Last night, Chris Matthews and Terry McAuliffe got into a remarkably frank debate over whether The Media wants Hillary Clinton to stay in the race until the Convention (Matthews) or get out now (McAuliffe).
Josh Marshall thinks McAuliffe "turned projectile nonsense into something approaching the sublime," but I think McAuliffe was absolutely right while Matthews was lying through his teeth, albeit unconsciously.
Today on Morning Joe, there was no doubt that the MSNBC team wants Hillary out now. Every question they asked was "how soon will Hillary get out???" And it was asked with urgency and desperation, as though their lives depended on it.
Matthews wants to pretend the pundits are interested in the drama, but he's lying. The pundits are really interested in demonstrating their power to determine who wins and loses, which they are able to do by using their vast (but slowly diminishing) power to shape public attitudes towards politics.
That is the single most toxic effect of Cable TV news on our "democracy" - its power to shape attitudes in a way so powerful and seamless that almost no one even notices, not even bloggers as savvy as Josh Marshall.
We saw this in 1998 when Cable TV burned Bill Clinton at the stake for adultery - even though Clinton's accusers (Newt Gingrich) and the pundits themselves regularly commit the exact same sin.
We saw this in 2000 when Al Gore was portrayed as an "exaggerating bore" while George Bush was the guy "you want to have a beer with."
We saw this after the polls closed in 2000 when Al Gore becamse the "Sore Loser" for following the standard rules for requesting a simple recount in an election marred by fraud.
We saw this in 2002 when the entire Corporate Media joined the Bush bandwagon demanding the invasion of Iraq, even though Iraq never attacked or even threatened the U.S.
We saw this in August 2004 when Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan gave endless free time to the Swift Boat Liars and convinced a key group of voters that Kerry shot himself for his medals.
Democracy can only work if voters make up their own minds - not if Cable TV makes up their minds for them. But Chris Matthews will be the last to put the interests of Democracy ahead of his lust for power.
