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To paraphrase Pogo: We have met the OTHER enemy, and it is us.

Toughen up, help one another, and for Christ's sake quit pissing in your own pool, Dems.

Try to do something right for a change, Charlie Brown.

There's simply no liberal counterpart to Drudge and Fox and Rush: ... and has the ear of the Washington mainstream press in a way that liberal commentators don't.

In a lot of ways, it is a failure of the Democrats that they haven't actually studied the GOP message management techniques and used them for their own advantage. It is pretty easy, really, to manipulate the national press, especially the TV media which is always searching for conflict and controversy in their race for ratings. And it is easy to manipulate the print media as well, when you understand their operational demands and actually "help" them do their job. Most of the conservative bias that we see in that national media isn't due to ideology, but due to the fact that the GOP message machine understands the media in an operational way a lot better than the Dems do.

It's correct to note liberals are not walking in lock-step with a particular philosophy or mind-set. But we also need our elected officials to STOP whining about how mean the Republicans are. Instead they need to get partisan and HIT back!! Use the facts and take no prisoners. Point out Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity are LIARS !! Don't back down !! Facts have a liberal bias. STop apologizing for being good stewards.

I heard the ombudsman on NPR slam a Fiore cartoon because it had a liberal bias. Hell, it's an editorial cartoon; it's supposed to have a bias.

Dems stop acting like abused spouses and fight back !!

We're well aware that the Reich Wing Noise Machine is loud, well funded, and relentless.

On the Progressive Left we have Maddow, Olberman -sort of- and lesser voices that make pirate radio sound like NBC. I speak of Thom Hartmann, Amy Goodman, FSTV, etc. Under funded, under powered, and under appreciated.

Between the two we supposedly have a neutral press; hard hitting investigative reporters and editorial writers who fearlessly report the news.

Can anyone supply a name, or two?

Excellent points and sound advice, James. I hope they're listening.

Dems make the mistake of assuming that the inherent goodness, fairness and wisdom of their arguments and policies will necessarily triumph over the wicked, amoral, hypocritical blatantly self-serving schemes of Lesser Wingnuttia.

Now we know that simply having the (vastly) better, fairer policies is but the beginning of the process.

Close the deal, Dems. *SELL* the policies, forcefully, proudly, and relentlessly.

I am really feeling sickened at Brown in Mass. reading on 'Crooks and Liars' website today, they are bringing in people from out of state, calling the dems nazis, burning signs and threatening people, it is sickening that this is happening in the US, it is really a sign of what Brown stands for, he has never said a word to call these thugs out.

This was extremely well presented, Steve.
It explains the phenomenon so cogently.
I fear, as well, that it is the result of the right wing echo chamber, the pounding repetitive nature of the storyline as heard by the ever-trembling, undereducated masses, coupled with the the hideous demonizing of President Obama, and the Democratic base--all further complicated by the dragging out of the same old Sunday talk show participants, with their unchallenged conservative views, and their lack of solutions.

And these endless "poll numbers."

Political polls are specifically directed to those using home phones--who is home in the day anyway??-- while so many more people operate with cell phones, not questioned on polls...

Hopeless.

I'm going to predict Martha by 5 tomorrow.

I'm hearing anecdotally that the muscular Dem giant is stirring belatedly but still in time in MA, and the (largely specious) polling is not catching it yet.

Be of good cheer, my friends; keep the faith and keep slugging. These slimy bastards want you to be dispirited and to prematurely declare MA a lost cause. It isn't. I suspect the teabaggers may be in for a nasty surprise tomorrow.

None of this would be that relevant if American idiots didn't fall for this shit hook line and sinker. I mean, if they actually give republicans victories in the coming and election and effectively gridlock our government, well, we're all in for a world of hurt. Too bad it isn't only them who will pay for their ignorance.

Ahh, to have an educated populace. This things we could do.

Finally, a pundit who gets it right. The Democrats couldn't sell water in the desert, and a perfect example is the health care debacle. The Republicans spewed lie after lie, and the Democrats stood there like deer in the headlights, "shocked" that the GOP would say such things. Instead of suiting up for a fight, they did what they always do: rely on the "good sense" of the American people to figure it all out on their own. The lies took root, and support for health care plummeted. And the "progressive" wing of the party has been relentlessly critical of Obama, setting expectations for him that he cannot possibly meet as long as he has to deal with the new "supermajority" requirement of the Senate. The progressive, activist wing may be passionate, but they are unrealistic about what's politically possible and they complain bitterly when they do not get precisely what they want. They have been walking around like jilted spouses ever since single-payer was rejected, and they somehow still believe that single payer was a real possibility in this policial climate. No doubt they will resurrect Nader in 2012 and give us President Palin.

The GOP line says that you can have everything without sacrificing anything, and if you aren't getting it it's someone else's fault. Of course it is popular.

Check out Digby's rebuttal to Dionne -- he was signing a different tune a year ago.

A little message discipline would help.

Because the key to the Republican noise machine, everybody reads from the same playbook. Beck says it, Michell says it, Boyner says it, O'Reilly says it etc etc etc.

Contrast to the Democrats:

The White House puts out a press release, Obama makes a statement and Reid outright contradicts it, Pelosi says it will be too difficult pass, Nelson says we need to talk to the Republicans, progressive commentators say it doesn't go far enought etc etc etc.

The Democratic party definitely deserves some share of the blame in not getting their messages across. They tend to ramble and not come up with catchy phrases.

But there's just one small problem with putting all the blame on them: They can create the best, easily-remembered, and totally-kick-ass talking points/narrative they want, but it won't mean jack shit if the media won't repeat it.

And that's the current problem we're seeing with Obama. They have a great messaging machine, capable of getting word out quickly and effectively, that does its job well.

The media, however, ignores it most of the time, deciding instead to go with "sources on Capitol Hill" or some other such nonsense. And since the right has so many outlets blaring the same thing over and over, the embarassingly-lazy media just assumes that to be the truth, regardless of actual reality.

It's pathetic, and only changes in media ownership rules will fix it.

I think Karen has it right. Republicans tell people what they want to hear: You can cut taxes and not cut spending (at least not the spending that benefits you), somebody else is to blame for your problems and boy are we tough. Its hard to compete with this by telling people that you have to eat your broccoli. Dems need to figure this out.

One thing I wish the media would do is ask every candidate (Dem and GOP) how they would set up their ideal budget in detail, and if they refuse to do so, refuse to cover them. Make them submit a proposed budget so we can look at the reality behind their claims (wait, you mean cutting taxes and eliminating pork will not balance the budget???!!!!).

The only other issue is that Americans are, by and large, macroeconomically illiterate. No legitimate economist in the world would propose cutting takes (or spending) in the midst of a recession, but it doesn't stop the GOP from making the claim. Unfortunately, the public fails to appreciate the folly of this idea.

Obama and the Democrats had a golden opportunity in 2008 to take charge of the public debate by highlighting how Reaganism (faux-small government, bloated budgets, tax cuts, corporate cronyism, reckless deregulation, and over-privatization of public services) had failed America, and why a party committed to the principle that the government was "the problem" was incapable and unwilling to try to govern effectively. The public was fed up the the consequences of Republican governance, and it didn't require much effort from Dems to lay out the case against the GOP's bankrupt philosophy and tactics.

Instead, as I pointed out during the Democratic National Convention, the Democrats were doing everything possible to avoid criticizing the faux-conservatism that has wrecked the country for a generation. Instead, speakers were indulging in uplifting rhetoric and little more.

That mirrors Obama's campaign rhetoric, which did little to discomfort modern-day Republicanism and failed to outline an alternative philosophy of governance. He wants Republican-leaning voters to feel welcome in his coalition, which has meant treating GOP thinking with kid gloves. What he's really been offering is little better than Kerryism, which sank in 2004 almost without a trace because it claimed to be merely a more effective version of centrist Republican governance.

Doesn't help that the media is OWNED by goopers.

Not to pull a Swan and spam the comments, but a few other thoughts:

Per former head of ABC News Mark Halperin (sp?), "Drudge rocks [the media's] world."

This is apparently based on Drudge "breaking" the Lewinski scandal -- it can't be for Drudge's "content," since he doesn't actually produce any, and about half of the things he links to wind up being demonstrably false. In some cases, comically so.

If the media were really interested in the truth, they would ignore Drudge. But they don't. They worship at his feet.

And if the media was interested in really good journalistic efforts (as they say they are when speaking about Drudge), they'd be building Great-Pyramid-quality altars to Josh Marshall, whose work pretty much single-handedly put Randy "Duke Cunningham behind bars in what is still the biggest corruption case in Congressional history.

But they don't.

So it seems at though it doesn't matter what liberals do that is good or that makes sense -- the media will still frame it in way that benefits conservatives.

That doesn't mean liberals should stop trying. Oh hell no!

It means that there's a lot more going on than poorly-worded policy ideas, and it'll take years -- if not decades -- to change that fact.

---

Democrats were doing everything possible to avoid criticizing the faux-conservatism that has wrecked the country for a generation.

--smintheus

And the reason why is because each time someone did so even tentatively, the media went off about how partisan those mean Democrats were and how we all needed to come together.

If you doubt that, just read David Broder some time. :-D

As far as Obama treating the GOP with kid gloves, I couldn't agree more.

I see what he was trying to do -- reach out to them in the hopes they'd grow up and help out -- but, like you, most of us knew the GOP wasn't (and still isn't) interested in doing what is best for the most. They're interested in doing what's best for the richest.

It's absurd.

Wow. In case you didn't notice we have the presidency as well as control over the legislature. Fox News and Rush have existed for years and yet we still cleaned their clocks in the last election.

Start acting like winners.

Why does Benen think we're not talking about how to fix the mistakes of the Bush years?

Have you ever listened to the president? He contantly points out that he's cleaning up Bush's mess.

I remember a while back watching a debate between Paul Krugman and bill O'Reilly on the old Tim Russert show on MSNBC.

Krugman was trying to explain his position and arguments using facts, figures, and historical presidence. He stayed completely stoic and professional.

O'Reilly countered with bluster, shouting, and just plain douchebaggery. He badgered and cajoled Krugman the whole time.

And Russert just sat there and let it happen.

This is the problem. The MSM is the teacher that lets the braindead hyperactive bullies run the classroom. Just because they're more entertaining to watch.

You write about this as if it was just about competing stories.

There's also *what actually happens*, you know.

Of course it's all the fault of the damn hippies, because it always is, as we know. But to say that "Progressive media voices, on the other hand, tend to be some of the Democrats' most persistent critics, rebuking President Obama and other leading Dems for falling short of progressive ideals and expectations." as if "Obama and other leading Dems" weren't themselves *actually governing* according to the Republican playbook (taxes=always bad, money for corps=always good, hippies=suck, war=rules, God=on our side).

Oh, but it's not their fault, of course. Damn hippies.

If the media were really interested in the truth, they would ignore Drudge. But they don't. They worship at his feet.

It's all about page views. You have to think about reward systems. A link from Drudge will garner an extra hundreds of thousands of page views. If it pisses liberals off, their waves of linky outrage garners hundreds of thousands MORE page views. It's about winning the day. Being day's story. So when someone writes a piece of shit that Drudge likes, Drudge links, liberals howl, (and waves of links to the bad stories ensue) and everyone, liberals, Repubs, and journos, EVERYONE is talking about it. It's a win-win for them. But liberals never reward the good journos with links. They only link to the bad journalism, thus ensuring that bad journalism is the most rewarding in terms of page views and being the talk of the day. See?

And if the media was interested in really good journalistic efforts (as they say they are when speaking about Drudge)

They aren't really that interested in "good journalistic efforts" operationally. They are interested in writing (or broadcasting) a story acceptable to the boss, on deadline. That's what pays the mortgage. If it happens to garner Drudge-loving, liberal-hating links, all the better. It's all about the reward system.

I'm generalizing, of course.

Obama is too damn respectful of both the people and the governing philosophies that led us over the economic cliff. He's got a mouth on him, no doubt about that. But he doesn't have a mean mouth, and it's a shame. God knows the country could use some unvarnished straight talk right about now.

American politics, recurring cyclically and looping endlessly, in a nutshell:

GOP: Free ponies! Free ponies for everybody -- but ESPECIALLY for the RICH! All free, Free, FREE!

Idiot electorate: All gain, no pain! Yay! We love Republicans!

Then, inevitably, the pony bill comes due.

Idiot electorate: Republicans lied! Ponies not free! Bad Republicans! We love Democrats!

Democrats: Um, guys...you know those "free" ponies? Well, um, those cowardly, amoral GOP sh_itbags were lying to you. There are no 'free ponies.' You gotta pay for 'em. Now here's how we suggest we all go about it, so we can right the ship and return to fiscal sanity....

Idiot electorate: Boo! Hiss! We want our free ponies, and you're not gonna make us pay for them! Those other guys said we didn't have to! We don't like you anymore -- we like them! Bad Democrats -- BAD!

GOP: Free ponies! Free ponies for everybody -- but ESPECIALLY for the RICH! All free, Free, FREE!....

(repeat insane cycle until America dies)

People don't learn by being told. They learn through experience. Independent voters in New England do not have much experience with the crazy. For many of them, local GOPers are a genteel and mostly fair-minded folk, like what they like to think Olympia Snowe is like. It's stunning to realize that they don't really understand what a Scott Brown is really up to. But voters throughout New England are catching on -- to vote for Scott Brown is to vote for Mitch McConnell and Inhofe and DeMint. Hell, they should realize that even Olympia Snowe is no longer an independent operator. That's why the GOP is vanishing up here. I don't think Brown will win, but he might and will serve 3 years and then vanish into oblivion.
Speaking of needing to learn from experience -- when are Democrats going to learn that the first thing a candidate needs to do is win the election, and that takes a fighter? Capuano would have been a far better candidate than either Coakley or Khazei. Yet, significant numbers of Dems prefer that "competent, dignified, first-woman" or that "creative, honest, independent thinking intellectual, goo-goo" in the primary.
Live and Learn, Live and Learn.

Have you ever listened to the president? He contantly points out that he's cleaning up Bush's mess.

That's part of the problem. People are getting sick of hearing its "Bush's mess." It's OUR mess and both political parties are to blame. No democrat raised a hand or batted an eyebrow during the real estate bubble. Dodd and Frank pushed Fannie and Freddie to relax lending requirements and had no qualms with Fannie and Freddie buying subprime mortgages and reselling them into complex CDOs and other investment vehicles.

By constantly blaming just one side, the other side, it makes it seem like political posturing, a political problem that politics can fix. It's far from that.

When a politician throws out a non-political solution to the real-world problem, let me know. Because I haven't seen one yet.

Thanks I Me Mine, that about sums it up. The cause for Americans' complete idiocy?
Zappa was right:

I am gross and perverted
I'm obsessed 'n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little had changed
I am the tool of the Government
And industry too
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you
I may be vile and pernicious
But you can't look away
I make you think I'm delicious
With the stuff that I say
I am the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I am the slime oozin' out
From your TV set
You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don't need you
Don't go for help...no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold
That's right, folks.. Don't touch that dial
Well, I am the slime from your video
Oozin' along on your livingroom floor
I am the slime from your video
Can't stop the slime, people, lookit me go

cause of... jeez....

President Obama needs to remain respectful of people - after all, he's the president of the whole country; whether some approve or not.
It's the Congressional Democrats who should be out and about, refuting lies, pointing out facts. If necessary, mention that "So-and-so's remarks are simply not true." If so-and-so (whoever it is) complains, let THEM back up their claims.
This won't be easy as the MSM soi-desant journalists are either too lazy, incompetent or corrupt (take your pick) to stand up to a lying Congressmember (might lose a "source"!).
It has to be done. And Democrats in the House and Senate need to start doing so NOW!

Dionne suggests, persuasively that conservatives' narrative -- government, spending, and services are necessarily bad -- keeps winning, even after conservative attempts at governing fail.

Because the so-called "liberal media," for no good reason, accepts Republican narratives uncritically.

One of the main reasons that fraudulent conservative narrative keeps winning is the complicity of the corporatist MSM, and bumpkins like the MTP crew. But it's not all everyone else's fault. Democrats do need to keep government programs cost-effective, cut out patronage, some pushiness here and there, and other ills (I'm talking all levels.) You can't just show what's wrong with the other guy and his arguments, you have to be very much worth defending.

2. Hit the cons on ironies like their greater support of the giant welfare program for people with kids (child tax credits up to ~ 100k income), the cap gains tax cut which is therefore a relative penalty on earned income, the ruinous waste and expense (in all senses of the term) of the Iraq incursion and the dropping the ball in Afghanistan, etc. Pound it. We don't IMHO call in enough, write enough letters, etc.?

All over the web today I have read the same story. If Obama fails it's the fault of progressives, and their spokesmen, who have destroyed the President's agenda.

Sorry Steve, I don't buy it. If the President fails it will because the President decided to play patty cake with the Wall Street insiders like Larry Summers and his spawn. If the President fails it will because he has allowed himself to be co-opted by the Washington elites. One year in it is pretty clear that Obama isn't the new Reagan. He might be the new Clinton. Like Clinton, all fancy talk, but no real grit. All in all potential wasted.

"No Taxes" or "Small Gov't" is easier to put a bumper sticker than "Taxes are sometimes necessary" or "Gov't can be a good regulator".

Conservatives don't have to work as hard to deliver a message as Liberals do.

Obama had a choice in early 2009.

He could be FDR or he could be Hoover.

The progressives obviously wanted him to be FDR.

He decided to be Hoover.

It really is that simple.

One commenter: The only other issue is that Americans are, by and large, macroeconomically illiterate.
Yup.
Another commenter: Pony!
Yup.
Citizen Pain: Zappa.
Yup.
I disagree that Obama is disproportionately on the defensive; he HAS to acknowledge that the mess is not his -- repeatedly, endlessly, in order to get the damn thing home -- but he always does so in laying groundwork for explaining some intent, some trajectory, some hope. He cannot be driven by what the media wants him to do. He doesn't have the time.

So whose job is it to counteract the GOP message machine? Is it Obama's? No -- all he can do is do his homework and continue to come at each situation from the place of fact and faith and of Who He Is, whom we voted for. Is it the press secretary's job? Nope. Hell, I don't know whose it is. Ours?

What I do know is that I've come to this blog and Maddow and a couple other venues because they're media outlets that have done their homework, and I strongly believe that this nerdy revolution is a big part of the reason Obama got elected.

So maybe we don't have a ... I'm too nerdy -- football metaphor, anyone? But I'm inclined to continue to give our president the benefit of the doubt, and to continue to try to do my homework, and to encourage people to do theirs. Kind of a Jesus thing: Teach by way of example.

Also, slow and steady wins the race. Operative word being steady.

The Democrats are afraid of their own shadows, period. Harry Reid is a disaster. Nancy Pelosi has the guts, but she can't produce on her own, when there is a consistent drag coming from the DINOs and fraidycats. Electing Democrats acheives nothing if the Democrats fail to act.

I am so disgusted that, after all the effort and the historic contributions from the left, the Democrats once again laid down in a hurry so they could be rolled over quicker.

Dionne suggests, persuasively that conservatives' narrative -- government, spending, and services are necessarily bad -- keeps winning, even after conservative attempts at governing fail.

Because the so-called "liberal media," for no good reason, accepts Republican narratives uncritically.
Posted by: Gregory on January 18, 2010 at 6:22 PM

The reason for that is because the "media" is NOT liberal.

Must we go thru another cycle of Republican control and malfeasance, demonstrating their nostrums only worsen the problems? The real problem is the gullibility and stupidity of so many americans.

Ben Bagdikian wrote The Media Monopoly in 1983, in which he argued that the ownership of mass media skews the discourse conservative. Do you think things have gotten better or worse in this regard? The reason that Republicans rise from the dead so quickly while Democrats get blamed for everything is: that's the way the corporate media wants the public to think. We need to break the media cartel in order to diversify the message.

We also need to remove corporate money from the political system. Corporations are not people, and so have no first amendment rights. It's a very simple argument; why doesn't it succeed? See above...

Today's Conservatives are good at telling you what's wrong, but not how to fix it or roll up their sleeves (when cameras aren't around)

they talk the talk, but stumble at the walk.

Liberals haven't dented the rights narrative in large part because the right is far more persistent in getting their view out, the views of the right are on TV every single day while the liberal view gets a casual mention from time to time.

Liberal pols still look weak; they won't challenge the right. Rep. Weiner is one of the few exceptions and look how his own turned on him when he said the GOP is full of it. The public supports people it perceives to be strong, and the Democrats largely wimp out on any given issue.

I used to think that was because they didn't understand the need to look strong, but now I really believe it's because most pols would embrace the GOP position if they thought they could get away with it. That's where their hearts are and it explains the unwillingness to do what would obviously be effective--take the fight to the other guy.

"they are bringing in people from out of state, calling the dems nazis, burning signs and threatening people"

Anyone think the Democrats will call them on this?

Didn't think so.

well, it should be noted that the Democrats fail not only to counter the narrative with a different one, but that they entirely seem to buy into it save a small handful. Obama's talking more about the deficit and taxes than about jobs and the need for more government spending. all of them are. all of them basically concede the abortion argument cause they think it's icky to talk about and they're all so pledged to act like religious zealots that they're largely stopped using their rational minds, etc.

Jesus effin' Christ, Mr. Benen.

The Democrats' are, indeed, rebuked. FOR NOT EVEN TRYING TO CHANGE THE NARRATIVE.

Don't blame the right wing noise machine, when virtually every Democrat who gets on TV, including the President, refuses to talk about anything but cutting taxes and ensuring that we don't go too far on banking regulation. Who refuse to discuss the almost 800 military bases we have all over the world. The roughly $1 trillion per YEAR we spend on the military. Etc. Etc.

The narrative might start changing if, you know, Democrats started consistently talking about a new one. And the POTUS would be a good start.