The thing Rove & Schmidt overlooked--

[Jackpine Radical]

Ya gotta have the M$M totally on your side and complicit when you try to pull off bullshit like they're doing all the time with McCain & Palin.

And, for whatever reason, the corporate media are no longer riding on the Forked Tongue Express.

[phantom power]

1. McCain forgot that part of the equation too.

Shutting out the press for weeks. Blowing off Letterman. Threatening to blow of the debates. These are all actions that probably piss off the networks. They make plans around these things.

Like you said, GOP tactics of the last 20 years require that the MSM is GOP-friendly. But McCain went and fucked that crucial component up.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Yes, that's exactly what I meant.

Schmidt, a Rove protege, is running McCain.s disaster for him.

[monmouth]

7. They ignored Letterman to their peril. How many millions????..n/t

[godai]

2. Yes, they got quite a problem about what to do about McCain and the debate.

If there's no agreement and McCain goes, he goes against his word. If he doesn't go, Obama gets a lot of airtime with a Town Hall debate.

[Dr Fate]

3. Dont speak to soon. October is in a few days.

The script for the staged rivalry- GOP/media vs. GOP/media will take a turn at that point.

Why not let a few TV celebrities bad mouth their bosses for a few days? It fits the script!

I'm not trying to be negative, I'm just against putting faith in the GOP/media.

The GOP/media has no intention of helping us or attacking itself into a loss.

[bunkerbuster1]

8. While it's smart not to get cocky, I agree with the tone/idea of the OP...

I think perhaps the last straw for some was McCain's tacit endorsement of his campaign manager claiming that the NY Times wasn't a "legitimate" news organization.

I mean, call the Times what you like, but it's what a lot of print journalists aspire to. A comment like that is probably seen as beyond the pale from a Presidential campaign.

[Dr Fate]

9. The mainstream GOP has openly attacked the NY times for at least 8 years or longer..

I could hardly see more of the same "liberal media is out to get us" jive as a proverbial straw breaking the camel's back- but I hope you are right.

I hope the GOP supporters & donors who own the media agree with you guys- and allow their employees to continue attacking their supervisor's candidates.

Maybe the GOP owners of the media will be like Citizen Kane or something, and allow their "hobby" of owning a media outlet to go against their own percieved financial interests. Could be.

Frankly, I've seen better scripted rivalries on reality TV.

[Overseas]

5. I like that name -- The Forked Tongue Express !! //n

[Overseas]

6. And yes, I'm glad to see some objections to their rampant posturing

during this time of crisis from the normally obsequious corporate media.

[riverdeep]

10. The media may not be on his side at the moment,

but they are fully in the pocket of the GOP in general. That means they don't call a spade a spade like an objective news organization would do. A legitimate news organization's story on John McCain would consist of the reporter just laughing and pointing for the allotted time. I believe we'll see John McCain's 'base' come back to the bosom quite soon.