It's different when you are a Republican, and John McCain

What if all of McCain's blemishes were on Obama instead? Looking at all the crud that McCain has mucked through picked up and carried through his career and even while running for the presidency, what democrat would be allowed all of it?

I remember Edwards getting tarred by the media for having bloggers on staff who were critical of the Catholic Church, what does McCain suffer for courting a nationally known pastor who rallies his followers against the Catholics?

Crooks and Liars:

Cogitamus asks the question that I’ve been pondering for a while.

Do you think if Barack Obama had left his seriously ill wife after having had multiple affairs, had been a member of the “Keating Five,” had had a relationship with a much younger lobbyist that his staff felt the need to try and block, had intervened on behalf of the client of said young lobbyist with a federal agency, had denounced then embraced Jerry Falwell, had denounced then embraced the Bush tax cuts, had confused Shiite with Sunni, had confused Al Qaeda in Iraq with the Mahdi Army, had actively sought the endorsement and appeared on stage with a man who denounced the Catholic Church as a whore, and stated that he knew next to nothing about economics — do you think it’s possible that Obama would have been treated differently by the media than John McCain has been? Possible?

And — this is fun to contemplate — if Michelle Obama had been an adulteress, drug addict thief with a penchant for plagiarism — do you think that she would be subject to slightly different treatment from the media than Cindypills McCain has been? Anyone?

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Now I don't like picking on spouses of candidates. And I would have left it off here as irrelevant to the campaigning point...but how many times have I seen Cindy McCain praised and lauded? Even as she is being caught is lies, like her husband she is given an instant out. I know Michelle Obama has not been given remotely that kind of consideration.

It is different when you are a Republican. At least the media has embraced this. Republicans don't have to prove their love of country, or the state of their faith, or whether they care for the lives of our soldiers. Chris Matthews knows, their the good ones. You can rely on them. And when you can't...shrug. They throw a great cocktail party, and smooth things over.

And that is the sick little relationship the media has with politics.