This post is a little short...

who does it serve???  its OWN interests.  and ill tell you from professional experience - they are failing in every way.  sales are down, circulation is down - its not pretty out there.  yet - THEY KEEP PUSHING THIS PILE OF SHITE.

Yeah, I also worry the Big Kitty Army will be prancing around getting lots of coverage on the Political shows.

Jerks like Darragh Murphy, who claims she is a "long time democratic activist" but has contributed ONCE to the Democrats in her entire life, 2 days before she formed PumaPac, just to give herself coverage.

Media-attention-freaks, looking for her 15 minutes of fame, and the media is stepping up to make it happen.

It's pretty clear that these reporters are no longer following anything resembling journalistic ethics. But coming up with the story and then finding facts to accomodate it is hardly original. They learned it from the Bush administration.

I'd feel bad for Hillary, being maligned so badly by the press, just because her name is on the roll call.

But, honestly, I think she can handle those bastards.

For better or worse, the Democratic Party depends on the performances of Bill and Hillary Clinton at the convention.

I pray, I pray that Obama has already anticipated this storyline and will move to preempt it with his VP pick...Hillary Clinton.

Great Diary, drew ... I didn't see that quote, but I'm glad you turned me onto it ... highly rec'd

DZ

LINK

The Media is going to run with the 'divided party' narrative because it has invested a lot of time and effort into it, and conflict is good for ratings.  The few kooky Clinton supporters who boo Obama or go on a rant like Harriet Christiansen will get a lot of camera time.  Count on it.  

The time to 'unite' the party was back in February when Clinton lost, not six months later at the convention.  

Look on the bright side though, you will have a nice catharsis.  

This isn't a "story" it's a narrative, carefully crafted ahead of time to stir people up and give the media some DRAMA.

Somehow this quote by Birnbaum:

Hillary Clinton's attempt tacitly to take over the Obama victory,

Party Disunity as Hillary Tries to Steal Nomination

Hillary isn't going to try to steal the nomination.  What is happening, though, is that they have intruded themselves (with Obama's acquiescence, it's true) into what should be Obama's victory moment.  It should be Obama's moment not because Obama's a cool guy and deserves to enjoy victory, but because the Democratic Party deserves to have a Democrat (Obama) win the presidency this election, and this moment of unity and victory is an important first step in the general election process.

It didn't take any backroom shenanigans to see this narrative developing.  I posted this a couple of weeks ago, when it was announced that Bill was going to get his own special day to speak.  So much of the convention is being dedicated to "honoring" the Clintons that it has to seem downright peculiar to anybody that is not so enthralled with them that they can see nothing wrong with it.

The narrative that will take hold during the convention is predictable.  The entire convention will be explained by the usual talking heads through the lens of a Clinton/Obama rift.  Does Bill still look miffed when he praises Obama?  What did Hillary REALLY mean when she said this on the podium?  Did some Hillary delegates refuse to applaud or stand when Obama took the stage?  And there will be color commentary about all the "simmering tension" backstage (real or not).  

Why?  Because the format of the convention and its renewed focus on the Clintons (the losers) creates  this melodramatic narrative.  

So, I think it's a mess waiting to happen.  Let's hope that it turns out better than that.  But we can't blame the media completely for this.  A lot of the blame for this has to lie with 1) the Clintons for not graciously exiting without all this "catharsis" and 2) the Obama campaign for acceding to all this rather than negotating to make some less obnoxious and less visible concession.