WASHINGTON: Democrats here are talking about the ailing economy, selling Obama’s policy prescription, offering biting indictments of Republican policies and trying to tie Sen. John McCain irrevocably to President Bush.
“If there were an Olympics for misleading, mismanaging and misappropriating, this administration would take the gold.” Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Ohio.
“With the right policies, within 24 months we’ll be building 100 mile-per-gallon plug-in vehicles.” Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia.
Noting that McCain has voted with Bush more than 90 percent of the time, Sen. Robert Casey of Pennsylvania said, “That’s not a maverick, that’s a sidekick.”
“We simply can’t drill our way to energy independence, even if you drilled in all of John McCain’s backyards, even the ones he can’t even remember.” Gov. Brian Schweitzer, Montana.
“It’s clear that the only thing green in John McCain’s energy policy, are the billions he promised oil corporations.”
Sen. Obama has even launched a new advertisement mocking Sen. McCain’s admitted lack of background in economics.
With four free nights of free prime-time coverage, he is trying to define himself personally for voters, and to win over holdout Clinton supporters, while at the same time seeking to define himself substantively. Failing at either could cost him the election.
Which may help explain why many people throughout the US are grumbling about the coverage from the media. National political conventions have become, in NBC’s Brian Williams’ words, “four-day infomercials.” But many feel that the message is getting through, as air time is being hogged by those paid to cover the events.
The tension between convention planners and television news organizations that don’t want to be seen as doing the politicians’ bidding has been obvious, many say, throughout this convention.
When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was addressing the convention Monday, Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly was in a booth far above the delegates interviewing a pollster and waving in the direction of Mrs. Pelosi on stage with a dismissive hand: “Now we have Nancy Pelosi bloviating, and I say that in an affectionate way, behind us.”
Same thing for CNN at the time, where Wolf Blitzer was holding court as Sen. Pelosi talked. The pundits all were talking over the House Speaker, the 3rd most important person in the government.
The House Speaker is a ubiquitous dynamo, an Energizer bunny pushing the Democratic platform, explaining and extolling the Obamas, making everything seem right in the world to anyone who might be worried or have questions. Pity most didn’t have a chance to hear what she had to say. Among the cable news networks, only MSNBC gave her speech any real attention. Three hours later, as CNN analysts were wrapping up the night, several talked about the absence of “red meat” attacks on the Republicans.
But Democratic activist Hilary Rosen noted that Mrs. Pelosi was doing that – only CNN wasn’t listening.
