears that have prevailed during Governor Palin’s introduction to the American voter.'

Here's the list of smears: "REPORTED FALSEHOODS AND SMEARS AGAINST GOVERNOR PALIN’S FAMILY AND HISTORIC CANDIDACY."

It's truly a wall of shame.