Casualties in the Presidential Election War of 2008 |
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Editors published 11/7/2008 9:00:00 AM
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There were many casualties in the Presidential Campaign Wars of 2008.
- Journalism is dead
- Racism, as a bludgeon, is dead
- Political civility is dead
- GOP centrism is dead
- Federal campaign financing is dead
The media was actively and unashamedly pushing for the election of Barack Obama. It destroyed the vocation, maybe irrevocably.
Free Republic in 'Post-Journalism' says
We have seen it all the last two years: Weeping journalists on election night; [Chris Matthews] a journalist openly promising to help make Obama successful ("Yeah, it is my job."); film takes of journalists cheering an Obama speech; the savaging of Sarah Palin and the hands-off treatment of Biden; soft-ball interviews and long puff-pieces on Obama as the young cool crusader;comparisons to JFK's Camelot, and on and on.
The 'racist' label burnt itself out this cycle. People have heard it applied too frequently and have become numb to it.
McCain tried to run the old civil campaign with the old rules, but his opponent never felt obligated by those rules. The GOP will never make this mistake again.
The GOP had its experiment with running a "centrist" candidate and failed miserably. Expect a return to Reagan principles.
Obama made great use of the Internet to raise money. McCain never fully took advantage of this and paid the price. Expect candidates in Presidential, Congressional, state and local races to go after funds using the Internet. Expect significant fraud and unintended contributors from this.
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