After
the McCain campaign released an ad lampooning Barack Obama as a
celebrity, ABC anchor Charles Gibson grumbled how "It's getting
nasty. And it's only July." On August 13, CBS's Dean Reynolds
swiped at how, in his eyes, McCain had become disrespectful:
"Now, it frequently seems respect takes a backseat to ridicule."
But during last week's Democratic convention, those same
networks pleaded for the speakers to attack the GOP. "There is one big
piece
missing
tonight," CNN's Jeffrey Toobin fretted on Monday, "and that is why the
American people should throw the bums out. We haven't heard one word
about that." The next night, CBS's Bob Schieffer complained that in a
normal keynote address "you get a lot of red meat. I didn't hear a lot
of that....Isn't somebody going to have to really draw some contrasts
with the Republicans?" CBS's Jeff Greenfield moaned that Mark Warner's
keynote speech was "not red meat...more like tofu with sprouts."
Over
on MSNBC, Chris Matthews fussed: "Why don't they talk about Bush, who
they see as a villain?...They're pulling their punches." About a
half-hour later, Washington Post columnist and regular MSNBC analyst
Eugene Robinson wailed: "I am waiting for someone to take the podium and
say the word ‘torture.' I'm waiting for someone....to talk about all the
reasons that Democrats want to get rid of George Bush."
Obama's Thursday night speech laying into McCain
scratched network reporters right where they itched. "Four years ago,
John Kerry and a lot of Democrats were held accountable for not being
tough enough on George Bush," ABC's Gibson claimed, adding: "Barack
Obama was obviously...not going to make that mistake." NBC's Chuck Todd
applauded: "Obama was basically sending a message to Democrats: I'm not
going to be Michael Dukakis, I'm not going to be Al Gore, I'm not going
to be John Kerry,
I'm
going to fight John McCain, I'm going to take him on." CNN's David
Gergen was overwhelmed, declaring Obama's speech "a symphony" and "a
masterpiece."
Journalists have spent the last several campaigns tut-tutting
"negative" campaigning, but they only seem perturbed when it's a liberal
who's under attack — yet another double standard in this year's election
news.
For more, see the August,
26,
27 and
29 CyberAlerts.
