David Thomson wrote, “The elections of 2008 may very well be their last hurrah. Sliming Republican candidates will be deemed of utmost importance. The GOP should be very worried.”
I’ve been saying that for months. Olbermann’s behavior will be the norm. Hillary’s ideal political machine perfectly meshed with the main stream media will turn Kerry’s 15% boost into a lot more.
Fred would be the ideal counter, by running as a human being. Underplay just like Bush did in 2004 while the Dems overplay their hand with the volume turned up to 12.
Expect the Dem candidate to be flat coming out of the nominating convention, when the candidate is revealed to not be saintly perfection. The same effect that hit Kerry.
The Republican candidate can expect a significant boost from the nominating convention when he’s revealed to not have horns and a tail, just as happened with Bush.
The MSM will crash, hard, after the election, having sold out their credibility much worse than Dan Rather did. It will be a race to increase vitriol as credibility drops, seeking a constant effect. If Hillary is elected she’ll sell them like Bill did feminists, reprising the destruction of a major Democratic force by a sitting Democratic President.
Caveat, newspapers may not last that long. Those circulation figures are beyond soft. I seem to remember the last churn rate for paid circulation was 50%. McClatchy stock has been trending steadily since January to hit zero early next year. Phrases like the need to be “tipping point”, “scared as hell”, and a looming chasm are being bandied about.
Domino effect? The head of AP just admitted problems. By the time the brain of a dinosaur knows it’s been hit, the body is already dead.
There’s a report of advertisers dissatisfaction with ad results, no matter what the circulation figures say. Advertisers may just be paying a kind of talisman money to avoid negative stories about them. Even that may not matter as credibility heads for zero.
The real question may be whether campaign coverage helps newspaper circulation the way the California fires helped the L.A. Times circulation figures. Poor coverage may turn readers off, as the L.A. Times hitpiece on Schwarzenegger proved.
The stresses and divides of the election will render the country ungovernable. No matter who wins they won’t serve out their full term presiding over the USA as it is currently constituted.
