Come on over to MeetTheBloggers.org for a discussion about the corporate media and media bias in the election. Henry Rollins will be leading the discussion in place of Cenk today with our panel of bloggers including Jonathan Kim (FOX Attacks!), Liliana Segura (AlterNet.org) and Paul Waldman (Media Matters). As always, I'll be moderating the liveblog.

As mentioned before, the McCain campaign has no known plans to put Sarah Palin before the press. Not for interviews, not for a quick hello, nothing. Not on the Sunday shows either.

I was joking with friends yesterday that I half-expected McCain to send her on a "fact finding" mission to Iraq as a way to get her away from reporters.

Turns out it's back to Alaska instead (via Ben Smith):

Howard Fineman reported tonight (and I heard something similar) that Sarah Palin will, after a brief stretch on the trail, head back to Anchorage and away from the national media.
...
Fineman's source (and mine) said she'd spent much of the time between now and the middle of next week (when her son leaves for Iraq) straightening her affairs, tending to her official duties and packing her bags -- having departed abruptly for the national stage.
...
The campaign will "also use the plane time and time on the ground to begin the education of Sarah Palin," Fineman said. "They want to take that pause to train."

"The education of Sarah Palin??" Really?

At first I thought the press would go livid if Palin didn't do media - and then go nuts in defense of her convention attacks. Jerome told me I was nuts. And now with a poll to waive around showing a majority think the media is trying to hurt Palin, the McCain campaign will bully the press just enough to get away with the veep candidate's seclusion.

The traditional press has to ignore this kind of Republican "working the refs," which guilt-trips them into overcompensating the other way.

Palin is the Republicans' VP nominee. With less than two months away from the general election, she won't so much as talk to a reporter. Let's not let the Republican invented allegation of smear stop the public from knowing their nominee.

Traditional media: get thee to Alaska!  

At the very end of his acceptance speech, John McCain said,

Fight for what's right for our country.

Fight for the ideals and character of a free people.

Fight for our children's future.

Fight for justice and opportunity for all.

Stand up to defend our country from its enemies.

Stand up for each other; for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America.

Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We're Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.

Thank you, and God Bless you.

Emphasis added.

It sounded to me like McCain was urging Republicans not to resign themselves to Barack Obama's inevitable history-making victory. It was strange to hear him acknowledge that pessimism at what should have been the climax of his speech.

Am I misreading this? Is there some other apparently inevitable thing McCain wants Republicans to stand up and fight against?

UPDATE: This part of the speech was drafted poorly:

I will keep taxes low and cut them where I can. My opponent will raise them. I will open new markets to our goods and services. My opponent will close them. I will cut government spending. He will increase it. My tax cuts will create jobs. His tax increases will eliminate them. My health care plan will make it easier for more Americans to find and keep good health care insurance. His plan will force small businesses to cut jobs, reduce wages, and force families into a government run health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor.

The crowd kept interrupting with boos after McCain's description of what Obama would do. It came across as very negative.

These contrasts should have been flipped around so that the crowd kept interrupting McCain with applause after he compared his opponent's plans with his own ideas. You want television viewers to see the audience repeatedly cheering the nominee.

Well, we haven't seen a hit piece from the Associated Press yet, but I can tell you this: John McCain's speech wasn't a hit -- just ask the delegates.

Sleepy? Our colleague Patrick Healy reports from the floor: There is a delegate in the Utah section and a delegate in Puerto Rico who are both drooping, eyes closed - look asleep - both are men.

It's possible that this speech is the inverse of Sarah Palin's last night -- boring for the crowd inside, but more palatable for the general viewership. I say possible, though, for a reason; McCain's delivery was decidedly underwhelming, and the staging by his campaign -- particularly the lime Jell-O green screen that shone behind McCain during the beginning of the speech, only to turn to a color that at least to the television viewer might be described as blue raspberry -- was similarly unsuccessful.

McCain certainly tried to embrace the "change" label. Will it work for a candidate who hugged George W. Bush both figuratively and literally in recent years, voting at least 90 percent of the time for the most unpopular President in the history of polling? Color me unimpressed. But we shall wait and see...

What were your thoughts?

Update [2008-9-4 23:28:57 by Jonathan Singer]: Hillary Clinton's thoughts:

"The two party conventions showcased vastly different directions for our country. Senator Obama and Senator Biden offered the new ideas and positive change America needs and deserves after eight years of failed Republican leadership. Senator McCain and Governor Palin did not.

"After listening to all of the speeches this week, I heard nothing that suggests the Republicans are ready to fix the economy for middle class families, provide quality affordable health care for all Americans, guarantee equal pay for equal work for women, restore our nation's leadership in a complex world or tackle the myriad of challenges our country faces.

"So, to slightly amend my comments from Denver: NO WAY, NO HOW, NO McCAIN-PALIN."

That's unequivocal and really well said. Kudos to Senator Clinton for her grace and magnanimousness in working for the Democratic ticket this fall.

Cindy McCain us speaking now. Anyone watching? Joe Scarborough said that after the thrill of last night in the hall, the Excel Center feels like a "a mid year rules committee conference of the platform committee."

My Twitter feed is HERE.

John McCain should be speaking in about a half hour.

Update [2008-9-4 22:17:44 by Jonathan Singer]: Lime Jell-O!

Update [2008-9-4 22:24:34 by Todd Beeton]:Whoah, Code Pink in the house. McCain has lost control.

Update [2008-9-4 22:29:31 by Todd Beeton]:Wow, he's focusing an awful lot on people other than himself. When does the speech start?

Update [2008-9-4 22:40:0 by Todd Beeton]:Zzzzzz. Sarah, can you help him out out there, please?

Here's video of Barack at a townhall in York, Pennsylvania today.

"They've had a lot to say about me. But they haven't had anything to say about you."

Here's video of Barack at a press conference in York to reiterate the message.

"They haven't spent any time talking about the problems that ordinary Americans are going through every single day...Now I understand they don't have much of an agenda to run on but I think the American people deserve better..."

Here's a fundraising ask the Obama campaign sent out hitting back against Palin's mockery of community organizers.

With the nation watching, the Republicans mocked, dismissed, and actually laughed out loud at Americans who engage in community service and organizing. [...]

What you didn't hear from the Republicans at their convention is a single new idea about how to make the healthcare system work, get our economy moving for the middle class, or improve education.

Just attacks -- on me, and on you.

But what the McCain attack squad doesn't understand is that people like you -- who devote part of their busy lives to organizing and building their communities -- have the power to change this country.

I've gotten a lot of fundraising asks from Barack Obama this year but I have to say this one inspired my biggest donation yet.

Who's with me?

Update [2008-9-4 20:44:59 by Todd Beeton]:Interesting, looks like I'm not alone. MSNBC is reporting that the RNC has raised $1 million for John McCain since Sarah Palin's speech while Barack Obama has raised $8 million.

So, whose base is Palin exciting again?

Update [2008-9-4 21:11:54 by Todd Beeton]:Ambinder on Twitter reports that the Obama campaign is saying they've raised $10 million since last night.

I get to be the one that delivers the news to the 8% of Americans (of which the blog readers here appear to be high in margin) who think Palin got an F last night that, well, you don't represent the American majority viewpoint. Surprise.

That's the early result from the SUSA poll out today:
"What grade do you give her on the speech? An A, B, C, D, or an F?"

60 percent, including Joe Biden, gave it an A.

Overall, for being an asset and reflecting well on McCain, Palin comes off about the same as Biden does for Obama. A wash yea, but a huge bump for Palin:

I expected that much. What's more disturbing though, is questions 7 & 8 in the SUSA poll.

If you were placing a bet today, would you bet that Barack Obama will be elected president? Or, John McCain will be elected president?

I've not seen a single one of these that favor McCain, but this does, by a slim 48-45 margin.  

And this is just insane:

Is the media rooting for Barack Obama? Rooting for John McCain? Or trying its best to be fair to both?

Barack Obama  54
John McCain    8
Being Fair    35
Not Sure       4

The media has been busy digging a grave for us this past week, by following up on the vicious personal smears that have been pushed by prominent liberal blogs into the mainstream. Not only did they mostly backfire by not being true, but they confirmed the popular opinion that the media favors Obama. It's become conventional wisdom. This presents two huge problems.

First, McCain can basically wield whatever attacks he'd like, and not have to worry about the critique of the media. They are not seen as objective judges in the matter.

Second, the only way that the media can change this public opinion is to go overboard the other way, by attacking Barack Obama with multiple feeding frenzies.

HCDI (which now has the Barack Obama live evaluation) basically confirms the SUSA findings that Palin reached deep into Republicans and also into Independents- "Among the independents who watched her speech, respondents who report that they will “probably” or “definitely” vote for McCain increased by 10% across both genders..."

Also, notice that the CBS poll is out, and it follows exactly what I talked about in the previous post, highlighting what Palin means for the Republicans.

Yes, CBS showed movement from a 48-40 Obama lead to a 42-42 tie in a matter of days after Palin became the VP. Why? Because Republicans, especially many white Christians, who were sitting out the election are not going to vote, now are off the bench and on the field for McCain-Palin.

Those party ID numbers don't come out of a hat, they are self-selected at the beginning of the poll by asking whether people are going to vote or not.

Look at the shift that happened (and this was prior to the speech):

                 CBS Now       CBS Last Week
Democrats        35            35
Republicans      31            26
Independent      34            38

And look, if we pull out a 4% spread on election day, I'll be very pleasantly surprised. It's much more likely that we are going to see the same result as in '04 and '06, a tie or 2% lead. That's it.

Marc Ambinder and his readers make an interesting catch:

Several readers noticed the disclaimer at the end of John McCain's new ad, "Alaska Maverick."

They're paid for from his general election account. That's the law; from September 1 onward, those ads can't come from the primary kitty. McCain '08 becomes McCain-Palin '08 on Friday, but the ad -- which will air on national cable -- CNN and Fox -- tonight -- comes from the $84 million grant McCain will receive from the government.

Jonathan Martin notes that as this ad is running in "key states" it may in fact amount to one of the "video press release[s]" the McCain campaign has so often released in the hopes of conning the Beltway media to disseminate their message largely free of charge. Fair enough. But this does mark a turning point in the campaign in which the McCain campaign -- unlike the Obama campaign, which did not opt into the public financing system -- but go up against a spending ceiling. Yes, John McCain can benefit from advertisements by the Republican National Committee. However, because these independent expenditures by law are not allowed to be coordinated with campaign headquarters, McCain and his closest advisors cannot have a hand in their creation -- a problem, as noted a moment ago, not faced by Barack Obama.

Of course Obama needs to raise serious money in order to make this tradeoff pay off -- much more than the $47 million raised by the McCain campaign in August (we don't yet have Obama's August numbers, but here's to hoping they exceed any and all expectations, which they might as they could for the first time include serious general election dollars, which the Obama campaign has yet to put much effort into raising). But if Obama can continue to break fundraising records, this monetary and control disparity could be one of the most noticeable differences between the campaigns going forward.