Forewarned Is Forearmed

Hillary Clinton has -- as all of America knows -- complained that the MSM has given Barack a free ride, while pounding her. Well, according to a new study from Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism and Harvard's Joan Shorenstein Center . . . not so much.

In fact, if anyone has a right to complain about the campaign coverage, it's John McCain. While positive narratives about Barack in the MSM totalled a whopping 69 percent of all the assertions made about him, Hillary wasn't too far behind at 67 percent positive. In a (predictably) dramatic contrast, John McCain received a positive percentage of only 43 percent.

Amazingly, some commentators and political analysts (like NBC's First Read and Neal Gabler, writing in The New York Times) have suggested that McCain is receiving unfairly positive coverage. Well, maybe that was true when his status as a "maverick" was giving Republicans headaches. But now that his status as putative Republican nominee may be giving Democrats headaches, the game has changed.

Let's hope that the McCain camp has planned a press strategy that doesn't entirely rely on his supposed ability to woo and charm the MSM. It isn't going to work this time, as the study above makes manifestly plain. Forewarned is forearmed.