Joe who?
It really sucks to be a Democrat right now. Joe Biden had the spotlight on him on his night at the convention, as did Barack Obama when he gave his acceptance speech. About 48 hours after Biden gave his speech, and about 14 hours after Obama gave his speech, they have been chewing vacuum ever since. Why? Two words: Sarah Palin. Geraghty the Indispensable points to this story from ABC's Political Punch which notes that the press isn't paying a lot of attention to Joe Biden:
Since the Delaware senator left Obama's side and ventured out on his own on Labor Day, he has hardly garnered any national media interest at all.
His plane, a blue chartered 737, now crosses the country with about three-quarters of its seats empty, rows and rows with nary a warm body to be found.
Biden's supporters maintain that he is connecting with voters and garnering positive media interest on a local level. They also say that Biden is a "governing" pick, not a "political" pick, unlike Palin. That is, Biden will actually be able to help Obama govern; he's not just a cynical selection to help his boss win the election.
Either way, as Air Joe flew from Wilmington to Charlotte Sunday, the only reporters onboard were off-air reporters from the five television networks and correspondents from NBC and Politico. There was only one camera crew. The back of the plane, reserved for press, sat totally deserted.
The New York Times? Gone. The Washington Post? Not seen since the first days of September. The otherwise ubiquitous Associated Press? Left even before that.
And when the senator spent two straight down days at his Delaware home this weekend, the press corps dwindled further, with some members bolting the "small wonder" state altogether, leaving Wilmington a media ghost town.
On Saturday, only four reporters were around to cover any Biden action. Not that there was any.
Jim Geraghty says that John McCain should complain about this because we're missing any potential gaffe Biden might make. The problem is that we think this was a calculated move on the part of the media. Why? Because Biden is a gaffe machine, and after last week's "Hillary is more qualified than I am" rant by him at a campaign stop, he was assigned two handlers in the hopes he could avoid gaffes.
Why wouldn't the media -- so willing to do whatever they can to get Obama elected -- not lend a hand in avoiding Biden coverage as mush as possible. Call it a conspiracy theory if you want, but it makes sense, doesn't it? When your running mate is known for his foot-in-mouth moments, wouldn't it be best to avoid covering him as much as possible, and pay more attention to the top of the ticket? We think so.
But we do agree with Jim Geraghty. We're being denied comedy gold by the media in not covering him. Of course the other excuse the media might toss out there is that because they've taken such a beating in the loss of revenues, subscriptions, and ratings, and that that there have been several layoffs recently, they may not have the reporters available to trail behind the gaffe-machine right now, and they're scope-locked on Sarah Palin and John McCain given their recent Rasmussen surge and that a couple key battleground states are breaking for McCain/Palin now.
Publius II
Since the Delaware senator left Obama's side and ventured out on his own on Labor Day, he has hardly garnered any national media interest at all.
His plane, a blue chartered 737, now crosses the country with about three-quarters of its seats empty, rows and rows with nary a warm body to be found.
Biden's supporters maintain that he is connecting with voters and garnering positive media interest on a local level. They also say that Biden is a "governing" pick, not a "political" pick, unlike Palin. That is, Biden will actually be able to help Obama govern; he's not just a cynical selection to help his boss win the election.
Either way, as Air Joe flew from Wilmington to Charlotte Sunday, the only reporters onboard were off-air reporters from the five television networks and correspondents from NBC and Politico. There was only one camera crew. The back of the plane, reserved for press, sat totally deserted.
The New York Times? Gone. The Washington Post? Not seen since the first days of September. The otherwise ubiquitous Associated Press? Left even before that.
And when the senator spent two straight down days at his Delaware home this weekend, the press corps dwindled further, with some members bolting the "small wonder" state altogether, leaving Wilmington a media ghost town.
On Saturday, only four reporters were around to cover any Biden action. Not that there was any.
Jim Geraghty says that John McCain should complain about this because we're missing any potential gaffe Biden might make. The problem is that we think this was a calculated move on the part of the media. Why? Because Biden is a gaffe machine, and after last week's "Hillary is more qualified than I am" rant by him at a campaign stop, he was assigned two handlers in the hopes he could avoid gaffes.
Why wouldn't the media -- so willing to do whatever they can to get Obama elected -- not lend a hand in avoiding Biden coverage as mush as possible. Call it a conspiracy theory if you want, but it makes sense, doesn't it? When your running mate is known for his foot-in-mouth moments, wouldn't it be best to avoid covering him as much as possible, and pay more attention to the top of the ticket? We think so.
But we do agree with Jim Geraghty. We're being denied comedy gold by the media in not covering him. Of course the other excuse the media might toss out there is that because they've taken such a beating in the loss of revenues, subscriptions, and ratings, and that that there have been several layoffs recently, they may not have the reporters available to trail behind the gaffe-machine right now, and they're scope-locked on Sarah Palin and John McCain given their recent Rasmussen surge and that a couple key battleground states are breaking for McCain/Palin now.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 10:39 AM
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