Lies, damned lies, and media

If you read one thing today, read this pwning of the media's willingness to add John McCain's dishonest ads to the received narrative.

[T]he political media simply don't care about falsehoods and lies -- at least when they are coming from John McCain and his campaign. Sure, they'll (sometimes) note the falsehoods, as detailed above. But they don't treat the falsehoods as though they are important. They don't devote articles and television segments to McCain's growing credibility problem or to detailing the growing pattern of bogus claims. Instead, they debunk the details of McCain's claim, then proceed to accept the underlying premise and devote their segments and articles to that.

The lies that the media eagerly repeats on behalf of Republicans are the only reason this election is not already decided. But then, they tipped the balance in both 2000 and 2004, so this should not be a surprise.

Put another way: If you're interested in learning what's true, talking head shows on TV are worse than worthless.

(h/t Atrios)