Surprised? You Shouldn’t Be

by tristero

I expected this. The press will not be permitted to interview McCain’s running mate. Unless, of course, they meet an awful lot of pre-conditions first. It’s part and parcel of a campaign to terminate unscripted, uncontrolled situations.

You can sneer all you want about the hypocrisy and cynicism of the McCain campaign, but the effect to the average American will be a contrast between smooth-talking, glib, in-control Republicans contrasted with sloppy, gaffe-prone Democrats.

And no, people, if properly done, not even sophisticated watchers of the media are likely to be immune from the effects of this kind of media control, let alone the average viewer. The Republicans will look in control, because they will be – marketing-wise – and that is a very, very powerful visual message.

Will the Democrats scream bloody murder about this outrageous attempt to run a presidential campaign without the opportunity actually to question one party’s candidates in a frank manner? We’ll see.