Tipsheet

The Media Narrative Against McCain

Anyone who knows the media, knows they basically decide on a narrative, and then stick with it ... until it gets boring.  For example, the narrative that John McCain was a "maverick" was a great story ... back in 2000.

Well, the new narrative is that McCain's campaign is falling apart.  For this reason, the Washington Post featured a huge story on John Dowd's flip from McCain to Romney.  The truth of the matter is that Dowd raised less than $7K for McCain -- but you can't let that fact get in the way of a good story ...

Conversely, the media has chosen to ignore the fact that Utah's state Senate Majority Leader has defected from Romney to McCain.

The reason?  Flipping to McCain doesn't fit the template or the narrative that the media has created.  As such, it is barely mentioned.

Here's the dangerous part: The media loves to build you up, and then tear you down.  Today's hero (McCain in 2000, for example), is tomorrow's media goat.  Remember how much adoration Howard Dean got from the Post back in 2003?  Then, remember what they did to him in 2004 ...

My point is that -- as John McCain has learned -- if you live by the media narrative, you die by the media narrative ...

Who knows?  Maybe the next template will be: "How McCain has made a comeback"?

Stranger things have happened ...

Correction:  2:20 PM - Rob Bluey reminds me that John Dowd went to Thompson, not Romney.