Obama Will Win
This post is more about media control than who I support in the upcoming election. I will be voting for McCain since he's not going to rape the rich but dislike both candidates equally (sorry grandpa).
You can't put a price on the power to control people. Look at history up until the last few decades - the ability to influence a large group of people was very limited due to the distribution constraints. The most widespread form of media prior to TV was the newspaper. If you controlled the papers, you could have your way in that region. Then came the TV and with it a larger market to penetrate. Then came the media conglomerates who bought up networks, newspapers, magazines, and of course, MySpace. Which brings us to today where we have Sumner Redstone and Rupert Murdoch at the healm of two of the most influential media companies that have ever existed. News Corp alone has a media reach of over 4.2 billion people - yes, that was a "B". (wikipedia this if you think I'm lying)
I'm sure everyone is familiar with the political bias the networks have - CBS, NBC, ABC are all extremely liberal. The only right wing network is FOX, which is on the extreme neo-con end of right wing (makes conservatives look like idiots). The big story this election that hasn't got nearly enough coverage is Rupert Murdoch and who he is supporting. The man that owns the only right wing network, a flurry of newspapers and - yes this will be important - MySpace.
I've been following Rupert Murdoch in this upcoming election since I think he is the only media mogul that matters in the US. He controls what FOX News gets to say, and since it is the only right wing network out there, whoever Murdoch puts his weight behind is going to get a good 50% of the vote. A few weeks ago, he threw his weight behind Obama with a New York Post article about him. The NY Post is a trashy publication, but when asked if he had influenced the editors to put Obama on it at the D6 Conference Murdoch said "yes" without even flinching. Now I'm not sure if this was meant to be a joke or of Murdoch is actually supporting Obama in the upcoming election.
It got me thinking. Murdoch has backed the Republican party for the last century (the guy's old), what would make him switch right now? It could be very simple. Did McCain block a business deal that Murdoch tried to do in the past? Did McCain go after Murdoch for something he did in the past? It could be complicated to (I wouldn't know where to start). Maybe Murdoch and Obama have an agreement if Obama becomes the next president (Obama passes some exceptions to anti-trust laws?). Whatever it was, I'm sure if Murdoch decides to back Obama it will have to do with something McCain did to Murdoch in the past.
No matter what you think about FOX news, it does have a lot of influence over conservatives since it is the only station they can turn to where they aren't constantly maligning President Bush and the Republican party. I know everyone thinks they're so smart and have the power to form their own opinions, but we're talking about middle America here. This isn't San Francisco or New York City that McCain needs (he'll lose them anyways), it's the states that always vote Republican but could flip this year if News Corp. decides to put it's money on Obama.
In the coming weeks we'll see who Murdoch ends up supporting, but if he decides to back Obama, a win for John McCain will be impossible. I will say this once:
Whoever Rupert Murdoch backs for the 2008 presidency will win.