The wagons are circled

It’s clear the MSM is going to fight to the last man to see their guy gets elected.

This AP "news" piece alleges Palin’s recent comments pertaining to Obama’s relationship with Bill Ayers “was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret.”.

1. It is documented that Obama was recruited by Ayers to Chair the Annenburg challenge where the two collaborated for several years. Obama kicked off his political career with a party at Ayers home. Palin's "paling around" comment may very well be rhetorical excess but it's hardly "unsubstantiated".

2. Is there some codex that everyone else has that I don’t? How does anything in Palin's remarks have anything to do with Obama’s race? Does any criticism of a black man implicitly have a “racial tinge”?

If Obama doesn't win by landslide with an unpopular war, bad economy and Pravda-like media he could quite possibly be the worst politician of all time.

Obama isn't exactly courting the press either:

If so, I would love to have someone from Obama's campaign explain why the entire press corps, the Secret Service, and the local police idled for two hours in a Miami hotel parking lot recently because there was nothing to do and nowhere to go. It was not an isolated case.

The national headquarters in Chicago airily dismisses complaints from journalists wondering why a schedule cannot be printed up or at least e-mailed in time to make coverage plans. Nor is there much sympathy for those of us who report for a newscast that airs in the early evening hours. Our shows place a premium on live reporting from the scene of campaign events. But this campaign can often be found in the air and flying around at the time the "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" is broadcast. I suspect there is a feeling within the Obama campaign that the broadcast networks are less influential in the age of the internet and thus needn't be accomodated as in the days of yore. Even if it's true, they are only hurting themselves by dissing audiences that run in the tens of millions every night.

The McCain folks are more helpful and generally friendly. The schedules are printed on actual books you can hold in your hand, read, and then plan accordingly. The press aides are more knowledgeable and useful to us in the news media. The events are designed with a better eye, and for the simple needs of the press corps. When he is available, John McCain is friendly and loquacious. Obama holds news conferences, but seldom banters with the reporters who've been following him for thousands of miles around the country. Go figure.

The McCain campaign plane is better than Obama's, which is cramped, uncomfortable and smells terrible most of the time*. Somehow the McCain folks manage to keep their charter clean, even where the press is seated.


*Wow and with an army of emo-hippies too. Who woulda thunk it?