At Least He Didn't Say "Bitter"

Via Isaac Chotiner, John McCain attacks "depressed" middle Americans:

I felt better after talking to the bubbly [Florida Governor Charlie] Crist, who's like human Prozac. "How can you not be optimistic about Florida?" he asked. "Is there a more beautiful place on the planet?" He then recounted a story that probably won't help him in the GOP Veepstakes: "John McCain told me, 'It's tough in those Rust Belt states. You really feel a bit of depression in people's outlook. But when you get to Florida, people feel great.'"

I know, I know IOKYAR so there's no story here.

Comments

Matt,

I think one of the reasons that this won't get a lot of press is because Obama isn't pushing it as an issue. Obama's "bitter" comments in the Democratic primary got talked about a lot because Hillary pushed for them to be talked about.

Ultimately, I think the press is lazy more than liberal or conservative. (Though I am sure that there are some media outlets that are conservative and others that are liberal.)

The media likes the stories to kind of write themselves. They like the candidates to decide what gets debated on the talk shows. If Obama doesn't go after this, then it won't get attention. And there are better things with more traction for Obama to go after, like McCain's social security comments or Gramm's "whiners" comments.

Posted by Jim Crozier | July 11, 2008 6:19 PM

I though Gramm's "whiners" comment has gotten lots of play in the media. It's exactly the sort of story the media likes: Poltician Puts Foot In Mouth, Insults The Hallowed American People. Why else did McCain rush to disavow the comments if they weren't accruing negative publicity?

Posted by JonF | July 11, 2008 6:31 PM

That's not an attack. He just says people are depressed, and they are.

Posted by Gabriel | July 11, 2008 6:38 PM

"Is there a more beautiful place on the planet?"

It's a swamp.

Posted by SwampHater | July 11, 2008 6:57 PM

I just moved out of FL after living there for fifteen years. In Central Florida the crime rate is skyrocketing and the housing market has bottomed out.

Yeah, its fantastic.

Posted by Kat | July 11, 2008 7:00 PM

Christ, Matt, you can't even get the acronym right...

I didn't recognize the acronym, so I put it in Google and it says, "Did you mean: IOKIYAR"

IOKIYAR - It's OK If You're A Republican

IOKYAR - It's OK if You ARe an idiot.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | July 11, 2008 7:10 PM

I agree with Jim re the media's tendencies towards laziness and easy reporting. Another factor is that most media outlets have been so shell-shoved from charges of having a liberal bias that they are extra-hesitant to devote attention to anything that's not being pushed by someone else.

We forget sometimes that although FOX News is an activist news organization, CNN, MSNBC, etc. not only aren't, but are scared about being portrayed as being so. They need the cover of a campaign raising an issue to devote attention to that issue ("We're not biased, we're just covering the controversy.")

It's an OK attitude for political campaign--we have enough trivial BS stories *without* the media acting on its own--but it serves the country poorly regarding issues of government accountability. A watchdog press was sorely needed during the run-up and prosecution of the Iraq war, and most press institutions failed in this regard. In fact, people like Charlie Gibson don't even think they did anything wrong in their coverage.

Posted by Jason | July 11, 2008 7:29 PM

I hardly think that Senator McCain would be considering a closet gay like Governor Crist as his vice president.

Posted by SLC | July 11, 2008 7:30 PM

I think I might walk down the street and give that asshole a piece of my mind.

It's currently very depressing in Florida. Thanks, neighbor Chuck.

Posted by brenna | July 11, 2008 7:44 PM

Florida (yikes) is really not at all beautiful. If he had said Maine, I could see that. Colorado, sure. Florida? God no.

Sorry, Charlie.

Posted by jbryan | July 11, 2008 8:02 PM

The NYT helping BHO give the shout out to some places doesn't seem to have gotten much attention for some reason. Nevertheless, I'm sure I'm not the only person who's wondered whether BHO is now disfavored by the Kreml'.

Posted by TLB | July 11, 2008 8:25 PM

I actually like the fact that you have a lot of typos on your blog. You are so smart that you doesn't have to prove it. That said, if you are going to use acronyms you should spell them correctly.

Posted by Craig | July 11, 2008 8:29 PM

Jim Crozier: "The media likes the stories to kind of write themselves. They like the candidates to decide what gets debated on the talk shows."

Al Gore says hi moron.

Jesus, how stupid can people be; did you even check, if you didn't know, what the acronym MY used in his post means?

Posted by Andruw | July 11, 2008 8:40 PM

Yes Andruw...Richard's comment is a concise explanation so I won't repeat it.

What, EXACTLY, is moronic about my statement? Can you be a bit more specific about what part of it you disagree with?

Or is that too much effort for you to do before calling someone a moron and stupid?

Posted by Jim Crozier | July 11, 2008 8:52 PM

So McCain is out of touch and elitist. He wants all the struggling Middle America folks to pay for a Florida vacation...

http://www.political-buzz.com/

Posted by matt | July 11, 2008 8:52 PM

Yes, Jim: how many election cycles do we have to go through before you realize, amazingly, the Democrat is portrayed as the (at best) unprincipled/liar/flip-flopper candidate. EVERY TIME.

It's not about laziness, or stories "writing themselves". Though they do if you buy into GOP narratives from the get-go.

That it isn't some kind of coincidence. That would be striking. If it were so.

Or do you disagree, and feel Al Gore and John Kerry (to a lesser extent) were treated fairly by the MSM?

Posted by Andruw1031 | July 11, 2008 9:36 PM

Andruw:

I was responding to a specific use case:

"Why wasn't McCain getting hit hard for a comment that was so similar to the one Obama got hit on?"

And the answer was that the press didn't hit Obama hard on his "bitter" comment until Hillary pressed the issue. I have no doubt if Obama specifically raised the point of how similar the two comments were, then the press would cover it.

Your comments in your second post here are more general: is the press always fair and impartial in how they cover Republicans vs. Democrats.

No. But often times the Republicans have better message discipline than Democrats do. Republicans hammered away at a single theme on Kerry: That he was a flip flopper. And Kerry, because he was a fairly inept campaigner, gave them golden opportunity after golden opportunity to make the charge stick. ("I voted for it before I voted against it.")

Now listen carefully, because this is where the "lazy" part fits into all this. Laziness is not taking the time and effort to put the quote in proper context. Kerry's quote, when put in proper context, is easily explainable. He voted for it when it was right to do so, before substantial changes are made, and then voted against it when the bill in question changed.

But ultimately, the press covered it because the Republicans hammered away at it, and the press was too lazy to come up with more important stories to cover other than the daily talking points of the two campaigns. Republicans MADE THE PRESS COVER THE FLIP-FLOPPING ANGLE by constantly restating it each and every day, and the media being too lazy to find something else to talk about.

Obama could similarly choose to make this particular comment a story, but there is better fodder out there to hammer away at...which was, in simple words, the whole point of my original post. It isn't the whole explanation of course, as you've correctly pointed out, but to say it isn't a large contributing factor is ignorance personified.

But laziness doesn't extend exclusively to the media. It also shows up in blog commentators who choose to take a simplified look at someone's comments, then get their rocks off by calling someone who largely believes as they do on the issues a stupid moron rather than taking the time to put the comments into their full context, or at least asking for a fuller explanation on something before jumping straight into insults.

Which, ultimately, leads into the most important point of all: people who do that are acting like assholes...in that particular use case of course. Not saying they are ALWAYS assholes. (Yay! I can do snarky tones in my posting too!)

Posted by Jim Crozier | July 11, 2008 10:02 PM

Typical Florida politician taking credit for the sunshine. Note to Charlie Crist:

Florida, rank out of 50 states in violent crime - #2
Florida, rank out of 50 states in people without health insurance - #2

I don't trust any politician who doesn't have to plow snow at least once every few years. Nothing reveals incompetence in government like a few inches of snow. It separates the talkers from the doers on a non-ideological basis.

Posted by joejoejoe | July 11, 2008 10:39 PM

I always thought that what was compelling about Florida was the prospect of sudden, orgiastic violence, tragic gay love triangles, serial and spree killers coming to grim ends.

In a melting world optimism isn't what comes to mind with respect to Florida.

If you're going to put your money on the east coast I'd go with high ground in Maine.

Posted by Linus | July 11, 2008 10:46 PM

There's a reason Dexter Morgan is hanging out in Florida, you know? ;(

Posted by Tendrin | July 11, 2008 11:39 PM

A Dexter reference?

Brilliant!

Posted by Jim Crozier | July 11, 2008 11:43 PM

I do not see an apples to apples comparison here.

I don't think Obama got into media trouble because he said people are bitter. Many people are bitter. He got into trouble because he implied, intentionally or not, that rural people cling to guns and religion because they are bitter.

"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them" --B.O.

Crist said people are depressed. He did not say, "people in the rust belt are depressed, they cling to guns and hate."

Agree?

Posted by S.P. Gass | July 12, 2008 12:53 AM

Jim Crozier and Jason have it right. It's not the content of what a politician actually says or does, it's how hard the other side works to make the press cover it in an unflattering way (coupled with real news outlets' fear of being branded as partisan).

I remember listening to the Diane Rhiem show where journalists were talking among themselves about coverage of signing statements (or perhaps it was about the NSA spying program). A journalists said (slight paraphrase), "We didn't press the issue because no Democratic politicians pressed it." His point was that they cover what politicians say; they don't go after their own stories.

They love to "cover the controversy," as Jason said. But the Right _gins up_ the controversy, which is exactly why every Democrat gets portrayed as a flip-flopper and no Republican does. It's exactly why IOKIYAR--because Democrats don't fan the flames (or create controversy out of whole cloth), and Republicans do.

Posted by William | July 12, 2008 1:33 AM

Charlie Crist is like "human Prozac"? Is that a new euphemism for gay?

Posted by Steve Sailer | July 12, 2008 5:43 AM

Crist got engaged last week. Crist's engagement boosts VP chances, image, analysts say.

Posted by Carolelynne | July 12, 2008 7:49 AM

Re Carolelynne

1. The reverend Ted Haggard was married and had several children before he was outed as a gay man.

2. Former Maryland congressman Robert Bauman was a married man with 4 children before he was outed as a gay man.

Governor Crist may be what is politely termed a switch hitter (also known as AC/DC). The rumors as to his alleged gayness have little to do with his being single, as the examples of Haggard and Bauman demonstrate.

Posted by SLC | July 12, 2008 9:12 AM

There's no story here because this isn't in any way comparable to what Obama said. Obama was trying to pathologize disagreement. He said, in essence, that there was no legitimate basis for disagreement with him--that people who disagreed with him did so for irrational reasons stemming from bitterness. There's no element of that in McCain's comment.

Posted by Brandon Berg | July 12, 2008 2:10 PM

And what was Gov. Crist's fiance's response to reading about her "bubbly" man's proclamation that everything was gay and dandy in Florida?

Posted by aleks | July 13, 2008 8:23 AM