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Here is a quote from Bob Somerby of the www.dailyhowler.com He clearly identifies the real danger to Obama, the same danger that sank Gore and Hillary--the MSM, liberals included.
"But the particular error which caught our eye was Klein’s claim that Gore’s post-convention bounce only held “momentarily.” In fact, Gore’s bounce held for more than a month, leading insider Washington to conclude that the race with Bush was over. The Democratic convention ended on August 17, 2000—and the bounce held until September 18, when the first of two important events started bringing the race back to even.
Each event involved the press. On September 18, the Boston Globe’s Walter Robinson sprang the “Gore lied about the doggy pills” story. On September 20, Walter Shapiro (USA Today) sprang the “Gore lied about the union lullaby” story. Each of these claims was absurd, inane; Gore’s remark about the union song was an obvious joke, for example. But these two events were widely pimped, and they rekindled the powerful “Gore Liar" narrative—a narrative the press corps spent two years inventing. All over Washington, insiders had said the election was over. But now, this pair of ginned-up tales brought Gore back to earth.
Why did Gore’s coverage change that week? Why did the press corps start re-trashing Gore? Later that week, Brian Williams asked—and Howard Fineman answered. Truly, an astounding statement:
FINEMAN (9/21/00): I don’t think the media was going to allow, just by its nature, the next seven weeks, the last seven or eight weeks of the campaign, to be all about Al Gore’s relentless, triumphant march to the presidency. We want a race, I suppose. If we have a bias of any kind, it’s that we like to see a contest and we like to see it down to the end if we can.
Fineman can’t speak for the press corps, of course, although he’s a major insider. But that’s an assertion of stunning misconduct. And by the way: That’s the innocent explanation for what happened. Most likely, here’s a more accurate statement: The media didn’t want Gore to win.
These facts have been forgotten, of course. In this way, Klein’s erroneous performance is very typical. Big mainstream journalists never discuss the way their cohort intervenes in elections. In that case, Gore’s bounce actually lasted more than a month—and it ended when the press intervened. Fineman said they acted that way to make the race get close.
Final question: Have you ever heard a Democrat or career liberal complain about what the press corps did? Have you ever heard a Dem or lib tell voters about what Fineman said? (A very few have.) History gets washed away—and after that, history happens again. Bogus claims are spreading about Obama? Good lord! What a f*cking surprise!
Earlier he notes how the press did the same thing to Hillary about the driver's license question that supposedly undid her and worries that Obama will suffer the same fate.
