Matt Taibbi, contributing editor with Rolling Stone Magazine, appeared on CNN on Thursday where he discussed the state of the presidential race. Taibbi said that, of the journalists he associates with, there is a feeling that President Obama has already won the 2012 election. There is a 'relatively popular incumbent, the economy is not doing terribly,' and the only reason the press suggests the race will be close is that 'we have to sell advertising.'
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CNN anchor Carol Costello introduced Taibbi by reading a portion of his latest column:
[Barack] Obama versus [Mitt] Romney is the worst reality show on TV since the Tila Tequila days. The characters are terrible, there's no suspense, and the biggest thing is, it lacks both spontaneity and gross-out factor.
'Really boring,' asked Costello. 'Didn't President Obama's surprise evolution give the election some life?'
'If you noticed, that was really Joe Biden who injected that little plot twist into the race,' Taibbi said. 'Yeah, I guess there's going to be a few controversies here and there but really it lacks the same kind of thrills we had four years ago where it seemed like every week there was some new crazy controversy ' from Rev. Jeremiah Wright to Geraldine Ferraro to Bill Ayers. It was something like that every week, and we're just not having that this time.'
'I don't think you could ever top the election in 2008,' said Costello.
Taibbi agreed, 'It was fantastic.'
'The race is neck-and-neck. Are you suggesting the race is at a virtual tie simply because the voters are bored right now,' asked Costello.
I saw that poll ' I don't believe it. I don't know any campaign journalists out there who thinks that Romney has a legitimate chance to win. And I'm not making a value judgment about any candidate. I just think that, in the press, there's this general feeling that this election is a foregone conclusion. You have a relatively popular incumbent, the economy is not doing terribly and traditionally ' especially the candidate who has a fundraising advantage ' almost always wins.
'Could Romney win, yes it's possible. But I just don't think it's likely and that takes a lot of suspense out of the race,' Taibbi conclude.
Costello noted that Democratic Strategist James Carville just addressed this sentiment among many democrats. She said that Carville thinks that level of complacency is dangerous because Democrats could lose. Taibbi said that the media does not believe the election will be close, and they are only advancing this narrative in order to drive ratings and sell advertising.
That's possible, but one of the things you have to remember ' and I think we in the media, we all get caught up in this ' there are very few political taboos left in American journalism, but there are a lot of commercial taboos. One of the big ones is you can never say that something is a foregone conclusion. It's our job in the media to try to drum up interest in this. We have to sell advertising, we have to get viewers and get ratings. We can't just come out and say that this thing is over six months before it happens. So, there is a strong incentive among all pundits, including me, to come out and say, 'this could happen, that could happen.' Romney has a legitimate chance. It's just a subconscious pull that works on all of us in the media that drives us to make those kinds of comments, I think.
Taibbi concluded saying that he believes this election most closely resembles 2004, in that the incumbent is likely to win a narrow victory in November.
Watch the segment below via CNN:
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I call BS.
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Why on earth would a bunch of anti-capitalist Leftists 'need to sell advertising?'
What a wee-todd he is.
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If you look real close you can see his fingers crossed.
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Even Karl Rove is not painting a rosy map (picture) for Mitt.
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Taibbi said that, of the journalists he associates with, there is a feeling that President Obama has already won the 2012 election.
They were saying the same thing when President Carter won all of six states. They did not know anyone who opposed Carter.
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At least Obama is running as himself this time, not as the fairy tale creature of 2008. If he does win, it will be deserved.
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This is like listening to sh!t from the Twilight Zone ' the craven rantings of a narcissistic megalomaniac.
Progressive parasites took a shellacking in the 2010 midterm elections.
That was simply the down payment.
President Marxist Cockroach will have his clock cleaned in November.
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He is right '
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I agree. The President is well liked and unless something happens he'll win. The economy could turn for the worst but it won't. Real estate is starting to move and I can tell you the business I'm in is definitely on the improve. I might feel differently if anybody liked Romney but they don't. I know plenty who hate Obama but they hated him last time around. Repeat of Bush vs. Kerry only Dems win this time.
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Good thing we just take what Rolling Stone Magazine writers tell us and in no way have statistical evidence to try and predict the closeness of elections'OH WAIT, WE DO'they are these little things called POLLS'.EVER HEARD OF THEM?! And let me see'YES, my inclination is correct'.OBAMA IS TRAILING IN THE POLLS'strange, usually the sure bet to win is WINNING in the polls'.LIBERALISM HHAHAHAHAHAHAHA LOLOLOLL HAHAHAH what a joke
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Just like the Teaparty surge in 2010 got liberals by surprise and the 1994 election got the media again by surprise'the 2012 election will be shocking to liberals. Thats because everyone they know will be voting for Obama. You don't have a diverse opinion working in the liberal mainstream media. Just for the clueless liberals thats shorthand for Abc, Nbc, CBS, CNN, and NYT.
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Careful, keep going down this road and you'll expose just how shallow your characterization of the Left is.
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Electoral Votes is what matters .. and Obama has a huge lead there ..
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I bet this guy agreed with Nancy Pelosi that they would keep the House in 2010
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It's not BS' this dipshit actually believes it
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MSM kept saying the libs would keep the house in 2010''.Oooops.
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But the Republicans will continue to run against the manufactured Obama ' a Marxist, Kenyan-born socialist who wants to confiscate your guns, outlaw bake sales and force everyone to gay marry.
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Hey, Matt! You asswipes are not journalists.
You are Obama's obedient whores,.
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DRUDGE BROWNIES CUP CAKE BRAINS!!!!SHARIA COOKIE LAW BRAINS!!!!
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I actually think both things can be true.
The election is a lot closer than Taibbi believes, however, I would still say that we are firmly in the 'It's Obama's election to lose' camp rather than the 'It's a toss-up' camp.
And, there is no doubt that this election, even by virtue of there being an incumbent, makes this campaign a lot less interesting. Moreover, the fact that the media will do anything to transform the tiniest moments into various prolonged, tortured narratives of 'politics as war' is hardly surprising. You need the bare minimum amount of skepticism and cynicism required to be a human to recognize that.
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Just shows how clueless these morons are. They sit around their newsrooms and cocktail parties surrounded by other liberals who are all convinced Obama is the best President ever and can't imagine anyone of any intelligence disagreeing with them. The arrogance of the 21% liberal population is why they have such a hard time winning successive national elections.
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Hes a smug bald jerkoff!
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But the T-party is long dead in its grave.
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Who exactly takes this vacuous creature seriously?
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The primaries were Romney vs. the Non-Romney.
The general elections are Obama vs. the Non-Obama. -
I don't know if he has a point or not'..certainly the media 'elite' believe Obama is the scecond coming of christ,,,,but from the research I've conducted Middle America is really angry at Obama
Other than the 1%ers, most Americans are highly worse off than they were 4 years ago
This 16 trillion dollar debt, seven trillion of which was accrued in the past 3 years is going to be a major issue someday'.
Just random thoughts from a random guy
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You sound too angry. Relax. It is bad for your heart.
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