Anti-Obama book gets front page of Post and Times, anti-McCain book gets nothing

Isn't it interesting that both the NYT and the Washington Post put the latest anti-Obama book on their front pages, and Larry King did a show about it, while none of them gave such prominent attention to the lead anti-McCain book that Cliff Shecter published a few months ago.

I'm quite serious. This is an example of the blatant conservative bias we face in the media today. But it's also a rather subtle bias. I suspect that the Times and the Post (and Larry King) gave the anti-Obama book such prominent coverage, while not giving Cliff's book the same coverage, because they know that the anti-Obama book will cause a bigger stink than Cliff's book. And they're right. But what they fail to realize is that their failure to give the lead anti-McCain book equal coverage is part of the reason that the anti-McCain book won't go as viral as the anti-Obama book. It's the classic chicken and egg conundrum. It's what we saw with the Swift Boaters in 2004 (attacks on Democrats are news because the media helps to make them news). It's what we see with the media's savaging of Wesley Clark for daring to ask a question about McCain's experience, while the media turns a blind eye when John McCain repeatedly questions Obama's patriotism. In a very twisted, but very real, way the media knows that it's just not news when Republicans face criticism, but when Dems do it's page one. What they don't know is that they're to blame.

The media in a very real way is pre-ordaining the outcome, and their own unbiased coverage is suffering as a result.

PS I just saw that FireDogLake did a great post on this as well. Check it out.