Showing posts with label Bush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bush. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

MSM and Mass Delusion: A Case Study



(Photo Credit: S2K Jaeger)

When HRC dramatically reduced her ever-dwindling budget last month by hiring "consultants" rather than funding substantial face time with the populous of remaining states, her new campaign strategy became extremely clear: to create the most effective spin in media history since the build-up to the Iraq War.

I would say that MSM blindly climbed aboard (if MSM had ever been off board to begin with). The proof that this type of "campaigning" works rests with Karl Rove's history of wins for candidates who demonstrate a blatant agenda to attack public interests in favor of private ones. Those who truly support public interests have a clear record of doing so and don't typically believe themselves to need this type of spin.

It seems to go something like this:
* Begin by suggesting there is a serious MSM bias against your candidate at a point when there is a media bias in your candidate's favor. MSM will both repeat the charge and attempt to disprove it by creating an even greater bias in favor of your candidate. This worked for Bush, and, once he was in office, laid a clear path for his agenda.
* Repeat and repeat and repeat in the simplist possible terms (no lofty terminology or sound arguments are necessary since history proves that repitition is more effective than logic) that your candidate favors the working class/"common (wo)man"/underdog. Also suggesting repeatedly that the candidate makes sense to this demographic is helpful since the majority of this demographic is now too busy working and meeting basic needs to have much time for other than sound bytes.
* Express extreme frustration about unfair attacks coming from your opponent at the moment you begin attacking him or her unfairly. MSM loves a fight.
* Scare people as often as possible. MSM is big on a scare.
* Visually distort reality as often as possible. Confetti balls while you're losing after which you will meet your husband (or father or uncle or whatever mutherfucker in your family lived in the White House last) in Washington are a good example. MSM loves confetti. It's very lively. This strategy is fun for the candidate, too. How often does a frat boy from Maine get to play a Texan ranch hand? And how often does an Ivy League former Republican and corporate lawyer get to play Flo, the Waitress?

As a highly paid advisor, I'd have suggested that Hillary adopt the theme song from "Nine to Five"...but the million or so bucks that this type of advice yields is not worth overlooking the reality that a candidate whose campaign is dependent on MSM delusion is not going to overcome that dependency once in office.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Gee, Thanks



Photo credit: Rob Sheridan

Times Picayune, 1/28/08:

In a nod to the hurricane recovery along the Gulf Coast, President Bush is expected to announce tonight that New Orleans will host the annual summit of North American leaders in April.


A senior White House official said Bush chose New Orleans to honor the "resilience" of Gulf Coast residents and the outpouring of volunteerism that has flowered in the areas hardest hit by the 2005 hurricanes...

Falling more than two and a half years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the region, the summit is likely to refocus international attention on the slow pace of the recovery and also serve as an economic boost [?]for the city. Bush called Gov. Bobby Jindal and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin today to let them know.

The decision by the White House to host the summit in New Orleans comes just months after the Presidential Debate Commission passed up the city's application raising questions about whether the city had recovered sufficiently. More



Addendum: In case you are subjecting yourself to the State of the Union address (I am not), here's kind of a fun game. In years past, a friend and I would turn on our instant messengers and send a * each time Bush said the opposite of what is true (e.g., "we're fighting for democracy"), a # each time he projected his own character or actions onto others (e.g., "_____ is an evil tyrant"), and a ? each time he mangled the English language. There's no real scoring system here, but the game is guaranteed to keep your fingers moving faster than you'd even imagine and provides a little mechanism for venting stress/frustration/outrage.--A.F.