Shocker: people are bored with McCain & Palin, despite obsessive media attention
December 02, 2009 11:58 am ET by Jamison Foser
Via Politico's Ben Smith, I see that the the five fastest-falling Google queries of the year include three politicians: John McCain (#1), Barack Obama (#4), and Sarah Palin (#5).
What's striking about that list is that, despite the public's rapidly decreasing interest in those political figures, they continue to enjoy massive media attention.
Now, the media pretty much have to cover Barack Obama. He's the most powerful person in the world.
But John McCain is not president, he chairs no Senate committees, he represents two percent of the U.S. population, he lacks a strong constituency even among his own party -- a party that is pretty widely disliked and has taken a thumpin' in two straight elections. He is not playing a central, or even peripheral role in the health care debate. And yet he's on television all the time. As Steve Benen notes, McCain is about to make his 16th Sunday show appearance of the year. Sixteen.
And Sarah Palin just got two weeks of media coverage so extensive you would have thought her book launch was a Beatles reunion tour. But she's very unpopular.
I'm not a fan of letting public interest drive news decisions, but that's the only real justification for covering McCain and Palin this much -- one is a minority-party Senator kicking around the periphery of most of the year's key public policy debates, and the other is a former half-term governor of one of the nation's least-populous states. So the only real reason to cover them is that people are interested. But these new Google stats suggest the public is rapidly losing interest in McCain and Palin -- yet the media still keeps treating them like political superstars.
Meanwhile, I wonder what percentage of her book sales can be attributed to bulk purchases by Troglodyte websites and Talk Radio Shows to give away as premiums.
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The Midnight Review
This ridiculous woman is a backwoods Religious Fanatic who has no qualification for public office, but she could conceivably ride into the White House on a Tsunami of Pop Culture Stupidity.
One could also make a case that mmfa is part and parcel to the obsessive media coverage of those two...especially Palin...and then hypocritically complaining about it.
The premise of this article is based in silliness and partisanship and trips laughably on its own logic.
If the public is bored with Palin and McCain despite lots of media exposure...then the same holds true for Pres.Obama according to the list.
According to the rationale used by Foser...the public is bored with all of them...including mmfa's resident saint...Pres.Obama.
No sale on this story...it's just partisan filler that was beneath Foser in the past...not so true anymore.
Unless you've managed to miss it, weaselly, MMFA's stated purpose is to monitor particular aspects of the media. The media are obsessed with McCain and Palin--the fact that MMFA points this fact out does not make MMFA similar obsessed. You have attempted and failed to "make a case" of anything hypocritical by MMFA.
The premise of this article is based in silliness and partisanship and trips laughably on its own logic.
None of which you are able to prove, here or on any other thread.
If the public is bored with Palin and McCain despite lots of media exposure...then the same holds true for Pres.Obama according to the list.
Isn't that what the article said? Yes, it was! As I've mentioned before, you have raised 'missing the point' to an art form. Furthermore, Foser noted--and you ignored--that despite the public's apparent boredom with Obama, the media have to keep covering him because of the position he holds.
According to the rationale used by Foser...the public is bored with all of them...including mmfa's resident saint...Pres.Obama.
Do cut out the nonsense for just a moment, okay? Bilge like saying that Obama is "MMFA's resident saint" might get you a thumbs-up from the resident nonthinking neocon crowd, but will only convince real readers that you are unserious at best.
No sale on this story...it's just partisan filler that was beneath Foser in the past...not so true anymore.
Foser is partisan (just as you and I are), and admits it. It was not "beneath" him to write this. If you were incapable of countering Foser's piece any better than that, then it was a perfectly good article, indeed.
How can you not understand that they react to stories that are already out there, and that this makes them different than the groups that generate stories about Sarah Palin?
And did you even read the rest of the article? Like this part?
"Now, the media pretty much have to cover Barack Obama. He's the most powerful person in the world."
If you had, you couldn't have written
"If the public is bored with Palin and McCain despite lots of media exposure...then the same holds true for Pres.Obama according to the list.
According to the rationale used by Foser...the public is bored with all of them...including mmfa's resident saint...Pres.Obama."
Foser took it upon himself to spring into action and create another story about his archenemy Palin...contributing to the media attention that he complains about.
When Foser gets serious about media issues I pay attention and enjoy his work...but this is just inane drivel...maybe he was bored?
Maybe it was just an observation prompted by what Smith published. If people are losing interest in McCain and Palin, as the list shows, why are they covered so much? That seems like a perfectly valid point.
And how do you expect "media attention" to be addressed by anyone if a website can't do it without supposedly adding to the problem?
See, if you had said just that and nothing more you would have been fine.
Also, I hardily think McCain has been given excessive media coverage. I'm mean he's covered, but he was last year's Presidential nominee so that is to be expected somewhat.
Personally, I think you are correct - but that can't be really inferred by google searches since I think the "overload" explanation is equally plausible ...
or maybe all Republicans now use Bing !_!