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  • From: "Shea Tisdale" <shea AT sheatisdale.com>
  • To: "'Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/'" <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: RE: [internetworkers] Candidate Match for Pres
  • Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 10:38:51 -0500

Thomas Beckett wrote:

> And as long as I'm still on my soapbox, does anyone here share my
> outrage at the total hatchet job that "the media" did on Howard Dean?
> CNN played the directional-mic feed of the "scream" speech 633 times in
> the four days before the New Hampshire primary. Those news editors knew
> full well that they were basically editing out the crowd noise to make a
> pep rally style fire-up-the-team speech seem like a maniacal rant.

I think the lesson is to be sure not to hand them anything to use against
you.

> Now the media isn't a monolithic entity, it is a bunch of independent
> actors that mainly function as a swarm and exhibit swarm behavior. In
> this case it was like a school of piranhas. Dean may have his flaws,
> all the candidates do, but there was something more venal at work here
> than your typical swarm journalism.

The news media operates just like any other media such as entertainment.
They initially cover what they do based on many decisions such as news
worthiness, relevance, impact, etc. But, the decision to continue or expand
coverage is based more on economic decisions than people might think.

The big problem to me was (is) the number of people ready to tear down Dean.
The Republicans because he's a democrat and they fear a candidate like Dean
running against them. And, the Democrats because he was an outsider.

Of course, Dean didn't ingratiate, or perhaps the better term might be
prostrate, himself to the Democratic establishment and McAuliffe.

And I think that showed when he made mistakes. Just weeks before the Iowa
caucases, James Carville let loose and very prophetically said the following
of Dean:

"It seems like he's come down with a case of 'mad mouth' disease," he said
of Mr. Dean last week. "He may be candid, but there is the glory of the
unspoken thought here." Later on CNN, he elaborated: "I'm scared to death
that this guy just says anything. It feels like he's undergone some kind of
a political lobotomy here." WSJ Editorial by John Fund.

> Kerry is sitting pretty right now, but Bush is sitting pretty, too, with
> $200 million in the bank and the most ruthless team of hatchet-wielders
> and piranha-wranglers ever assembled. And then there's the whole
> Diebold election-fixing apparatus.

Yeah, I think the attacks on Kerry will be a sight to behold. I've already
heard Ted Kennedy referred to as the "Conservative Senator from
Massachusetts" by Republicans seeking to brand Kerry as ultra-liberal.

Of course, I'm not without blinders either. Everytime I see or hear Terry
McAuliffe I cringe and then there is James Carville who I'd put up against
anyone for being one of the most vitriolic speakers ever.

> It will be an interesting year.

Oh, it certainly will be, that is for sure.





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