4/18/2006

For The Love of Lou, Part 2

Come on, Lou and your suddenly centrist gaggle of CNN goose steppers.. One minute you're making sense and I'm listening, but then you roll out the same habitual verbiage that doesn't seem connected to reality. It's time to put your knee jerk recycled criticisms of the Democrats to rest. It seems that no matter what goes down, you insist on claiming that the Democrats have "no plan, no message, no solution" on damn near everything. Granted these plans are not always heard and in the case of some lawmakers the ideas don't even make it to the table much less to debate. But why the relentless insistence on this point? And when there ARE plans, they aren't even mentioned? What about plans that actually speak to some of Lou's pet rants-like freight inspection? Why did he not even acknowledge their attempts to include this crucial security issue neglected by the infallible Republicrats???What gives? The media just keep repeating the same lines over and over and it doesn't seem to matter what the party does, and we've seen this play out on many issues from immigration, to social security, to security..."no plan" like a mantra..(cont.)...

Many of your Dem neighbors will spout the same thing: "What's up with the Democrats? Why can't they get it together?" "Well, its a lack of message, and lack of plan. They criticize but never offer up their own plan. There's no direction."

Open up box of Instapunditry and add water. Mix, bake. "What do you think of the plans they have formulated, such as on Security?"

"There was a plan?"

See this is the danger of spoon fed opinions. now I am not saying the Dems are stellar exhibits of clarity and strategy. But it doesn't seem to matter what they do as their baggage seems to end up on the wrong plane...

Now you gotta love Media Matters on these types of concerns-here's a story from back in March concerning the coverage of the Dems and National Security Strategy. Notice that they don't just make the charges, they cite examples- something those that criticize the allegedly liberal media often fail to do in their assertions:


"Over the past year, CNN hosts, anchors, and reporters have repeatedly commented on the Democratic Party's purported lack of a clear plan or concrete set of alternatives on issues ranging from Social Security to the war in Iraq. But on the day that Democratic leaders announced a broad national security strategy, CNN barely covered this development, instead devoting an hour and a half of uninterrupted coverage to a speech by President Bush on Iraq, his third in two weeks. Moreover, when CNN finally reported on the Democrats' national security plan, it omitted any details about the proposals put forth by the congressional leaders.

The following are examples from the past year of CNN personalities addressing the Democrats' purported lack of ideas on a variety of issues, national security chief among them:
CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux asked Democratic political consultant Donna Brazile , "Why aren't the Democrats coming up with concrete ideas here ... when it comes to the Social Security plan or energy?" [ Inside Politics , 6/15/05]
In an interview with Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), CNN congressional correspondent Ed Henry said, "There's been a lot of talk about how there's not a Democratic plan on the table." [ Inside Politics , 6/29/05]
In a discussion with CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider and Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund , CNN host Lou Dobbs commented, "Democrats haven't come up with a single message, a straightforward proposal or plan." [ Lou Dobbs Tonight , 10/13/05]
CNN host Wolf Blitzer has repeatedly referenced a recent Washington Post /ABC News poll which found that 70 percent of Americans believe Democrats have no clear plan for Iraq. "The Democrats seem to be all over the place," he said on one occasion after reading the poll numbers. [ Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer , 3/12/06]
CNN host Anderson Cooper asserted that Democrats "really are not unified. They don't really have a plan for Iraq." [ Anderson Cooper 360 , 3/20/06]

But despite repeatedly highlighting the Democrats' purported lack of such plans, when a large coalition of Democrats stood together on March 29 to unveil a unified national security platform, CNN largely ignored the news.

In the early afternoon on March 29, the Democrats held a 40-minute press conference announcing the release of their new national security agenda, " Real Security: Protecting America and Restoring Our Leadership in the World ." The proposals in this set of policy papers include screening 100 percent of containers and cargo entering the United States, boosting the size of the U.S. Special Forces and National Guard, ensuring that troops have better body armor, providing more resources to first-responders, and allotting greater funding for veterans benefits.

A Media Matters for America survey of CNN's programming on March 29 between 6 a.m. ET and 4 p.m. ET found only one mention of the Democratic plan. It came at 2:23 p.m. when CNN's Live From ... aired a brief clip of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid [NV] speaking at the Democrats' press conference. The two-minute clip came directly after CNN had provided uninterrupted coverage of Bush's speech at the Hyatt Regency in Washington, D.C., an event that spanned an hour and a half and largely mirrored the multiple foreign policy addresses Bush has given in recent weeks....."



13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lack of a plan is not the problem, IMHO, communicating that plan (or plans) with a clear concise "ready-for-mass-media-consumption" message is the problem. Take the National Security Agenda, one way to publicize it would to have boiled it down to the following three statements:

"Apply security where it matters most: At home."
"Apply security where it's most cost effective: At home."
"Apply security where we have the greatest control and best chance of success: At home."

That's just one example. I'm sure there are others.

This is what Republican's are really good at, distilling stuff down...even if there distallations are lame.

Lew Scannon said...

A unified Democratic party with a single and coherent message that would attract voters turned off by Republican corruption could be an embarassment in November when polls show Democrats winning large numbers and electronic voting machine counts going for the Republicans. The only way to avoid this is to have the corporate media prevent the Democrats message from coming out.
The liberal media is a conspiracy theory from tin foil hatted conservatives.

Lew Scannon said...

A unified Democratic party with a single and coherent message that would attract voters turned off by Republican corruption could be an embarassment in November when polls show Democrats winning large numbers and electronic voting machine counts going for the Republicans. The only way to avoid this is to have the corporate media prevent the Democrats message from coming out.
The liberal media is a conspiracy theory from tin foil hatted conservatives.

Frederick said...

But Kvatch, that's the problem, thigns have become so dumbed down in America that if you have a detailed plan, that just might work, it wouldn't matter. The only thing that matters is what you can feel in your gut, Republican truthiness baby. Culture gone arye

rev. billy bob gisher ©2008 said...

i checked out your new gig. real professional one whoa nellie. however i have to register to make comments. bummer, but probably good for the blueball republic.

KELSO'S NUTS said...

LILY:

I have lots of thought on Lou Dobbs and his retrograde views on this, but let's do old business first.

I signed up at Blue Republic and would be happy to expand my views on taxation as you have suggested. Won't be a Kelso rant, just an analysis following on your excellent work. Let me know if you are still into my doing this.

Future business: I'm going out of town from Mayday until May 8 or so, and you are -- once again -- invited to write The Nuts for me...And please do it you own way! YOU DON'T HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT SPORTS OR GAMBLING!!!

Lily said...

Well yes, there's the registration but it allows you to send covert private messages to break up the monotony of a cubicle job or the tedium of eating bon bons watching Oprah.

Kelso requires an intervention.

Graeme said...

it is too bad the people we want to reach are working two jobs to make ends meet. They don't have time to listen to a detailed plan. That is the trickle down system for ya. they want the people that get screwed by it too busy to even think about it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for reading my letter Lou

Yukkione said...

Republicans like to say Dems have a plan. Well it's hard to construct an intelligent plan when you have no information because like a mushroom your kept in the dark and fed shit all day. This thansk to a Whitehouse shrouded in secrecy, and enveloped in the cone of silence.

Lily said...

Dammit Donkey if that was you...

rev. billy bob gisher ©2008 said...

it's piss off a liberal day at my place. know where i can find any?

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