Last week President Bush and Senator appeared on CSPAN addressing Newspaper Association of America & the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Bush followed by Kerry. Bush was charming, Kerry was himself. He described this presidential election as the "most important election of our lifetime". He said "truth is on the line in this election". Well, he's right about that, truth is on the line in this election. I think this could be the second election in recent history in which the media plays the pivotal role by their relentlessly negative portrayal of events. The first such election was 1992 and it was about "the economy stupid" which just happened to be in full recovery mode. But according to the media of the day the Great Depression had returned, and the country needed a savior. His name - Bill Clinton.
This year's savior is John Kerry. Unfortunately for the press, John Kerry is no Bill Clinton. In fact he is a pathetic candidate. But the press will soldier on. They're pulling out all the stops as they try to make the case that we need him to save us. For example. President Bush and Vice President Cheney met together with the 9/11 commission. Much has been made of that. Former President Clintion, Sandy Berger, and Bruce Lindsay met together with the 9/11 commission. Nothing has been made of that. It's not the people in the media don't know. This via MWQ from the April 27th White House press briefing:
Q When former President Clinton appeared before the 9/11 Commission he was accompanied by Sandy Berger and Bruce Lindsey. Will President Bush have anyone with him, besides Vice President Cheney?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I believe that Al Gonzales, the White House Counsel, will be present. And I would expect that there would be at least one other additional member of the Counsel's Office present. Obviously, we're still two days away from it, so a few things are still being finalized. But I'll keep you posted if there are additional people present.
The press knew Clinton did not meet the commission alone, but that's not a helpful story. The story they want to tell is that Bush and Cheney met with the commission together so they can keep their stories straight.
And then there's the huge conflict of interest story about the demands for Justice Scalia to recuse himself from the Freedom of Information case seeking to know with whom Vice President Cheney met while formulating a national energy policy. The Sierra Club wants help in finding a smoking gun. One that shows how Vice President Cheney will favor an energy policy not harmful to the oil industry. What a surprise that would be.
But can anyone in the media pronounce the name Gorelick. Jamie Gorelick is that 9/11 commission member who should be a witness. She's the Clinton adminstration Deputy Attorney General who's trying to crucify the Bush administration for their inability to connect the dots before 9/11. Then it comes to light that she is the central figure in the Clinton administration who buttressed the wall separating intelligence from criminal investigations, thus preventing any connecting of dots. From the Clinton administration perspective, this had the fortunate side effect of preventing any serious investigation of the campaign contibutions made by the People's Republic of China to the Clinton re-election campaign. You won't hear about it on Hardball. You won't read about it in the New York Times.
This year the media are campaigning hard, but in spite of all efforts, President Bush's job approval is above 50% and has been there for most of the year. But it's too early to count out the press. There's plenty of time for them to work their magic, and they may unearth another scandal. I can see it now. A major story breaks: "Bush May Not Always Floss!".
Update: In this puff piece we find there is a different side of Senator Kerry. He's really fun! The press campaign continues, and I have to wonder if they will actually pull it off. Mr Musil thinks not, and he thinks it quite often and at some length. But I'm not so sure.
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