The contrasting styles of the Democratic and Republican conventions are being mirrored in the ads and strategies of both campaigns. The Obama camp is hitting McCain hard, mostly using his own quotes or factual information, and maintaining an overall positive tone. McCain, on the other hand, is peddling lie after lie and sinking to a nastiness that has shocked and dismayed many former admirers in the media.
As someone who is often critical of the traditional media, it is encouraging that reporters are finally speaking out about the deception and vileness of McCain’s campaign (even if it is belated, and not yet forceful enough). There are still almost two months to go before Election Day; if the narrative can switch to “old, nasty, and lying” versus “young, hopeful, and truthful,” I think Obama will be in good shape.
I was also pleasantly surprised to see Charlie Gibson hit Sarah Palin with some pretty serious questions, many of which clearly caught her off guard and exposed her for the neophyte that she is. Her celebrity status is bound to fade, and hopefully this episode will accelerate the process; there has never been anyone so manifestly unqualified to deal with the challenges America faces.
But there is still plenty to criticize in the media.
One particularly egregious episode occurred during Tom Brokaw’s interview with Joe Biden last week on the Meet The Press. Brokaw brought up Obama’s response to an abortion question that was asked by the evangelist Rick Warren at the Saddleback Ranch forum. Warren asked Obama when a human being gets rights. Obama answered that he didn’t really know, that it was a difficult issue on which many religious scholars and ethicists can’t agree. McCain answered that human rights begin “at the moment of conception.” McCain’s remark was greeted by cheers, while Obama was criticized for waffling.
The problem in Brokaw’s interview with Biden was that he made it seem that Obama had been responding to an entirely different question—when does life begin?
McCain’s response was meant to please religious fundamentalists, but it contradicts his actual policy positions. If human rights begin with conception, then all abortions are murder (even in cases of rape or incest, or to protect the life of the mother). All embryonic stem-cell research would be banned; fertility clinics, which often destroy human embryos, would need to be shut down. These are not McCain’s positions, and the media should insist that he explain the inconsistencies.
Obama’s response is actually consistent with the belief of the overwhelming majority of Americans, who believe that destroying embryos is sometimes justified, and that they should not be afforded the same status as people.
Abortion is the single most divisive issue in American politics, and can be decisive in terms of election outcomes at the margin. With so much on the line, it was extremely unprofessional for Brokaw to make such a big mix up during a primetime interview. Given the current makeup of the Supreme Court and the strong desire of the religious right to criminalize abortion and prevent stem-cell research (which is partly what led McCain to choose Palin), the American public deserves an open and honest discussion on the candidates’ positions.
Once again, the traditional media let the American people down.
Jason Scorse