Talking Points Memo: You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' ...

Josh Marshall thinks the McCain-Media love fest may be over.

I think he may be right, but my reasoning is somewhat different.

Once people have formed an opinion it is very difficult to persuade them to change it. This is particularly the case with subjective opinions where every new piece of information that might contradict the opinion is filtered by the opinion itself.

Once the press got the idea that McCain was an independent minded maverick, every piece of information to the contrary was either ignored or interpreted as further proof he is a maverick. That allowed him to perform a complete U-turn on the policy positions that had earned him the maverick label and embrace every Bush administration position without any press reports that candidate McCain mk2 was very different from the maverick McCain of 2000.

George W. Bush enjoyed a similarly privileged free ride in the establishment media until the disastrously botched response to Hurricane Katrina made it impossible for reporters to ignore the fact that Bush and his administration were utterly incompetent. And once they had reached that conclusion with respect to one aspect of Bush administration policy it became the new lens through which all Bush administration actions were interpreted.

The Palin selection appears to be McCain's version of Katrina. Whether the Palin pick is a good decision or not is now irrelevant: The damage is done, regardless of what McCain does from this point on there is simply no possibility that he can rebuild the old McCain maverick brand amongst the media. He is not going to get a free pass any more.

Its not just the decision itself, it is the way it was done that has offended the section of the press that mistook invitations to BBQs back at the ranch and long interviews on the Straight Talk Express for an implicit promise of continued insider access.


Democrats should: Focus on the Palin pick as being representative of McCain's likely future Supreme Court Nominations.

Republicans should: Stick to their current mistake, hope nothing else comes up and try to change the subject.