Leach Ignored, Media Matters Grumbles

Leach Ignored, Media Matters Grumbles

Like most speeches delivered by people not named Obama, Biden, or Clinton, Republican Jim Leach's lecture to the Democratic National Convention was largely ignored by delegates. A media watchdog group is complaining that Leach's speech backing Barack Obama was ignored by the press corps as well, despite its prime time slot.

"ABC, CBS, and NBC did not air any of Leach's speech, while MSNBC and Fox News aired only seconds of it," notes Media Matters for America. MSNBC cut away from Leach and instead aired an interview with Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and a panel discussion that degenerated into a shouting match between Rachel Maddow and Pat Buchanan.

That made for more entertaining television than Leach's professorial address, but Media Matters says it was unfair compared to the massive play networks gave Georgia Democratic Sen. Zell "Get out of my face!" Miller's speech endorsing George W. Bush at the 2004 Republican convention.


I can never show this one enough.

Of course, Leach didn't do anything nearly as dramatic as Miller did in challenging MSNBC's Chris Matthews to a duel. But Media Matters predicts that ex-Democrat Joe Lieberman, speaking next week at the Republican convention, will draw far more attention.