July 15th 2008
Media Bias #17
Media Bias 2008 will cover pro-Obama media bias all the way up to the election. Items are listed from most recent to oldest; the numbering reflects this and is not a ranking. Send Media Bias 2008 examples via “comments”‘ below, or to email2laer [@] yahoo [dot] com.
17: Let Me Count The Words
“Obama and McCain Duel Over Iraq,” proclaims the NY Times – but they’ve set up an unfair fight. The imbalance starts with dueling leads … with McCain having to duel with one arm tied behind his back.
Here’s Obama’s lead:
The war in Iraq has distorted America’s foreign policy, cost it thousands of lives, tarnished its image and emptied its treasury, Senator Barack Obama said on Tuesday. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee pledged that he would swiftly end the war and reorient America’s approach to the world to address the challenges of terrorism, nuclear proliferation, climate change and energy dependence.
Let’s see, that’s four things wrong with Iraq, and two things he’s going to do about it, leading to five policy points. Now McCain:
A short time later Senator John McCain, the probable Republican opponent, accused Mr. Obama of pursuing a strategy of defeat and drawing judgments without adequate facts.
Besides being just 26 words to Obama’s 60, McCain gets just two lousy points. And that’s just the lead paragraphs. Read on, and you’ll find that 705 words are dedicated to expressing Obama’s views on Iraq and Afghanistan, and McCain’s granted a measly 307 for his points.
And it’s not just that. In McCain’s 307 words we find this:
“Senator McCain said during a campaign stop in Albuquerque, N.M., that while he and his opponent ‘agreed the Bush administration had pursued a failed strategy there and that we had to change course.’”
And this:
“Mr. McCain agreed with Mr. Obama that the anti-terror efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan could require more troops ….”
Not even one of Obama’s 705 words is used to describe areas where Obama agrees with McCain’s position. Natch.
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