Nice wrap up of the situation so far, however, I must point out that both sides are not doing the same thing.
The vets who have mobilized to stop Kerry have first hand knowledge of the events and are questioning the truth of statements that came out of Kerry’s own mouth over the past 30+ years. There are no testimonials against Bush by people who have known and worked with him questioning his version of events and unlike Kerry, the president has released all his military records
Kerry’s attack ads against Bush are financed by leftwing nutcase billionaire Bush haters like Soros and Mrs. Kerry. There are no grass roots people who have come forward largely on their own dime and at the risk of having their reputations trashed by the media to stop Bush. Quite the opposite. Testimonials by those who know and have worked with the president and who have come forward to support him have been largely ignored so that some of them have taken to writing letters to the editor. There was one in the Washington Times yesterday. How many letters have been sent to the leftist newspapers and been ignored. On top of that, every so-called investigative reporter on the planet has been frantically digging for some dirt on the president and they have come up empty handed.
There is also first-hand testimony by POW’s who reported that the North Viet Nam guards played Kerry’s speeches to them while they were tortured. To put these two men in the same sentence is an insult to all those who fought and died in Viet Nam, the perfect example of a PC war. Win a battle retreat, win the same battle again retreat, keep that up until North Viet Nam wins the propaganda war and then pull out with our tails between our legs leaving our comrades-in-arms to face the consequences and millions of others in Southeast Asia to be brutally murdered by the marauding hordes of Ho
Stephen -
I thought the very same thing yesterday – if Bush wins, and wins convincingly, the reaction is going to be stunning.
I believe a few media outlets will completely toss aside the patina of objectivity; others will likely come out and strongly suggest that the American people are easily hoodwinked, or even downright stupid (as one columnist wrote last year).
This might be the straw that breaks big media. Despite their best efforts, despite their best spinning, their overt hit pieces and bias, if Bush wins convincingly, what can they do?
Some will know it’s over. Others will shriek to high heaven, but to what end? Krugman, Dowd, and Scheer can’t possibly just keep going, can they? To what end?
I would love to watch the meltdown. But that’s just me…
Wow. The media must really think Kerry is a stinker if this is the best he can do with a 15 point head start…
The media’s survival is going to depend a lot on what they do in the month before and after the election if Bush wins. If they go to the mat for Kerry and he loses, the result will be devestating. Also, they’re going to take a huge hit if Bush wins convincingly and we see the predictable “herd mentality” and “Nazi Germany” comparisons. People will just have had enough and begin a mass migration to alternative news sources.
I still think there’s a good chance that the media is going to throw Kerry to the wolves around the end of September unless he can open up a lead. It allows them to save some face with the public, avoid backing a loser, and maintain a perfunctory retort to liberal bias accusations. They’re not going to blow their wad until Hillary ’08…which probably stands a better chance at being the Armageddon battle of the Democratic Party and liberal media in America.
I just hope to god one guy wins outright. With the Democrat’s hunger to regain power and the media’s complicity and lust for the controversial story, a repeat of 2000 could lead to some dangerous and lasting problems with future elections and some serious civil unrest. I certainly have no illusions about the media’s sense of social responsiblity compared to its ego and hubris.
I believe a few media outlets will completely toss aside the patina of objectivity; others will likely come out and strongly suggest that the American people are easily hoodwinked, or even downright stupid (as one columnist wrote last year).
Already happened. Ten years ago.
Remember Peter Jennings blaming the newly elected Republican majority in both houses of Congress on voters acting like three-year-olds throwing a temper tantrum.
And actually, the patina of objectivity took its first major hits back even before Commando Kerry took his so-secret-it-never-even-happened trip to Cambodia, took some more with the coverage of Watergate, then the Reagan presidency, the 1992 presidential campaign, the Clinton years…
Hell, it’s been in meltdown so long, to say the “patina of objectivity in oldstream media even still exists means redefining objectivity beyond imagining.
But I do agree that a decisive Bush victory in November will only make the oldstream media even worse than they already are.
Should be interesting to watch. Do you think heads will explode like in “Scanners” or will some people just have debilitating strokes?
Seriously, I went to blogs after 9/11 because I couldn’t get any information from the MSM and I could not get any analysis but the same old pundits bloviating on how this is our fault, and talking about root causes that had nothing to do with what OBL had said. So now I am here, and so are many other people, and the old order is broken, and it can never, ever be put back together the way it was. The ancien regime is through, it is merely one of many; large, yes, but still just one of many. And this is a good thing. I mean, they always say in the MSM that diversity is a good thing, right?
Make that the repeat of the mother of all hissy fits.
A quick story.
I happened to stay up late on election night 2000 surfing the news coverage until about 3:00 am. Shortly after the report that Gore was about to concede and that Bush had declared victory (but before Gore retracted the concession) MSNBC had on Newsweek Editor Jonathan Alter.
He was about to cry. Honest and no exaggeration. Alter was red-eyed, wet-eyed, catch-in-the-voice trying not to cry as he talked about the Bush win Gore defeat.
Trust, like virginity, can not be regained once lost.
The MSM has lost my trust and apparently the trust of a lot of other people. This is reflected in the declining ratings of the network news programs and lower circulation figures for the “dead tree” print media.
The MSM has became the “dog that did not bark” when it comes to Kerry’s shortcomings. Fortunately, they’re no longer the gatekeepers of information anymore. Their monopoly has been shattered and they’re slowly coming to the realization that they’re losing their control.
Should Bush win convincingly, as I dearly hope he does, I’m tempted to set up a purple KoolAid table near the Colorado College campus (a liberal bastion in an otherwise very conservative town). But then, that would be wrong.
I think Mike M has it right. At this point, you can start looking for the MSM to find some item on Kerry that they will trumpet as the “straw that broke the camel’s back” and will allow them to jump on the Bush bandwagon without (they wish) looking like complete whores for backing such a complete loser like Kerry for so long.
That was well written. But your anger at the media is misplaced.
We need the media to spotlight the injustices in society, to push the important social issues of the day.
Kerry will give the media free reign to do its job. Bush has done nothing but stonewall.
We need the media to spotlight the injustices in society, to push the important social issues of the day.
Unbefreakinlievable. The media’s job is to report the news. Period. The problem with the media is that they actually seem to agree with you. But since we ignorant schlubs don’t seem to agree that the “issues” they feel are important actually are, they seethe. That’s why Stephen’s right, and it’s why the MSM is coming unglued before our very eyes.
In his TCS column today, Stephen Green uses the oft-quoted Evan Thomas bit about the media wanting Kerry to win, but he is also nice enough to quote the whole thing: The media, I think, wants Kerry to win. And…
Sandy P:
Don’t you know there is no debate? The self-rightous have already decreed the correct answer. If you doubt you must be (racist/sexist/homophobic/etc.). How dare you deviate from the true path?
I’m an American. My country’s not known for following the true path. Oh GIH, we are the boomer nation, we’ve been questioning authority – Old Europe – for 225 years.
We need a media that reports facts and events. We have a media that tells stories that disagree with our own eyes. There is something wrong, seriously wrong, when every single story that I have the personal knowlege to make an informed judgement contains factual errors.
Like most people I have fairly narrow but deep knowlege in just a few areas. In most other areas my knowlege is cursory to nonexistant. My problem with the news media is that if they are deliberately or through ignorance repeating mistakes or, sometimes, outright lies that I have the knowlege to catch, how can I believe them on subjects I don’t study? I’m not some smart guy with a brain so big I can’t reach the top of my head to scratch it. I’m just a guy that studied my job and my hobbies until I know something about them. Every news story I read or see about my job or hobbies is wrong. How about your job? Your hobbies.
Big media is throwing a hissy fit now. Ordinary people catch their lies and mistakes.
November the third will be another big fit.
Once again Steve has done an excellent job. I do have a bone to pick with Akefa, though. Take this statement:
“Kerry will give the media free reign to do its job. Bush has done nothing but stonewall.”
Kerry has tried to muzzle the Swift Boat Vets and get their book pulled off bookstore shelves. Does this sound like a man who’s committed to supporting freedom of expression? On the other hand, Bush has released his military records, so the tempest in a teapot over his Air National Guard service has rolled over his back.
BTW, since I live in Colorado Springs, I’d be willing to help Larry J dispense Kool-Aid on the Colorado College campus.
Wow. I didn’t know TCS would print the word “pissed” on their site.
I gave up on the Sunday morning talk shows years ago. But I recall reading that Stephanopolous recently said on his show that if the Dems lose to Bush this November, there will be “civil war” within the Dem Party. That sounds awful and yet good all at once.
I think what was really meant is that should their loss come to pass, the Dems will perform a loud and oh-so-public clearing of the phlegm Kerry put in their throat to make clear sailing for Hillary in 2008.
I’m not entirely against that, btw.
Probably a bad metaphor, though. The throat thing, I mean.
Bush’s pre-convention bounce is bigger than Kerry’s bounce. If he plays his hand he can easily win this election this week.
I almost expect him to support gay rights. His talk and actions regarding the issue have been very Clintonesque. If he can pick up liberal votes without losing too much base, he might do it.
Well, as straight of talk as a man can give and still get elected. Try to get 12 random Americans to agree on pizza toppings – well, you get my point. Things have to be fuzzy enough so that a campaign can actually have a chance in a nation of near 300,000,000 humans.
I thought the secret government that was run from the underground lair was dealing with the evil mastermind side of this business through their deputy Karl Rove. Man, I have got to keep up on these VRWC, Inc. internal memos.
Larry said: “…I’m tempted to set up a purple KoolAid table near the Colorado College campus (a liberal bastion in an otherwise very conservative town)….”
Aren’t they all? Media professionals(excuse the compliment) are amateurs when compared to College professors at passing off their political opinions as facts and truth to the uninformed and malleable masses(their attitude).
Neither can see the ‘professional’ informs and educates, not persuades and indoctrinates.
Well, you hit the nail on the head, again. Thanks.
Nice wrap up of the situation so far, however, I must point out that both sides are not doing the same thing.
The vets who have mobilized to stop Kerry have first hand knowledge of the events and are questioning the truth of statements that came out of Kerry’s own mouth over the past 30+ years. There are no testimonials against Bush by people who have known and worked with him questioning his version of events and unlike Kerry, the president has released all his military records
Kerry’s attack ads against Bush are financed by leftwing nutcase billionaire Bush haters like Soros and Mrs. Kerry. There are no grass roots people who have come forward largely on their own dime and at the risk of having their reputations trashed by the media to stop Bush. Quite the opposite. Testimonials by those who know and have worked with the president and who have come forward to support him have been largely ignored so that some of them have taken to writing letters to the editor. There was one in the Washington Times yesterday. How many letters have been sent to the leftist newspapers and been ignored. On top of that, every so-called investigative reporter on the planet has been frantically digging for some dirt on the president and they have come up empty handed.
There is also first-hand testimony by POW’s who reported that the North Viet Nam guards played Kerry’s speeches to them while they were tortured. To put these two men in the same sentence is an insult to all those who fought and died in Viet Nam, the perfect example of a PC war. Win a battle retreat, win the same battle again retreat, keep that up until North Viet Nam wins the propaganda war and then pull out with our tails between our legs leaving our comrades-in-arms to face the consequences and millions of others in Southeast Asia to be brutally murdered by the marauding hordes of Ho
Stephen -
I thought the very same thing yesterday – if Bush wins, and wins convincingly, the reaction is going to be stunning.
I believe a few media outlets will completely toss aside the patina of objectivity; others will likely come out and strongly suggest that the American people are easily hoodwinked, or even downright stupid (as one columnist wrote last year).
This might be the straw that breaks big media. Despite their best efforts, despite their best spinning, their overt hit pieces and bias, if Bush wins convincingly, what can they do?
Some will know it’s over. Others will shriek to high heaven, but to what end? Krugman, Dowd, and Scheer can’t possibly just keep going, can they? To what end?
I would love to watch the meltdown. But that’s just me…
Wow. The media must really think Kerry is a stinker if this is the best he can do with a 15 point head start…
The media’s survival is going to depend a lot on what they do in the month before and after the election if Bush wins. If they go to the mat for Kerry and he loses, the result will be devestating. Also, they’re going to take a huge hit if Bush wins convincingly and we see the predictable “herd mentality” and “Nazi Germany” comparisons. People will just have had enough and begin a mass migration to alternative news sources.
I still think there’s a good chance that the media is going to throw Kerry to the wolves around the end of September unless he can open up a lead. It allows them to save some face with the public, avoid backing a loser, and maintain a perfunctory retort to liberal bias accusations. They’re not going to blow their wad until Hillary ’08…which probably stands a better chance at being the Armageddon battle of the Democratic Party and liberal media in America.
I just hope to god one guy wins outright. With the Democrat’s hunger to regain power and the media’s complicity and lust for the controversial story, a repeat of 2000 could lead to some dangerous and lasting problems with future elections and some serious civil unrest. I certainly have no illusions about the media’s sense of social responsiblity compared to its ego and hubris.
I believe a few media outlets will completely toss aside the patina of objectivity; others will likely come out and strongly suggest that the American people are easily hoodwinked, or even downright stupid (as one columnist wrote last year).
Already happened. Ten years ago.
Remember Peter Jennings blaming the newly elected Republican majority in both houses of Congress on voters acting like three-year-olds throwing a temper tantrum.
And actually, the patina of objectivity took its first major hits back even before Commando Kerry took his so-secret-it-never-even-happened trip to Cambodia, took some more with the coverage of Watergate, then the Reagan presidency, the 1992 presidential campaign, the Clinton years…
Hell, it’s been in meltdown so long, to say the “patina of objectivity in oldstream media even still exists means redefining objectivity beyond imagining.
But I do agree that a decisive Bush victory in November will only make the oldstream media even worse than they already are.
Should be interesting to watch. Do you think heads will explode like in “Scanners” or will some people just have debilitating strokes?
Seriously, I went to blogs after 9/11 because I couldn’t get any information from the MSM and I could not get any analysis but the same old pundits bloviating on how this is our fault, and talking about root causes that had nothing to do with what OBL had said. So now I am here, and so are many other people, and the old order is broken, and it can never, ever be put back together the way it was. The ancien regime is through, it is merely one of many; large, yes, but still just one of many. And this is a good thing. I mean, they always say in the MSM that diversity is a good thing, right?
Make that the repeat of the mother of all hissy fits.
A quick story.
I happened to stay up late on election night 2000 surfing the news coverage until about 3:00 am. Shortly after the report that Gore was about to concede and that Bush had declared victory (but before Gore retracted the concession) MSNBC had on Newsweek Editor Jonathan Alter.
He was about to cry. Honest and no exaggeration. Alter was red-eyed, wet-eyed, catch-in-the-voice trying not to cry as he talked about the Bush win Gore defeat.
Nice piece, Stephen. You nailed it.
Trust, like virginity, can not be regained once lost.
The MSM has lost my trust and apparently the trust of a lot of other people. This is reflected in the declining ratings of the network news programs and lower circulation figures for the “dead tree” print media.
The MSM has became the “dog that did not bark” when it comes to Kerry’s shortcomings. Fortunately, they’re no longer the gatekeepers of information anymore. Their monopoly has been shattered and they’re slowly coming to the realization that they’re losing their control.
Should Bush win convincingly, as I dearly hope he does, I’m tempted to set up a purple KoolAid table near the Colorado College campus (a liberal bastion in an otherwise very conservative town). But then, that would be wrong.
Walter Cronkite is sooooo gonna kick Stephen’s ass.
“and that’s the way it was”
I think Mike M has it right. At this point, you can start looking for the MSM to find some item on Kerry that they will trumpet as the “straw that broke the camel’s back” and will allow them to jump on the Bush bandwagon without (they wish) looking like complete whores for backing such a complete loser like Kerry for so long.
That was well written. But your anger at the media is misplaced.
We need the media to spotlight the injustices in society, to push the important social issues of the day.
Kerry will give the media free reign to do its job. Bush has done nothing but stonewall.
We need the media to spotlight the injustices in society, to push the important social issues of the day.
Unbefreakinlievable. The media’s job is to report the news. Period. The problem with the media is that they actually seem to agree with you. But since we ignorant schlubs don’t seem to agree that the “issues” they feel are important actually are, they seethe. That’s why Stephen’s right, and it’s why the MSM is coming unglued before our very eyes.
Akefa -
[Watch as my hand zips across my scalp in classic "RIGHT over your head" gesture.]
Just not quite getting it, are you? Nothing more to add to Rocketeer.
–We need the media to spotlight the injustices in society, to push the important social issues of the day.–
And who died and left the media to decide what the social issues of the day are?
The Media Effect
In his TCS column today, Stephen Green uses the oft-quoted Evan Thomas bit about the media wanting Kerry to win, but he is also nice enough to quote the whole thing: The media, I think, wants Kerry to win. And…
Sandy P:
Don’t you know there is no debate? The self-rightous have already decreed the correct answer. If you doubt you must be (racist/sexist/homophobic/etc.). How dare you deviate from the true path?
Yours,
Mikey
How dare, I Mickey?
I’m an American. My country’s not known for following the true path. Oh GIH, we are the boomer nation, we’ve been questioning authority – Old Europe – for 225 years.
Yes- I know you’re joking.
We need a media that reports facts and events. We have a media that tells stories that disagree with our own eyes. There is something wrong, seriously wrong, when every single story that I have the personal knowlege to make an informed judgement contains factual errors.
Like most people I have fairly narrow but deep knowlege in just a few areas. In most other areas my knowlege is cursory to nonexistant. My problem with the news media is that if they are deliberately or through ignorance repeating mistakes or, sometimes, outright lies that I have the knowlege to catch, how can I believe them on subjects I don’t study? I’m not some smart guy with a brain so big I can’t reach the top of my head to scratch it. I’m just a guy that studied my job and my hobbies until I know something about them. Every news story I read or see about my job or hobbies is wrong. How about your job? Your hobbies.
Big media is throwing a hissy fit now. Ordinary people catch their lies and mistakes.
November the third will be another big fit.
I’m convinced, Afeka is a Rove shill.
Probably not even real, a script, like a spambot.
Once again Steve has done an excellent job. I do have a bone to pick with Akefa, though. Take this statement:
“Kerry will give the media free reign to do its job. Bush has done nothing but stonewall.”
Kerry has tried to muzzle the Swift Boat Vets and get their book pulled off bookstore shelves. Does this sound like a man who’s committed to supporting freedom of expression? On the other hand, Bush has released his military records, so the tempest in a teapot over his Air National Guard service has rolled over his back.
BTW, since I live in Colorado Springs, I’d be willing to help Larry J dispense Kool-Aid on the Colorado College campus.
I wrote this piece a couple of weeks back. It’s John Kerry’s press conference on November 3, 2004 announcing blog legislation.
Wow. I didn’t know TCS would print the word “pissed” on their site.
I gave up on the Sunday morning talk shows years ago. But I recall reading that Stephanopolous recently said on his show that if the Dems lose to Bush this November, there will be “civil war” within the Dem Party. That sounds awful and yet good all at once.
I think what was really meant is that should their loss come to pass, the Dems will perform a loud and oh-so-public clearing of the phlegm Kerry put in their throat to make clear sailing for Hillary in 2008.
I’m not entirely against that, btw.
Probably a bad metaphor, though. The throat thing, I mean.
Bush’s pre-convention bounce is bigger than Kerry’s bounce. If he plays his hand he can easily win this election this week.
I almost expect him to support gay rights. His talk and actions regarding the issue have been very Clintonesque. If he can pick up liberal votes without losing too much base, he might do it.
Staight talk and compassionate conservatism.
aaron:
Well, as straight of talk as a man can give and still get elected. Try to get 12 random Americans to agree on pizza toppings – well, you get my point. Things have to be fuzzy enough so that a campaign can actually have a chance in a nation of near 300,000,000 humans.
Sandy P;
I am glad you caught the joke. I wouldn’t want you mad at me.
(recoils in horror)
Hold it – are you saying that if Bush wins we won’t get an evil mastermind as President?
What about folks who WANT an evil mastermind as president? (They’re a lot more common that do-gooders would like.)
Media lied and their dreams died.
I thought the secret government that was run from the underground lair was dealing with the evil mastermind side of this business through their deputy Karl Rove. Man, I have got to keep up on these VRWC, Inc. internal memos.
Karl is the go-between. He takes the Evil Mastermind’s orders to my … certain friend.
<evil, maniacal cackle>
I just love doing that. I think I’ll do it again.
<evil, maniacal cackle>
Larry said: “…I’m tempted to set up a purple KoolAid table near the Colorado College campus (a liberal bastion in an otherwise very conservative town)….”
Aren’t they all? Media professionals(excuse the compliment) are amateurs when compared to College professors at passing off their political opinions as facts and truth to the uninformed and malleable masses(their attitude).
Neither can see the ‘professional’ informs and educates, not persuades and indoctrinates.
But wait…. one taught by the other.