As Ken Shepherd notes, the media has become increasingly lax on reporting on Obama’s miscues precisely during the period when he began to gather momentum as the DNC’s increasingly presumptive nominee:
Barack Obama’s penchant for gaffes is hardly anything new, but as the Illinois Democrat has come closer and closer to becoming the official Democratic presidential nominee, it seems the mainstream media have become less and less likely to note his gaffes. A cursory Web search finds a few instances of the mainstream media picking up on Obama gaffes in 2007, when Sen. Clinton was well ahead of Obama in the polls and was widely expected to be marching towards coronation in Denver.
“Obama’s gaffes start to pile up” read the headline for a March 28 Lynn Sweet column [in the Chicago Sun-Times]. March 28, 2007, that is.
Of course, this is far from the first time the MSM has collectively backed off on reporting on their candidate’s gaffes once he became the nominee. As far as old media was concerned, Kerry was just another guy, to borrow one of Bill Parcells’ favorite phrases, about someone who’s a competent team player but no athletic superstar, until he locked up the nomination and became untouchable.
Related: “Obama camp on Auschwitz: Sorry, he meant Ohrdruf“.
More: And he meant it when he referenced Auschwitz (back then he referred to a grandfather, not an “uncle” as he did yesterday) previously in 2002, I’m sure.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member