Day 10: October 14

21 days to Election Day

The show opens with a dual discussion of the tone of McCain's campaign and whether the campaign's rollout of a new economic plan is a pandering move (since it caters mostly to the rich and elderly). While talking about McCain's denouncement of Congressman John Lewis -- an attempt to turn the blame for the campaign's ugliness on Obama -- as well as his claim that he's learned the lessons of history in a way Obama hasn't, Olbermann refers to McCain as "Senator Keating Five." This is blatant political bias, as he's making an effort to repudiate McCain's claim to help Obama. Howard Fineman then enters the fray to talk about some less related issues: he's asked whether the new polling showing that Obama's pulling away from McCain is that important, whether Rush Limbaugh's question to Sarah Palin about her political future is indicative of a feeling that the election is over, and whether McCain's comment that the next debate won't be a game-changer is just usual lowered expectations. This segment is full of references to the horse race analogy, with a lot of talk about McCain falling behind Obama and whether the election is already over.

The next topic of discussion is McCain's new accusation that Obama has ties with ACORN, a voter registration group that has supposedly engaged in registration fraud, according to the McCain campaign. He claims that the fraudulent registration forms are in an effort to drum up fake support for Obama. Obama is shown explaining his admittedly small connection with the group, and what the charges actually mean (that is, that ACORN is actually the victim of the fraud, and not the perpetrator). It's also claimed that similar, but more nefarious tactics have been used in the past by Karl Rove and his disciples. Olbermann uses some sarcasm here to make his point: he yells "That's telling 'em!" at a tape of McCain speaking in a complimentary way about ACORN two years ago, and says that the move to have U.S. attorneys in the past try to prosecute these cases "smacks of -- GOSH! -- politics!" The sarcasm is evidence of Olbermann's political bias. He then talks to author Allen Raymond about the issue, as Raymond had in the past been a party to voter fraud. Olbermann asks whether the claim is a legitimate fear or a talking point, what the point of the talking point is (Raymond says it's a distraction from the economy), and whether McCain and Palin are actually uninformed enough to believe their claim or if it's just a bald-faced lie. He's then asked to explain the mechanics of voter suppression in detail, which is a good move -- it takes him from speculation into the area of his expertise, and is actually descriptive journalism. There's some journalistic bias in here as well, though.

"McCain in the Membrane," the "the most outrageous or untrue things said by or on behalf of Republican presidential nominee," is the fourth item on the countdown today, so it will actually be covered. Honorees include the campaign, for inflating attendance numbers at a rally; and the campaign again, for rushing out an economic plan without giving specific data to spokespeople, so that when asked how much the plan would cost, Nancy Pfotenhauer was forced to say, "some amount of money over that period of time." Finally, though, the third item on the "Membrane" list is a passionate Special Comment concerning McCain's failure to exert control over the violence of his crowds; instead, trying to claim that the remarks of Congressman John Lewis are "the worst and most utmost unacceptable statement a couple of days ago that [he had] ever heard." As usual, this is a politically biased statement; however, it's under the placard of an editorial comment, so it is a less egregious failure of Patterson's values.

The next segment is calmer and mostly without bias -- author Melissa Harris-Lacewell is brought in to discuss whether the Bradley Effect will come into play in the 2008 election. Her expert opinion is brought to bear on several speculative questions: Is the effect real, and can it exist on a national level? Does Obama need an extra-large polling lead in states with larger white populations to overcome the effect? Is it possible that the effect existed in the case of Tom Bradley, but that the nation has grown out of it? And could there be a reverse Bradley Effect: white people unwilling to say they will vote for a black man, but willing to actually do it? This is obviously interpretive journalism, with some elements of game schema mixed in -- but at least there's little to no bias.

"Worst Persons" is next, with the big winners today being Jonah Goldman, David Frum, and Bill O'Reilly. Goldman makes the list for claiming that if Obama were white, the Republican Party would be attacking him twice as hard. Frum is cited for claiming that in an unflattering interview with Rachel Maddow, he was sandbagged and asked about McCain when he was expecting questions about Afghanistan -- something Olbermann says is a lie. "Bill-O the Clown" is the day's grand champion, for claiming that the violent comments by McCain supporters about Obama were in some way related to supposedly similar posts on the Daily Kos website. As per usual, this segment is based on liberal political bias.

In the final segment, Olbermann and Craig Crawford talk about McCain's upcoming second attempt at going on David Letterman's show. There's a lot of humor in this segment, as there often is in the last segment of the show when it's not a Special Comment. It's mostly derogatory towards McCain, though -- Crawford says that to save his public image, McCain would have to "strap Karl Rove to a bulldozer with a jet engine powering it...to dig out of this one." Olbermann at the end joins in, saying that he thinks McCain will "wind up either blaming me or Congressman Lewis." Crawford is also asked to give his opinion on whether he thinks appearances on shows like Letterman's matter in elections, and why McCain is trying to go back on when Olbermann says that it "looks like it‘s got disaster written all over it." This is typical interpretive journalism.