I’ve mentioned before that I think John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin to be his running-mate was the single most irresponsible political act since a lame-duck President James Buchanan did nothing while half the country seceded from the Union. And it is still having negative consequences. One of those consequences is the creation of a new kind of candidate. The Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Nevada is Sharron Angle. Ms. Angle announced she was having a press conference yesterday, but she gave a three-minute speech and then refused to answer any questions. She has announced that she intends to only answer questions from right-wing media because right-wing media outlets are the only ones that allow her to solicit donations.
The Republicans’ candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, Rand Paul, is pursuing a similar media strategy. Basically, we now have a breed of candidate that is unashamed to admit that their ideas are so radical that they cannot withstand the light of day. And, yet, they’re still running for office and have a chance to win. It reminds me of the episode of Seinfeld where the media executives asked Jerry and George why the public would watch their proposed sitcom about nothing, and George said “because it’s on teevee.” Why would anyone vote for Paul or Angle? Because they’re on the ballot. That’s what they’re counting on. And, thanks to John McCain, it just might work.
Do you think McCain cares? Why is it that the media let anyone get away with these sorts of tactics? Leaving aside any pride in journalism that has obviously been thrown down the toilet, don’t they have any interest in who potentially might be in power?
No doubt, there’ll also be an article soon about how Obama hasn’t held a press conference lately or doesn’t answer random questions from the pool.
Why would anyone vote for Paul or Angle? Because they’re on the ballot. That’s what they’re counting on. And, thanks to John McCain, it just might work.
You really can’t blame McCain for that. We have a press corps that won’t do its damn job. If they did their damn job, we wouldn’t have this problem. In fact, if they did their job, these candidates would have zero chance.
Ah, but that’s because your (and my) idea of what the press’ job is is different to theirs. Ours is about truth, honesty and getting to the facts. Theirs is about selling advertising.
I think it’s more than that, though. Steve M. hit on this yesterday:
http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2010/07/andrew-breitbart-beneficiary-of.html
Yes, and if they’d done their job, McCain probably would never have gotten to the position where he could choose Sarah as VP candidate. The press literally just drooled over the hypocrite for his manliness and steeliness. Ha, remember Dubaya. We’ve had that one too. That’s what we’ve come to. No one seems to notice anymore that we’re not on television.
Not sure it will work. Others have said local media is king in a lot of these areas…
Local media in Nevada is really unhappy with Sharron Angle and let it be known every time she pulls a number on them like she did with her “press conference” the other day, where she took no questions and only railed about the “Death Tax” on the uber-wealthy. The local TV reporting leaves the viewers with their lists of questions about this obviously insane woman that remain unanswered. And the constant ads from her opposition remind us that she doesn’t think it’s her job as Senator to support job-creation.
She even compared one the of state’s largest employers, MGM Mirage, to The Titanic recently, saying that Harry Reid and John Ensign were “rearranging the deck chairs” by making phone calls to lenders on their behalf during the credit crisis, which almost killed the CityCenter project and would have likely bankrupted the company. Just wait until someone asks her how she feels about gambling, as a political figure in a state that depends almost entirely on gambling-related revenues. She’s already revealed that she thinks repealing prohibition was a bad idea. Wrong answer in Nevada.
Meanwhile, Harry Reid treats local media like they’re royalty. He brings them on tours of all the bacon he’s brought home lately, all the jobs he’s created or saved, his humble upbringing, etc. Whenever they want an interview, he’ll accommodate their schedules, with his campaign often paying for the satellite feeds.
The National Media commentators have him read all wrong. They think he should be on Meet thee Press more often. But Harry knows he’s running in a local race and the best way to reach those local voters is by appearing on local TV and Radio shows answering questions about the local economy.
But our self-hating “liberal” media just don’t care. It’s painful to watch them chase Sarah Palin around after she sneeringly and childishly refers to them as the “lamestream media.” And the fact that they dutifully report her Tweets and Facebook posts as news should have them all hanging their heads in shame.
It’s not just the media (though they’re certainly a huge problem). What Angle is saying, when she’ll only dialogue with her supporters, is that she’s not interested in representing the entire state in the U.S. Senate – only that portion of it that agrees with her. We’ve always had that tendency in U.S. politics, but I can’t think of a time when entire classes of people – a majority – were told by major party candidates that they don’t count on the basis of ideology, rather than, say, race, class, or gender.
This is it, really. The Right doesn’t want what’s best for the entire country, they want what’s best for them and their narrow vision of what they want the country to be. They can’t possibly believe that someone like Angle or Palin represents what is best overall; they see them as idealized models for some fantasy country they have drummed up from 1950’s sitcoms.
As long as the Rightwing voices like Palin and stooges like Limbaugh and Beck are defining what the public sees as sources for information, We the People are screwed.
Well you have to blame the voters really just as much as the media. You can say, oh they’re busy and concerned about their own lives (and they are right to be so!) but if you get taken in by someone as transparently crazy as Angle then it’s your fault whatever they do if you elect them.
Well, if Angle or Paul or Palin actually get elected, I suppose there should be an element of voters “getting what they deserve”.
It was clear back in the 90’s that MBAs could take over a company that had built a reputation for 50 years, and flush it down the toilet in just a year or two.
I’m not sure why the richest, most powerful country on Earth would be immune from the same phenomenon. All it takes is short-sighted and self-centered mindset.
McCain gave the media a shiny new object of affection. And the media couldn’t get enough of her. It continues even now. But in doing so, it has been made more acceptable to be a candidate of little/no substance. Mavericks in the making, no doubt.
“And, thanks to John McCain, it just might work.”
But it didn’t work for McCain. It blew up in his face. I don’t see any particular reason why it would work for Angle or Little Paul either.