Don't be swept away by hype in the Palin campaign

An op-ed by a journalism professor in the Christian Science Monitor admonishes the public and the press in Don't be swept away by hype in the Palin campaign.

Republicans have succeeded in turning the manipulation of myth into an art form. That's been evident this week as Rove protégé and Sen. John McCain's adviser Steve Schmidt has steadied the ship of Sarah Palin's rollout. First, he bullied the news media into submission. Then the campaign pushed an unrelenting portrayal of her as a maverick. [...]

The turnaround has been breathtaking.

Just over a week ago reporters disclosed that Palin is being investigated for allegedly trying to intimidate state officials into firing her estranged state trooper brother-in-law. Commentators raised sharp questions about her inexperience and poor vetting. Airwaves filled with idle - and sexist - speculation over whether a mother of five could handle the vice presidency.

But by Friday, an MSNBC commentator offered the breathy pronouncement that the McCain-Palin ticket "will be ahead in the polls by the end of the week." And on Sunday a long profile in The Washington Post pivoted on this sentence: "Of the many striking images of Palin - sportswoman, beauty queen, populist - in Alaska the most iconic is working mother, a perfectly coifed professional woman balancing public duties and child-rearing in a charismatic blur of multitasking."

He goes onto list three critical points in the relationship between the media, the public, the truth and the spinmeisters. Good reading.