Post debate polls indicate Obama won the debate.
Yet, apparently, if one was in the post-debate "spin room," one would have been spun by the McCain campaign to the point of thinking McCain won the debate. Of course, to have been spun by the McCain campaign, one would have to be in a state of mind to want to be spun by the McCain campaign. Keep in mind, that many of the political reporters in the spin room were McCain's friends from the old "Straight Talk" bus and most of them still like (or want to like) him:
Obama may have won the insta-polls after Friday's debate here at the University of Mississippi, but the McCain team won the spin war, a postgame ritual that quickly seeps into the punditry enveloping such events. What was equally striking, inside the massive media tent, was that some of the journalists who profess to want an elevated debate on the issues -- which is precisely what they got, courtesy of moderator Jim Lehrer -- seemed unusually interested in style points.Okay, McCain "won the spin war." He won his base. What did that get him? In the real world, away from the traditional media elite, there is a broad consensus among the voters that Obama won. Basically, the pundits were wrong.
What's fascinating about his blurb is that the well-paid, professional media elite could be so easily swayed by McCain's political operatives. Apparently, that crowd couldn't judge the debate for themselves and had to be spoon-fed what it meant. Yet, the average American watched the debate and draw their own solid conclusions without having Steve Schmidt or Nicole Wallace telling them what to think. This quote from one of NBC's top political reporters is classic:
"The spin is something we should pay less attention to, but it's important because it can change the story line," says NBC's Andrea Mitchell.She gets paid for that kind of insight? Talk about gullible.
Just wait to see how the pundits fall all over themselves to make us think Palin is ready to be president. They'll know that because McCain's spin room team will tell them. That's all it takes, apparently.
