Clinton's Demise Serves as Warning to Both Obama and McCain Campaigns

by Matt Towery - February 28th, 2008 - Townhall.com

For Obama, his time to be vetted will likely come sooner rather than later. It will be a test by the media elite to see if the candidate they love has the stuff to make them proud. That test will be tame by most standards of the past.

For McCain, it will come later. It will be vicious. And it will be designed to make Obama the next president of the United States. Those who will attack McCain may not themselves even realize or admit their true reasons for hitting him so hard.

What the press calls vetting is a two fold process. One is simply making candidates fully explain vague and superficial rhetoric. The other is demeaning any position that is at odds with liberal orthodoxy.

It will be interesting to see what the press does with Obama. He is probably the greatest example we have ever seen of flowery pretentious rhetoric that means little when you break it down. Sometimes it even contains blatant contractictions, such as when he talked about gun control and claimed to embrace the right of an individaul to own a gun for personal defense as stated in the Constitution. He then, in the same explanation, lauded a law which was specfically intended to take away guns and deny the right to own guns existed. Say that again Obama? The press ignored the contradiction then. They will be embarrased if they don't press him on this at some point.

John McCain is going to be "vetted" with the second process. As noted in the article.

For McCain, it will come later. It will be vicious. And it will be designed to make Obama the next president of the United States.

No one who has watched politics in America for a while will be surprised when they go after McCain. Numerous experts predicted the opening salvo by the New York Times over the "sex" scandal. (A Democrat friend came up with the best proposed response for McCain I heard. At 71 years old McCain should have simply grinned and said, "Thank you, thank you.") Before it is over that weak first attempt will be seen as fairly moderate. MCain better be ready.