The essence of spin: When fewer boos are a 'victory'

By Edward Copeland


Clinton greeted by fewer boos on Iraq war
That was the headline the Los Angeles Times used for its coverage of Democratic presidential contenders at the Take Back America forum. The Washington Post had a more subdued headline: Antiwar Democrats Are Less Critical as Clinton Takes New Tack on Iraq. I know the MSM lusts for Hillary to get the nomination, but this is ridiculous. The New York Times didn't cover the event at all, as far as I could tell.

One thing though that most of the MSM seems to have downplayed, which is even more unfavorable to Hillary Nothing-But-Ambition Clinton, are the results of Politico's straw poll of attendees at the same conference which named Barack Obama as the choice of 29% of the 720 votes cast and John Edwards as the pick of 26%. Hillary lagged far behind at 17%. Even more fascinating, the poll asked the participants whom their second choices would be if their first choice didn't make the cut. In that one, Obama got 30%, Edwards 28% and Hillary only 16%. Bill Richardson, who only garnered 9% among first choice voters, ticked up to 11% here. Obama in particular got high marks for an unusually (for him) confrontational speech at the forum that impressed the activists such as conference organizer Roger Hickey.

Obama clearly did himself well with a red-meat speech, showing he knows how to appeal to the activists.

The Los Angeles Times buried the straw poll results deep in their story and The Washington Post saved a brief mention of it for the very last paragraph.