Anyone with a brain knows that the media is in the bag for Obama. They aren’t exactly subtle. But articles like this one show that even the pretense of objectivity has been completely abandoned:

John McCain’s campaign could be panicking or politicking with its claim that sexism lies beneath any questions about Sarah Palin’s past.

They say they’re not panicked — that the Alaska governor’s spot on the GOP ticket is secure — so that leaves room for just one conclusion for now: McCain’s political team is playing the gender card to appeal to women, and bashing the media to solidify support among conservatives.

Hours before Palin’s high-stakes address to the nation, McCain was trying to inoculate his untested and embattled running mate against criticism.

…

Palin is seeking the second most powerful job in the nation. The media views its job as scrutinizing her background, helping voters determine her readiness to serve and raising questions about the decision-making process of the man who chose her — a man, John McCain, who tells voters he has the experience and judgment to serve as president.

The scrutiny will continue, as it always does, and the betting among leading Republicans is that Palin survives. None of the revelations so far rise to the level of disqualifying. And, while she has served less than a term as governor, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama is the living embodiment of the fact that this election is less about experience than it is about change. Voters want a fresh approach, if not a fresh face, in Washington.

…

And that’s the point. McCain wants conservative voters, many of whom were lukewarm toward his candidacy, whipped into high dungeon in defense of Palin, angry at the media and the unnamed liberal elites who are denounced by most every convention speaker.

If the AP doesn’t believe that there’s sexism in the media and on the left against Sarah Palin, they should take a stroll on over to Melissa Clouthier’s. She’s been keeping a running tally.

There’s a good reason the media and the left have been attacking Sarah Palin so viciously: they’re terrified. They’ve resorted to lying, to demonizing and attacking her seventeen-year-old daughter, making stories up about her four-month-old son… anything they can do to scare and intimidate her. Too bad for the media that Sarah Palin doesn’t seem like the type to be easily intimidated. But, they’re outraged because there’s this conservative woman who is brilliant, tough and principled, all the while raising a big family and sticking to her values, that they never approved. If Sarah Palin was “Steve” Palin, these attacks wouldn’t be happening. But, Sarah Palin lit the country on fire, and no one had permission to do that except Barack Obama. So, the media is outraged. They see themselves as the real gatekeepers to the White House. They’re the ones who get to decide elections. And they didn’t give their permission to John McCain to choose Sarah Palin. The only solution for them is to attack Sarah Palin in some of the lowest and most despicable ways.

Ed sums it up well:

The outrage has little to do with experience, and almost everything to do with being outfoxed by McCain. The media expected a staid, boring, safe white man that they could pigeonhole. Instead, they got a dynamic, successful, smart conservative “hockey mom” with a record of reform that Barack Obama cannot match and that is the antithesis of Joe Biden. They got knocked out of their lane, and now they have to figure out how to explain how they could possibly have overlooked Palin in their calculations. Presto! They overlooked her because she’s so inexperienced!

Unfortunately for the MSM, people are catching on. So what’s the result now? The McCain campaign is just making it up! The solution is never to tone down the disgusting attacks or to maybe show some principled objectivity. No, it’s just to use the debate equivalent of a five-year-old sticking his fingers in his ears and saying, “NYAH NYAH NYAH NYAH, I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!”

This will be the death of journalism. And the mainstream media will have no one to blame for it but themselves.

On a tip from reader Scott.