This might seem like small potatoes, but it comes down - again - to the press reporting one way for one candidate (”a crowd of 75,000″ comes out for Obama, but no mention of the free concert that went with his appearance) and another way (“more than 1000″ people come out for McCain in Cedarberg, WI - but people who were there say more like 12,000) for another.
It is true that 12,000 is “more than 1,000.”
One paper reported the crowd to be “hundreds.” But you can’t find that page, anymore.
The thing is, the press can play this game all they want. All they do is destroy their own credibility; they don’t change those numbers. Lying about facts does not change the facts.
In fact, all the press is managing to do at this point, besides destroying themselves and hurting their candidate, is to really piss off the audience they need in order to continue to work and sell ads for, you know, revenue.
Althouse has pictures and comments from some of the “more than 1,000 people” who were there in Cedarsburg, WI, which may someday seem like the Fort Sumter of this election. Or maybe we say, Cedarberg, WI is where the Media has met its Waterloo?
Slightly O/T UPDATE: When a Flag is More Than a Prop then Boy Scouts rescue them and bring them to the GOP. It’s almost a working metaphor for the recent trajectory of these campaigns, isn’t it? And once again, Campaign ‘08 is coming down to authenticity.
Ed Morrissey: The SANEST take on the flags and the Obama response - which they could have handled better.
Gabriel Malor writes:
I was floored yesterday at a lunch when somebody countered the WaPo’s lie that Palin slashed funding for teen pregnancy centers. To my knowledge, the WaPo hasn’t retracted or corrected that story, but this person knew the truth anyway and confidently straightened out some other folks at the table.
Yes, it’s anecdotal, but I sense a sea-change. A tipping point has been reached.
More: Crowds Turn Out for Palin, McCain. “Crowds.”
Also, just for fun, the bogus list of “books Sarah Palin tried to ban and the disappearance of that page from the Obama site.
Yeah, they’re just making crap up, as they go along, now - throwing everything they have at Palin, and hoping something sticks. But Obama says, “you can’t just make stuff up”. Hmm.
Related: (much H/T/ Larwyn)
Curl: The McCain Plane is Suddenly Full
Suber: What does Palin Owe the Press?
Kristol: Thanks, Guys; The Press Attacks on Palin Backfire (Superbly snarky must read!)
Ace: Relentlessly Bullying Obama, aka “Candace”
Palin’s Radio Address: Full Text
Ed Morrissey: is playing the card again
The Hurricane: “of elite rage”
JOM: The Smell of Fear
Small Dead Animals: It’s not the women, it’s the men!
Obama’s Leadership: Orders not being followed!
Alaskans: Fed Up With the Press
The Politics of Personal Destruction: Remember when that was a bad thing?
Sundries Shack
Cedarberg has a population of about 10,000
Link to slideshow
More Flag Discovery
September 6th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
You are going to love this article. Right around the 17th paragraph they mention a group of 40 people that were at the Michigan McCain/Palin rally yesterday.
[Edited to Admit Link -admin]
September 6th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Legacy Media Underreports Crowds at McCain/Palin Appearances…
The Anchoress has come roaring out of her online retreat with wall-to-wall political coverage. I think the Palin pick in particular re-energized her. Now she’s talking about the Daily Kos Media’s attempts to sway this election: This might seem like…..
September 6th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
The whole flag thing is really infuriating. I am not aware of all the points of flag etiquette but _throwing it away_ I know is not part of it.
I mean, really, guys.
September 6th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
[...] time, the media, who The Anchoress reports are saying that “More than 1,000” or “Crowds” showed up in [...]
September 6th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
[...] with wall-to-wall political coverage. I think the Palin pick in particular re-energized her. Now she’s talking about the Daily Kos Media’s attempts to sway this election: This might seem like small potatoes, but it comes down - again - to the press reporting one way [...]
September 6th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Now the DNC (or some other “dim” organization) is saying that these flags were going to be returned to the manufacturer to be “recycled”. Yeah, right. Reminds me of a dear friend who used to say, “they lie when the truth would have sounded better.” IIRC, the custodial crew found the bags of flags and then got the Boy Scouts to come get them…doesn’t sound to me like a responsible person was getting out boxes to repack the flags to ship them back to “wherever” if that truly was what should have happened.
September 6th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
1. Transporting the flags in trash bags makes no sense. The sticks would break through the bags–it would be a mess. There is no way that argument works. Love your statement, Piano Girl, “they lie when the truth would have sounded better.” So true.
2. Love that Bill Kristol column, Anchoress. Thanks for linking to it.
September 6th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Well, technically, they didn’t lie…
In its coverage of John McCain and Sarah Palin in Cedarburg Wi. today, the Associated Press reported:
More than a thousand people jammed the streets to see McCain and the Alaska governor, his suprise choice for the vice presidential nomination who prov…
September 6th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Piano: So true. Besides, by the Flag Code, flags can’t be ‘recycled’. Resold, sure. But there is a proper way to dispose of US flags, and recycling I don’t think is allowed.
September 6th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Well here is an Obama supporter with a flag
[edited to admit link - admin]
September 6th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Give the New York Times credit, that picture says Colorado Springs was a pretty successful event.
[edited to admit link- admin]
September 7th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I have to say there were more than a few thousand people at Freedom Hill in Sterling Heights, MI. I got out of work too late and literally couldn’t get near the park. The traffic was standing still on both sides of M-59.
Here’s the link to the story in the Detroit News. Notice that the story reports a mere “dozens of protesters”. Here
[edited to admit link -admin]
September 7th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Not sure if you saw this article in the UK Times. Lots of goody Palin stuff including how Track, Bristol, Willow and Piper got their names. h/t Dissecting Leftism
September 7th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
[...] clear attempt to define her before America met her at the convention and liked her. Jack Kelly (h/t Anchoress who is blog storming, wow) says of this phenomenon: Journalists last week cast aside the mask of [...]
September 8th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Crowd Suppression…
Andrea Shea King, by email; Just before the 2004 election, my morning drive radio program co-host and I co-hosted a screening of *”Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal”* (the documentary about the Vietnam POWS who served with John Kerry). We……
September 8th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Sarah Palin and The Press…
At this point no one can argue that the press and elites editorializing on major newspaper pages, lead by a coterie of elite women including Maureen Dowd, Andrea Mitchell, Sally Quinn, Gloria Steinem and even, in an unguarded moment, Peggy……