How will they cover it this time?

One of the worst things for me personally in the last eight years has been becoming totally disillusioned with mainstream media institutions.

Yeah, I know, I have the luxury of having that be the worst thing about the last eight years for me because unlike some people, I'm not being shot at because of Bush and Cheney.

Still, once upon a time I could pick up Time Magazine or the Washington Post or turn on CNN and honestly expect I would get, you know, the news. Now, I approach them with extreme skepticism, and I am more inclined to trust David Brock, say, than any of them.

To understand why, one need look no further than the way they tend to cover presidential campaigns. Let's recap the last two, and what the mainstream media felt were the really important criteria.

2000: the media, in general, covers the election as if they were casting the role of the president in an awesome new reality show called Who Wants To Be The Most Powerful Person In The World. And boy, did they ever have a strong opinion about who would be more fun to watch. Let's cast that aw-shucks frat boy George! We don't wanna listen to that freak Al Gore go on and on about the policy issues he cares about for whatever stupid reason.


2004: This election mostly seemed, for the national media, to come down to a question of who had stuffed his jock strap more.

So how will they cover 2008? The major storylines have yet to coalesce. But I'd bet money it won't be "whose policies would be better for the country?" My guess is, it will favor John McCain. If we nominate Hillary, they'll decide the important issue is authenticity: that noble maverick McCain against that big calculating phony Clinton (never mind that McCain has reversed himself on everything under the sun to placate the Bush right, while Clinton's policy views have largely remained stable). If we nominate Obama (which I think we will in the end), it'll be experience--that veteran McCain against that first-term senator Obama.

Then again, both of those would be less stupid than the last two elections, so maybe I'm thinking with too much of my brain here. In any case, I do not expect a fair media landscape. Why should I? When do we ever get one? I'd even settle for unfair in my side's favor, but that never happens either.

To paraphrase Phil Ochs (by way of Eddie Vedder), elite news media, find yourselves another country to be part of.