Try decaf

(Cross-posted at Hullabaloo)

You can always tell an election is nearing. The ads start airing during your shows. The bumper stickers become more visible during your commute. And Joe Scarborough begins his gradual, but inevitable transition from thinly-veiled, independent "journalist" to complete water-carrying GOP hack. It's really the same script every election cycle and it usually blooms like a flower with an episode like today's Morning Joe:



The only time he shut up during the entire segment (other than during the beginning of Mika Brzezinski's newscast, which he interrupted and ended prematurely) was when David Shuster challenged him: to say "John McCain was wrong."

SHUSTER: One final point: It's very different to say, "Yes, we ought to take the Iraqis up on their word," and at the same time say, "You know what, when John McCain ridicules that very point, he is wrong." And if you want to say, right now -- we can end this argument -- "When John McCain ridicules the point that we ought to take up the Iraqis and get out of Iraq, and he ridicules that, he is wrong." You can say that right now and that's the end of this.

SCARBOROUGH: Well, actually, you're trying to pick a fight with somebody that wasn't fighting with you. As a guy...

SHUSTER: Well, you can end the fight by saying "John McCain is wrong." Go ahead say it. "John McCain is wrong when he ridicules people who call for a timetable."

[a few seconds of cafeteria din]

SCARBOROUGH: I.. wha... whuuu... miii... Where am I? Am I on Crossfire? I thought they cancelled that show... John McCain is John... OK... John McCain is wrong for blah, blah, blah, whatever you said. We're not on opposite sides here.

This smackdown followed seven minutes of schoolyard taunts by Scarborough, including, in the most sarcastic tone he could muster, "Ooooh, you're an independent! Why, I feel soooo comforted by the fact that you're an independent! I bet everybody at MSNBC has 'independent' on their voting cards! Ooooh, we're down the middle now!"

Truly embarrassing. You can tell the GOP is in trouble this year, because Joe usually waits until somebody mentions Mary Cheney before he percolates completely.

He's probably still smarting from last night, when Keith Olbermann muttered, "Jesus, Joe, why don't you get a shovel?" while Scarborough was praising McCain's Karl Rove 2.0, Steve Schmidt.

Where there's smoke, there's Segretti

(Cross-posted at Hullabaloo)

Digby and dday are in the Mile High City, but here's a view of the convention coverage from closer to sea level. When the news broke last week that the Clinton's formed a "whip team" to handle troublemakers, I immediately realized that any disturbance, no matter how insignificant, would be elevated to a top story. It's kind of like when there's an earthquake and all the helicopters swarm over a burning shack somewhere and people across America get the impression that all of California is engulfed in flames.

The McCain campaign is smart to put out these otherwise ridiculous Hillary Clinton ads this week. The ads may be easy to mock if you are an Obama supporter (they are easy to mock), but McCain's real target audience is his base, which means the tire-swinging press corps.

Naturally, FOX News is already leading the way by not just reporting that it's 1968 all over again, but trying to actually stir up trouble for their broadcasts. But the rest of the media appears to be receiving the message perfectly. CNN is spending most of their time this morning talking about the attempts to "paper over" the big divisions in the party. MSNBC just ran a clip of Teddy Kennedy standing with Jimmy Carter in 1980 as NBC's David Brinkley cooed, "This is awkward."

It's a well-rehearsed GOP strategy and it's going to be monumentally difficult to keep this convention from being turned into a Clinton-Obama civil war -- at least as far as it appears to everybody outside Denver this week.

UPDATE: As soon as I hit 'publish' for this post, Chuck Todd said the Clinton-Obama story "is like catnip for us." He then explained that the media will get over it soon. Yeah, right.

LATE UPDATE: In fairness to Todd, as the convention opened, he dumped cold water all over the topic by telling Chris Matthews that it's not a real story and reporters will likely look back and wonder why they wasted time on it. But wasting time, they are.

Boxing analogies

So David Gregory just mentioned that MSNBC has a boxing analogy for the McCain campaign:

To use a boxing analogy, McCain is putting Obama into a bear hug -- making it nearly impossible for the Illinois senator to move (in the polls?) or land a punch. But as a big boxing aficionado, McCain also must realize that the fans often don’t take too kindly to boxers who constantly bear hug their opponent. And at some point, the refs break up the bear hugging and the boxing match is forced. But for now, the McCain campaign appears to have a way to knock Obama off message. The only problem for McCain, he's still not on any message of his own, other than "not-Obama." The campaign believes their energy message did break through. Time will tell.

I also have a boxing analogy for David Gregory this week.

GREGORY: It should also be pointed out that embedded in what some may condemn as baseless, negative advertising are some serious questions for debate in this campaign about Obama's judgment and his plans.

RINGSIDE GREGORY: It should also be pointed out that embedded in what some may condemn as unethical fighting tactics are some serious questions for debate in this sport about Evander Holyfield's judgment and whether somebody with ears as edible as his should be in the ring at all.

That was the basic media narrative this week. Sure, the claims in the commercial are demonstrably false, but what do they tell us about Obama?

The Only Way

Former Republican Congressman (and original PNAC member) Vin Weber just told Andrea Mitchell that the McCain campaign is fighting back this week because the ad getting all the attention is really just about foreign oil. Weber explained that they don't want to end up in a situation where any talk about any issue would be off limits with John McCain being labeled a racist.

It's just so unfair. We all know the only way to discuss U.S. energy policy is to create a video montage of a black man and a pair of young blonde girls famous for not wearing underwear.

You can tell that the people who get paid millions of dollars for their expertise in shaping public opinion with these ads were simply unable to avoid these pitfalls, despite the serious concern in the McCain camp that they might be undeservedly branded as racists. They really tried so hard to create an ad that focuses on the issues. How could they know they were tapping into such a sensitive subtext?



Why are liberals everywhere trying to stop John McCain from talking about his super-awesome ideas?

Wrong

From MSNBC's "Race to the Bottom White House" on Tuesday:

JAY CARNEY: Well, David, I would guess that voters would look forward, and their interest, still, even though they by a small margin believe the surge is successful, as Stephen pointed out, they still want this war to end overwhelmingly. They still think it was a bad idea to go in. And so I think that redounds to Obama's benefit.

But what I see here is a case of both candidates having a severe case of George W. Bushitis, which is the refusal ever to admit you were wrong about anything. I mean, as Rachel points out, John McCain made some, in retrospect, very foolish statements about going into Iraq and how easy it was going to be.

Now, a lot sooner than a lot of people in Washington, and certainly a lot sooner than anybody in the Bush administration, he saw problems and he came up with ideas of how to fix it by a surge in troops. Now, Barack Obama, clearly, when he said back when the surge was on the table that, you know, the surge might actually have the reverse effect, not reduce violence, but increase violence, he was wrong. He was wrong. And he should say-I mean, he could say-we would reward him at least in the media for saying he was wrong and he looks back and now thinks differently.

Right, because if people warn you to wear a helmet when you ride your bike, they owe you an apology if you make it home safely without wearing one. If you don't get AIDS from unprotected sex, if you don't strike a gas main digging a hole near your house, if you don't wreck your car driving home drunk... lots of people need to tell you that they were wrong.

Carney's logic is that Obama was as wrong to warn that something bad might happen as McCain was in stating flatly that something fantastic would happen.

Of course, McCain was wrong about an entire war, but don't let that enter the equation, Jay.

The family that drinks together...

John McCardell of Choose Responsibility was on MSNBC today to advocate the lowering of the national drinking age to 18.

Without commenting on that debate or Choose Responsibility's proposals, I can't help noting how McCardell's appearance ended. McCardell said that, because the law prohibits adults from giving alcohol to minors in the privacy of their own homes, the law is "anti-family."

Really? Anti-family? Come on.

You go, Alison

Atrios beat me to the punch and put up this part of a transcript from yesterday's Countdown on MSNBC:

ALISON STEWART: And then there‘s Senator John McCain and Bill O‘Reilly. Let‘s just say you know you‘re watching Fox News when Mr. O‘Reilly said immigrants would, quote, “break down the white Christian male power structure.”

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, “THE O‘REILLY FACTOR,” FOX NEWS CHANNEL)

BILL O‘REILLY, HOST: That would sink the Republican party, I believe, so we‘d have a one-party system, and change, pardon the pun, the whole complexion of America. Am I wrong?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, you‘re right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: Personally, I don‘t really pardon the pun.

I don't either.

Atrios notes how ridiculous it is that Howard Fineman "is practically in tears about how awful John McCain must feel about all the lies he has to tell."

I was waiting for Fineman to remind Stewart that she should find it "reassuring" to know that people are so valiantly defending the "white Christian male power structure."

Also, later in the show, Stewart got another shot in for women of color:

STEWART: Behind every candidate, there‘s usually a political spouse who tries hard to balance campaign fundraising with family, and sometimes even gives up a professional career. Michelle Obama is doing just that. And, you know, oddly, the mainstream media seems fascinated with the concept of a strong, well-educated black professional woman who speaks her mind.

In my family, we call that normal.

Amen.

Smerconish in the Morning

DB is a night owl, but rarely stayed awake late enough on the West Coast watching TV to catch Imus in the (wee hours of the) Morning. So it won't hurt my brain so much when this guy takes over his slot on MSNBC:

Ok, let’s take it a step further. Let’s assume she knows Zarqawi’s whereabouts but won’t give up that information for a piece of quiche and a warm blanket.

Now what?

I say do whatever is necessary to get her to talk. Waterboard her. Strap her to a pig. Do whatever it takes.

Well done, MSNBC. Here's how he reacted to your coverage of the alleged massacre at Haditha:

Isn't it conceivable that the Marines, under attack or believing they were under attack, shot up the area with their automatic weapons, mistakenly killing innocent civilians in the process? Then, fully understanding that the media would vilify them for their mistake, they compounded their error and lied, saying that the IED that killed their comrades, also killed the civilians. If so, I think the lie was a mistake, but an entirely understandable one.

My sympathies to the eyes and ears of other time zones.

Spin the perv

Here's the difference between MSNBC and CNN: One of these news outlets seems interested in putting facts on their web page, the other puts GOP spin.



Those are the facts. This guy is sick and the GOP knew it. They were more interested in keeping it quiet than keeping kids safe.

But CNN chooses to put the Hastert-approved spin front and center:



Shocked! SHOCKED! How could he do this to us? We, the GOP leaders, we're the victims!

What a joke. No wonder CNN isn't really America's Most Trusted Name in News. They apparently don't think we can handle the facts. That's why they hire Glenn Beck and Bill Bennett. If it weren't for Jack Cafferty, there wouldn't be a reason to ever watch that network.

Unless you like to be reminded every night at 6 p.m. ET that Mexico wants to reclaim Aztlan.