MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: NBC Washington bureau chief Mark Whitaker suggests media powerless in face of McCain campaign's ability to "drive the news cycle"
Summary: NBC News Washington bureau chief Mark Whitaker said that the controversy over Sen. Barack Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comment "SEEMS LIKE A FRIVOLOUS STORY" but it is "IMPORTANT TO WATCH" because it's an example of "HOW GOOD THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN IS AT ... DRIVING THE NEWS CYCLE EVERY DAY." HE ACKNOWLEDGED NO MEDIA RESPONSIBILITY IN CHOOSING WHAT THEY COVER.
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Commenting on what NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell described -- on the September 10 edition of MSNBC Live -- as the "latest controversy over Barack Obama's use of a common expression about putting lipstick on a pig," NBC News Washington bureau chief Mark Whitaker said that "on one level, this seems like a frivolous story" but it is "important to watch" because it's an example of "how good the McCain campaign is at ... driving the news cycle day after day." But while Whitaker acknowledged no media responsibility in determining what they cover, NBC News political director Chuck Todd said earlier the same day on MSNBC's Morning Joe that the story was "a faux controversy" and that the media had "taken the bait on this lipstick thing" which he called "a joke" and "laughable."
From the 1 p.m. ET hour of the September 10 edition of MSNBC Live:
MITCHELL: With less than two months before the election, there are plenty of personal and political attacks, accusations, negative political ads out there, on the web, on television, and especially this latest controversy over Barack Obama's use of a common expression about putting lipstick on a pig. How did we get here? How effective is negative campaigning, and how risky is it? What about the backlash?
I'm joined now by Mark Whitaker, NBC's Washington bureau chief. Mark, let's take it back and try to put this into some context. It all started with Barack Obama making a comment he did or did not think is innocuous, he's said it before, but immediately, the response -- and I was watching it happen, live, on television, and then within 15 minutes we were called to a conference call by the McCain camp.
WHITAKER: I keep waiting to see what animal we're going to find -- put lipstick on tomorrow. You know, we've had pit bulls, we've had pigs. It's turning into a very campy version of Noah's Ark. But, yeah -- look, I think, on one level, this seems like a frivolous story, but I think it does tell us two things that I think are important to watch. One is how good the McCain campaign is at hand-to-hand combat, at basically driving the news cycle day after day. Obviously, it's true that they don't really want to talk about the state of the economy, they don't want to talk about George Bush's record, so they've got to get other things to talk about, and they're very good at that. But, I think it's also -- people are looking to see how Obama is going to respond, you know. And, the fact is that, as we discovered in '04 with Kerry, people take how a candidate responds to these kinds of attacks, and whether they're willing to fight for themselves, as a proxy for whether they're going to be fighters for the American people on other issues.
MITCHELL: Now, the Obama campaign responded very quickly, because 10 minutes after we got off this conference call with the McCain people, the Obama people already had all of these citations of how often John McCain had used "lipstick on a pig." In fact, it is the title of the book written by his former press secretary, Torie Clarke. That said, they didn't put anyone out immediately. Did Obama show his toughness today when he said, "I may not throw the first punch, but I will throw the last punch?"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200809100029?f=h_top#***
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MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: NBC News political director Chuck Todd: Media taking bait on "lipstick" comment "a joke," "laughable"
Summary: On Morning Joe, NBC News political director Chuck Todd said of media coverage of Sen. Barack Obama's comment that "you can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig" while discussing Sen. John McCain's proposed policies: "I THINK THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN IS LAUGHING, LAUGHING THEIR BUTTS OFF THIS MORNING. THAT ANY OF US HAVE TAKEN THE BAIT ON THIS LIPSTICK THING, I MEAN, THIS IS A JOKE. It is laughable." Time's Jay Carney stated that the McCain campaign's claim that Obama's comments represented "sexism" was "false" and "ridiculous."
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On the September 10 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, NBC News political director Chuck Todd said of media coverage of Sen. Barack Obama's comment that "You can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig" while discussing Sen. John McCain's proposed policies: "I think the McCain campaign is laughing, laughing their butts off this morning. That any of us have taken the bait on this lipstick thing, I mean, this is a joke. It is laughable." Later, Todd stated that a recent McCain campaign web advertisement which baselessly asserts that Obama's comment was directed at Palin is "literally bait -- catnip -- for us, you know, seeing if we would play with it." Todd also noted that Obama "wasn't talking about Sarah Palin" when he made his comment.
During a later segment on Morning Joe, Time Washington bureau chief Jay Carney stated that the McCain campaign's claim that Obama's comments represented "sexism" was "false" and "ridiculous." Host Joe Scarborough asked Carney what he referred to as a "journalist question": "Obviously, a lot of people would be saying, 'Well, they shouldn't even respond to this lipstick attack from the McCain campaign,' but it's extraordinary when you have one candidate calling another candidate for president 'sexist.' ... How do you not respond to that? How do you not talk about that?" Carney responded: "Well, this is the cynical brilliance of the McCain campaign strategy. They are throwing this stuff out there. It's false. It's ridiculous. It's a common phrase, but they know they've got Obama trapped." Carney also asserted: "I mean, it's just false, and it's fake. But it's designed to throw Gorilla dust up in the air and make the public focus on these issues and wonder whether or not Obama is acceptable as president."
NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell then asked, "But isn't it working for them?" Carney responded: "OF COURSE, IT'S WORKING. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IT. ... WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE REFEREES, but they already -- and one part of their storyline is that the referees are in the tank already. They want us to talk about." Mitchell interjected, saying, "Well, they played the refs early." Carney added: "They played the ref, and they say the ref is biased."...
http://mediamatters.org/items/200809100015?f=h_top#***
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MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: TIME's Mark Halperin: Media attention to "lipstick on a pig" comment "playing into the McCain campaign's crocodile tears"
Summary: On CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, Time's Mark Halperin characterized the recent media attention to Sen. Barack Obama's comment that "you can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig" as "a low point in the day ... and ONE OF THE LOW DAYS OF OUR COLLECTIVE COVERAGE OF THIS CAMPAIGN." Halperin went on to say, "I think this is the press just absolutely playing into the McCain campaign's crocodile tears."
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On the September 9 edition of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, Time magazine senior political analyst Mark Halperin characterized the recent media attention to Sen. Barack Obama's comment that "you can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig" as "a low point in the day ... and one of the low days of our collective coverage of this campaign."
Halperin also asserted: "STOP THE MADNESS. I mean, this is, I think -- with all due respect to the program's focus on this and to what (CNN senior political analyst) David (Gergen) just said -- I think this is the press just absolutely playing into the McCain campaign's crocodile tears." Halperin went on to say: "They know exactly what he was saying. It's an expression. And this is a victory for the McCain campaign, in the sense that, EVERY DAY THEY CAN MAKE THIS A PIG FIGHT IN THE MUD IT'S GOOD FOR THEM, BECAUSE IT'S REDUCING BARACK OBAMA'S MESSAGE EVEN MORE."...
http://mediamatters.org/items/200809100007?f=h_top
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