Media and the 2008 Republican Primary

This article isn’t exactly timely. It looks at the election of 2008. It might not even matter due to the expansion of the alternative media. But considering we are beginning the run-up to the 2012 election. But it might be valuable to assess how the media behaved in that election cycle and how conservatives need to keep a wary eye on the media.

There have been plenty of articles that essentially state that the main stream media (MSM) was helping President Obama win the presidency in 2008. Some would argue the MSM did so simply out of their collective liberal bias and others that it was a concerted effort. The part of the media should be just as influential during the 2012 election. But while conservatives blame the MSM for favoring Obama during the finals of 2008, I would argue that the election was handed to the Democrats, whether Obama or Hillary Clinton, well before the general election.

Let’s look at what happened in the Republican primaries to see if there was a smoking gun. Several weeks before the Iowa caucus the clear front runner was Mitt Romney. Sen. John McCain’s campaign was nearly out of money. Mayor Rudy Giuliani was focusing on the Florida primaries and Gov. Mike Huckabee was just gaining speed and Sen. Fred Thompson (remember him?) was quietly napping.

Then came the attacks. Romney was going negative. He was out to lambast Huckabee, the biggest threat in the religiously conservative state. He wasn’t just pointing out the differences between himself and Huckabee, he was throwing mud early and often. Hmmmm. Ok, so let’s say that Romney did in fact post attack ads. Anyone remember the ads from 2008? Yeah, me either. But I sure remember that Romney was raked over the coals by the MSM for going negative.

The results? Huckabee won 34% to Romney’s 25% after polling single digits only months before. Well, ok. Stuff like that happens, right? A new guy jumps in the field at the right time, works his tail off and pulls out a win that was difficult to imagine only a short time before.

New Hampshire was up next. Remember, John McCain’s campaign was running on fumes at immediately after Iowa. There were extreme money issues. There were staff concerns. And there was Romney running in front. And what happened? Every story in the media was about the resurrection of John McCain. They hammered again and again that the New Hampshire primaries were open to anyone and that Democrats could vote in the Republican primary. Essentially, the media was implying how Democrats could mess with the Republican primary. Go and vote for McCain. It will throw the Republican process into the wind. Who knows what will happen! Whee!

At this point you might be saying, “Yeah, so? Nothing here to see. Move along.” And I would agree if not for what happened over the next five states.

Michigan was a solid win for Romney. And what did the media say? So what!?! Romney was supposed to win Michigan. For crying out loud, he was from Michigan. His dad was the governor of Michigan. Michigan doesn’t really count as a “win.”

So looking at the looming South Carolina primaries the candidates were tied 1-1-1. Or were they? Go back and look. Wyoming held its caucus before New Hampshire! Anyone remember who won that one? Romney, with 61%. Then the same day as South Carolina there was another primary. That was in Nevada. The stories in the MSM were all about John McCain winning South Carolina and Huckabee with a strong second place. But what happened in Nevada? Romney won the first majority of any Republican in any state primary, claiming 51%! (Wyoming was a caucus, so the majority in the primary is correct.)

At this point, Huckabee had 27 delegates. McCain had 38 and Romney had 65. But the stories were all about McCain winning South Carolina. There was barely a peep about Romney dominating at this point. And it all came down to Florida. And what happened? McCain beat Romney in a winner take all delegates race 36%-31%. And this would seem a straightforward win but for a few items of particular note.

The stories coming out of Florida were all about the surprising finish by Mike Huckabee, who was only marginally beaten by Giuliani and of course the “huge” five percent win by McCain. But there was something missing.

Only a couple of days before the McCain win there was an ad put out by his campaign saying that Romney wanted a “timeline” set for troop withdrawals from Iraq! How could Romney be for such an outrageous position? Didn’t he know that was against the troops? Didn’t he know he was going against the Republican field? The only problem was that McCain had lied. Romney had proposed the same timelines as McCain. The New York Times even said that the McCain ad was a lie. Romney pointed this out during the Republican debate but the damage had already been done.

Romney was behind, spending large amounts of his own money and fighting for the same delegates as Huckabee. It was a general consensus that Huckabee couldn’t win at this point, but the MSM didn’t call for him to drop out and let the two man show proceed as was happening on the Democratic side between Obama and Clinton.

McCain won the nomination for the Republicans. Obama wins for the Democratic Party. The economic collapse happens and instead of having the most economically sound candidate available, the Republicans were stuck with John McCain and Obama was running into the sunset of hope and change.

The media certainly didn’t know the financial downturn was coming like a tidal wave but it did know that McCain could not beat Obama (or Clinton.) So they did everything they could to promote the man.

In my opinion the fifth estate was irrevocably damaged that day. The MSM has not done anything to regain the trust of the American people. The alternative media of cable, talk radio and especially the internet have balanced the tables. But when we look at the 2008 election, the MSM showed their hands and did everything they could to torpedo the Republican primary process.

But to borrow from Dennis Miller, that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong….