Posted on 05/16/2002 3:12:37 PM PDT by Pyro7480
There was a report on Brit Hume's Special Report program detailing Democratic accusations of Bush Administration midhandlement of the situation prior to 9/11, after the report mentioned yesterday. They had clips of Gephardt and Daschle's response to it, but then said that later in the day, Bob Graham and Joe Lieberman had moved away from accusations of mishandlement.
Ah, that's so cute. They're just like they used to be back when they all hung out on Salon's Table Talk forum: Every time anything, no matter how minor, came over the wire about any Republican serving at any level above a local school board, they'd have 150-post-long threads jumping up and down with glee about how [insert name here]-gate was going to bring down the entire Republican Party and the Bush White House with it, Real Soon Now. And it never ever happens. Yet they keep repeating the pattern over and over and over.
They really are like rats. Not RATS, but the actualy little rodents. Except they're like rats that some scientist has drugged up to see how it affects their ability to run the maze. They never learn the maze; they just keep running the same wrong path over and over ad infinitum, as convinced it'll work the first time as they are the thousandth. And they never win.
Right-e-o!
It's getting to be quite entertaining watching the dims and their syncophants in the media flog some trumped-up issue in desperation, only to have the public yawning (or b*tch-slapping them) in the afternoon. We get a full cycle within twenty-four hours, they get up like lions and go to bed as lambs.
Their commentary of late has been so ridiculous that after the rapid response rebuttal by the Bush administration, they just slink away. They are increasingly desperate. What's also interesting is how they can't quite get away with the bald faced lies like x42 did. They either just don't quite get the pass that clinton (the old charmer)did, or they are just not quite proficient enough (as liars). Clinton was indeed a master of plausible deniability, and whenever he came too close to being "found out", the pressitudes gave him cover. One effective technique for him was situation control. He never (or at least rarely) submitted to direct questionning by the press.
It was eerie to behold how quickly things I had read on the web- right here- seemed to fly out into radioland as the day progressed.
I have noticed that our local talk radio, in about the last six months, keeps getting more & more calls which feature items, topics, information, and other things found only on the web- stuff the mainstream won't even talk about.
This is from the angry Gore partisan site The Daily Howler, but who really cares about the source:
Dick Darman clued in Lesley Stahl—it's all about the pictures. During the 1984 presidential campaign, Stahl aired a lengthy report on the CBS Evening News; it was broadly critical of President Reagan. In her recent book, Reporting Live, Stahl described her thoughts as the piece went to air:
STAHL (page 210): I knew the piece would have an impact, if only because it was so long: five minutes and 40 seconds, practically a documentary in Evening News terms. I worried that my sources at the White House would be angry enough to freeze me out.
But that isn't what happened, she says. When the piece aired, Darman called from the White House. "Way to go, kiddo," he said to Stahl. "What a great piece. We loved it." Stahl replied, "Didn't you hear what I said [in the broadcast]?" Darman's answer has been frequently quoted:
STAHL: [Darman replied,] "Nobody heard what you said."
Did I hear him right? "Come again?"
"You guys in Televisionland haven't figured it out, have you? When the pictures are powerful and emotional, they override if not completely drown out the sound. I mean it, Lesley. Nobody heard you."
Stahl's critical report about President Reagan had been accompanied by generally upbeat visuals. According to Darman's theory, the pictures registered more with viewers than anything Stahl had said.Darman was right. The video was of things like Reagan riding his horse and smiling and waving at the GOP convention; if you had the sound turned down you'd have thought it was a eulogy.
In short, SJackson, you're absolutely right.
In my opinion the Democrats are really worried about this November's elections. They are attacking the President left and right and they don't even seem to care if the informtion they are using is true or not.
In his book Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy, James Fallows shows how TV images smother speech with an anecdote about a CBS reporter doing a story on President Ronald Reagan in 1984. The reporter, Lesley Stahl, had documented the contradiction between what Reagan said and what he did by showing him speaking at the Special Olympics and at a nursing home while reporting that Reagan had cut funding to children with disabilities and opposed funding for public health. After Stahl's piece was broadcast, she got a call from a White House official, who praised her. Surprised by the compliments, She asked the White House official why he wasn't upset, pointing out that her piece had nailed the president. The official replied:"You television people still don't get it. No one heard what you said. Don't you people realize that the picture is all that counts. A powerful picture drowns out the words."
As long as the scientists keep giving them drugs (and free food), they'll keep running and complaining about being oppressed.
This is right out of Carville's playbook (see the Clinton election shot-on-video documentary "The War Room" to see it in action).
No wonder the guys & gals at CBSNBCABCCNN , the N.Y. Times, the Washington Post, and the L.A. Times don't loke FR very much.
And the middle that Bush is appealing to is getting larger, because his message is authentic, like Reagan's.
I hope we see that picture in campaign literature this fall.
Or less! The speed-up of information has really shortened the cycle.
When I logged off this morning to drive my wife to work I had read most of the refutations... and by the time I turned around to go home, the talk shows were already getting calls repeating them. By afternoon it had become a torrent, and the callers were hopping mad, too. While it's always good to hear facts, it's nice to hear passion, too, and some of these people were white-hot!
He's just another empty suit and pretty face without Clinton's slick con-man artistry.
Speaking of the Bush pic(s), you can get your own copy for $150 or more the following ways:
A) Call 202-478-4425 during work hours and order over the phone
B) Fax name, mailing address, phone #, credit card info and amount to 202-478-4422 or
C) Send a check to: 2002 President's Dinner; Box 172; Washington DC, 20013
I hope sales go through the ROOF!!
DUh was sending their posters directly to our threads. Must be a morale blow to them to hear their leaders recant, back off, and generally deflate.
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