Do you think the MSM's obsession with trying to keep the candidates

[Bandit]

polling equally is a help to Obama or is it a help to McCain. IMO it is more of a help to Obama because it will insure more people get out and vote. If people feel Obama is a shoe-in they may just decide they don't really need to vote because it will be taken care of. While I am in favor of the truth I can't seem to get myself too upset at how the MSM is trying to portray the run-up as neck and neck.

[whatchamacallit]

1. It helps McCain. If they convince John Q Public it's close, nobody will suspect fraud

A key to stolen elections is the perception of a horse race.

[dkofos]

6. I agree

[gratuitous]

2. Who's going to watch if the conclusion is foregone?

My take is that, as usual, it's about money. Who's going to watch the endless speculation and bloviating if Obama is going to win in a blowout? Nobody, except the real hard core fans. Tune in a baseball game that's 11-2 in the sixth inning some time. Forget what's going on in the game, just listen to the announcers trying to maintain fan interest. They have an obligation to their advertisers to keep as many eyes on the tube or as many ears to the speaker as possible. Same thing with the political commentators. They're servicing their advertisers, not the public.

[Windy]

4. Bingo! You get the prize! n/t

[liberal N proud]

3. Their motive for doing it is to help McGoo

We could hope it is just another backfire on the GOP.

[NightWatcher]

5. they want to "keep it close" so we'll watch them day after day saying the same stuff

it's not close and I think MSNBC knows it, but what can they do? if they dont talk about it as being close they know we wont watch

[KharmaTrain]

7. Follow The Money...

Think of this as a baseball game...our team hasn't won a big game in a long time and while we've worked hard to build a stronger team, it's still one that won the "big one". The other team not only has a winning streak, but always has found a way to win...cheating and stealing if needed. The narrative is that you give the "benefit of the doubt" to the reigning champ until they're detrhoned.

The corporate media (far from Mainstream...unless you live in a beltway bubble) has big interests in portraying a close election. First is the ratings...just like in that baseball game, if people know Team A is gonna win...or is winning in a blow-out, few will watch. Without the eyes/ratings, they can't make large sums of money with the "best political coverage on teevee". This is their Superbowl...millions are spent on election coverage and its the corporate media's job to make the elections pay for them as much as for the politicians they cover.

Next, there's the advertising game. A close election means billions spent on teevee commercials; fattening up wallets that have been suffering from the downturn in consumer spending/advertising. It's manna from heaven...especially on the local level. For example, ABC Network calling the election close means a lot of local buys for ABC local stations.

Finally, there's the career building aspect. The beltway is full of "journalists" and "pundits" who base their nice paychecks to getting face time and bylines. We've cultivated a media personality class where opinion and fact are scrambled and the coverage of the death of one of these bubble "journalists" warranted coverage usually reserved for a head of state.

[AndyTiedye]

9. You Are Not Following the Money Far Enough!

Take NBC.

GE owns NBC so they can control the content of NBC's "news".
Jack Welch even admitted in print that was why he bought NBC.

GE makes more money off of the war than they could ever make from NBC.

McInsane has promised them 100 years of war. GE likes that idea very much!

[KharmaTrain]

10. The Irony Is NBC Appears The Least In The Bag

CBS edits out a key Gramps "gaffe" but keeps his slanderous talking point in...and a retired General is called on the carpet for asking a legitimate question about the military experience of a dude who finished 5th to last in his class and got shot down?

Then there's ABC...on their own "Road to 9/11" with Charlie "Doesn't Everyone Need Capital Gains" Gibson and Judas Streptococous...I still don't see Disney's overall agenda in shilling to the GOOP other than the hopes of getting even more "deregulation" to further dominate the means of distribution and production of information and entertainment.

Chicken Noodle News gave up on being a serious news outlet the day Turner turned the keys over to Time/Warner. And Faux isn't even worth wasting electrons on.

Ironic that it's GE/NBC that offers the rare "librul" voice...a whole 60 minute "bone" to pretend they're being "fair and balanced".

Yes...it does go a lot further...

Cheers...

[AndyTiedye]

8. They Want a "Horse Race" so the Repiglickins Can FIX It

The MSM only wants to make it a "horse race" when the Democrats are ahead.

There was none of this talk when Reagan was running against Mondale.

They'd be fine with a Repiglickin landslide, and they'd be piling on the dirt to buy us even deeper.

The Mighty Slime Machine works for THEM.