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Is the media trying to make Obama seem stiff and unapproachable?

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glarius Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:27 PM
Original message
Is the media trying to make Obama seem stiff and unapproachable?
They've gone from calling him elitist to having no sense of humour!
Have you noticed the latest talking points meant to make Obama less attractive? I have noticed for the past couple of days that different media people have questioned Obama's sense of humour. Watch for this to be a theme they pound on going forward. According to what the media is now saying, he doesn't have a sense of humour....is unable to laugh at himself, therefore the American public won't be able to relate to him as they will McCain. They use as one example the fact that the New Yorker cartoon was taken as an insult to Obama. No mention of the fact that Obama himself sloughed it off when he was questioned about it. Others made the fuss....not him. Several times I have seen the media point out that McClain is able to joke about his age, as he did on Saturday Night Live for instance. I may be over-reacting, but it looks to me as if they are chipping away at Obama. :shrug:
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anonymous171 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:28 PM
Response to Original message
1. Tried to Kerry him now they are back to trying to Gore him.
Not going to work.
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Mrs. Overall Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:30 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. Exactly. MSM is intent on making brains look like a liability.
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Benhurst Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:31 PM
Response to Original message
3. Of course they are chipping away at him in any way they can and
Edited on Thu Jul-17-08 01:53 PM by Benhurst
will continue to do so.

As for Obama's sense of humor, I don't know. Despite all the JFK comparisons, he doesn't seem to share the late president's sense of humor.

Maybe I've just missed it. Any good examples out there?
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glarius Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:42 PM
Response to Reply #3
10. He has displayed as much humour as McCain...whose lines on SNL were written for him!
Other that that line about him being old...old...old...what has McCain said that was all that funny?
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Benhurst Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:52 PM
Response to Reply #10
15. Saying he has displayed as much humor as McCain is equivalent to
saying he has showed as much personal charm as Karl Rove.

Again, as for Obama's sense of humor, I don't know. Despite all the JFK comparisons, he doesn't seem to share the late president's sense of humor.

Maybe I've just missed it. Any good examples out there?
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glarius Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:56 PM
Response to Reply #15
18. I can't recall anything spacific....just an overall sense I have of him
as being affable and likeable. I know I've heard him say humourous things at times, but nothing springs to mind right now. I know he's made jokes about his big ears.
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Benhurst Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 02:01 PM
Response to Reply #18
20. Thanks. That's more or less the position I found myself in.
Jenmito replied with two examples, one of which was the statement about his big ears.

He does come across as affable and likable. As to whether he is another JFK when it comes to a sense if humor, time will tell.
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jenmito Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:49 PM
Response to Reply #3
13. When asked if he thought he could be on Mt. Rushmore one day, he said there's
only so much rock and his ears are too big to fit. He told people who were asking about the smear e-mails, that they should believe them just as much as they believe the emails that they get saying they can increase their "size" or can make them rich by just giving their bank account number to a guy in Nigeria who has come upon a large inheritance.
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Benhurst Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:54 PM
Response to Reply #13
16. Thanks, jenmito. That's the sort of example I was looking for.
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jenmito Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 02:08 PM
Response to Reply #16
23. You're welcome.
:hi:
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NatBurner Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 02:36 PM
Response to Reply #3
27. his annie oakley line was pretty funny
sorry, clinton folks, but i cracked up when i heard that
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Skwmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:33 PM
Response to Original message
4. The working hard for his paycheck "Chuckie T," among others
are trying to define Obama as:

A person that just doesn't demonstrate to people that he feels their pain (like Clinton and Bush could)
That he is arrogant.
That he is a naive O'bambi who will be a disaster like Carter.

Chuckie T says the election won't be decided on personality (lucky for McCain, the man who calls his wife a "unt, tells rape jokes, etc.) but about character. And according to Howard Fineman and Chris Matthews (I guess he's now worried about job security) McCain is another John Wayne.

Joe calling Chuck Todd "Chuckie T" reminds me of Bush and his pet names for the media lapdogs. Chuckie T reminds me of Chuckie Cheese but then again I think that's unfair to the mouse.

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Cha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:34 PM
Response to Original message
5. They could always bring back
Wright to pound him with if the whole "stiff and unapprochable" thing doesn't work for them.



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Roxy66 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:37 PM
Response to Reply #5
8. This picture looks like an approachable guy to me.....great pic!!
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grasswire Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:35 PM
Response to Original message
6. sounds like the Gore treatment
That's exactly what they did to him, a warm and funny man.
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Skwmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:36 PM
Response to Original message
7. They are building up McCain like they did Bush. The gushing is really over the top.
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Cha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:42 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. And, they're thinking that after selling 2 terms
of 28% bu$h and The War On Iraq that the Undecideds will buy another one of their pitches.
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DangerDave921 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:43 PM
Response to Reply #7
12. MSM was for Bush?
What are you talking about?

I see the MSM as favoring the Dem candidate most of the time.

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Overseas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:43 PM
Response to Original message
11. Obama has no sense of humor and JSM III's rape jokes are just McCain being McCain.
Gee, ain't that sweet. Corporate media continuing to work overtime to promote their little buddy John Sidney McCain III. They're hoping their fake maverick will invite them to one of his seven homes for another BBQ.

Imagine that, though. Saying Obama lacks a sense of humor and then dismissing JSM III's misogynistic jokes as just the crochety SOB being authentic.

From an article about JSM III's rape joke:

And McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said McCain's humor is, more broadly, central to his appeal.

"He's long said that he's said and done things in the past that he regrets," Rogers said. "You've just got to move on and be yourself — that's what people want. They want somebody who's authentic, and this kind of stuff is a good example of McCain being McCain."
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tishaLA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:50 PM
Response to Original message
14. This is a preamble to his Europe/Iraq trip
I have a sense that they are going to be looking for a minor slip up...and they are going to pounce on him and make it appear to be the biggest thing since bittergate. I hope to god I'm wrong, but they seem to be lining up the narrative: the RW pushing back against all three anchors going with him, Chuck Todd writing on First Read that this added coverage can be a double-edged sword, etc. They are PRAYING for a Sunni-Shiite error...and I don't doubt they'll invent one if need be.
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Egnever Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 01:55 PM
Response to Original message
17. They are trying everything they can think of
Hoping something will stick
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DFLforever Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 02:00 PM
Response to Original message
19. I wish them 'luck' because nothing they've pushed so far
has worked. Which is why every week or so, they have to try something new.
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Mass Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 02:03 PM
Response to Original message
21. Why are you surprised? They did that in 2000 and 2004. They're doing it again.
And the sad thing is that each time, they are people who believe them (including progressives), and will repeat it forever.
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politicasista Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 02:07 PM
Response to Reply #21
22. Bingo!
:thumbsup:
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butterfly77 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 02:22 PM
Response to Original message
24. if you listen at the media and the Republicons..
who are one in the same, you can see what they are doing because they use the same playbook every election. They say the same thing over and over on each show and they all talk about the same things on every network.

McCain tries to be funny which he isn't so they are trying to make Obama play into the game of trying to show that he has a sense of humor, they do this everytime because they don't want to talk about the issues. Who gives a damn if he is funny or not, with the problems that bush will leave for him to deal with he needs to be serious as a heart attack.

That is what I like about Obama because he faces a problem straight on as he has done throughout his campaign. Whether it be religion,patrotism, racism or any other issue he has came right out and explain his point of view on all of these subjects but they still pretend not to hear what he has been saying so, they find anything they can attack him on and when that theme doesn't work, they find another non-issue and start beating it over and over again..
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glarius Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 02:31 PM
Response to Reply #24
26. He does always seem to answer his critics immediately....I wouldn't
be surprised to see him come on TV real soon with a funny and pertinent answer to these fools who are trying to paint him as colourless.
That was the mistake Kerry and Gore made, I believe. They let these things slide so long that the public accepted them as being fact.
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Pirate Smile Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 02:31 PM
Response to Original message
25. Today, the media's talking point is that Obama is a WORK-OUT MANIAC!
Be afraid!

Obama as the elitist with no sense of humour was yesterday's talking point.
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Mass Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-17-08 02:38 PM
Response to Reply #25
28. We would not want a president who works too much. It is so out-of-touch.
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