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A couple days ago Ed pulled out some quotes from this Noam Scheiber piece on Romney’s steroid-taking, screenwriting top strategist Stuart Stevens. It’s a good piece, and worth a read, but I’d like to highlight this aside:
But just because Romney and Stevens get along doesn’t mean they’re a great team. In fact, they have similar blind spots. Consider their take on what Romney’s stump persona should be. Stevens likes his politicians simple and unadorned, in keeping with his aesthetic style. Even as he has depicted his boss as an economic fixer, Stevens has sought to contrast Romney’s plainspoken good-guy-ness with a remote and self-regarding president. Romney has clearly embraced the motif. After a major economic speech by Obama, Romney told a crowd in Wisconsin that “he’s a very eloquent person and is able to … tell you that night is day and day is night. But people know better.” Romney even played the speech for laughs: “Yesterday, the president gave a speech—a very long speech,” he said in New Hampshire. He repeated the joke at several campaign stops.
Certainly, there was a time when a Republican nominee could control his own narrative with relative ease—or, at least, with enough advertising dollars and straight-faced conviction. George W. Bush’s 2000 convention film, which Stevens produced, bathed him in a dusty authenticity as he surveyed his ranch and discoursed on leadership. The glow lasted all the way through Election Day. But somewhere between the Florida recount and John Kerry’s swift-boating, a whole liberal industrial complex—cable channels like MSNBC, watch dogs like Media Matters for America, blog partisans like Daily Kos—began hacking away at the artifice. It has left Romney, already less believable in the just-folks role, badly exposed.
Stevens’s indifference to this shift—and to the partisan bloodlust that fuels it—helps explain how the campaign was caught flat-footed by allegations that Romney hadn’t severed his ties to Bain Capital until 2002, three years after he’d initially claimed. “The headline story above the fold in The [Boston] Globe: ‘ROMNEY STAYED LONGER AT BAIN’ … is totally, totally misleading,” one Romney adviser complained to me. “Maybe the newspaper’s got an angle because of political bias or because it sells copies—who knows what?” But the Bain story didn’t reflect the sudden vindictiveness of the mainstream media. It reflected the holy-war relentlessness of the left. As The Globe later acknowledged, the story was initially driven by enterprising bloggers at the liberal websites Talking Points Memo and Mother Jones.
I might quibble slightly with the tone here (“holy-war relentlessness,” really?) but basically I think this is correct, and it’s about damn time. The right’s strategy of working the refs and shouting down the opposition has paid off for far too long. It’s been ten years or more doing the grunt work of building the institutional heft that can challenge the noise machine, and the dividends are rolling in.
There remains, of course, a whole lot of classic intra-left sniping, and hand-wringing over whatever cutthroat stuff the likes of Harry Reid happen to be doing, but I think this is healthy. Greenwald and company are a price worth paying for avoid becoming a lockstep, humorless propaganda machine. Because a big part of what enabled George Bush to be such a miserable failure was the unwavering loyalty of the Drudge-Fox-Limbaugh treadmill. Good governance requires honest criticism.
So pat yourself on the back, progressive media. Now back to work. This is a fight that will never end.
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DAY on August 09, 2012 9:32 AM:
Working the Refs is part of "The Game". "Changing the Rules" is not- voter ID's in numerous states, and now Ohio's "selective" voting, depending upon where one lives, are just the tip of the iceberg.
Need I mention the Diebold Shenannigans?
boatboy_srq on August 09, 2012 9:55 AM:
I might quibble slightly with the tone here (“holy-war relentlessness,” really?)
I'd quibble with the tone here a whole BLEEPing lot. "Holy war?" "Relentless"? Sure - but only if you're speaking of Newscorp, Cato, FRC, and the rest of MurdocKochistan. The "holy war" has been going on from their side for over a decade. If you read FRC/AFA/etc material enough, or follow enough GOTea public appearances, they admit it out loud. One look at the USAF chaplains corps and the perspective is very plain.
Perhaps liberals/progressives are beginning to draw a harder line against the fantasy of fascist muslim atheist socialists coming to take away our Freedumz. And perhaps there's some energy behind that. But "holy war" should be reserved for the ones calling for that exact thing - and those words aren't coming from the Left.
Captcha: estates knomyWe. Do we really know our estates? 'Cuz branding the fourth one as some sort of anti-Reichwing crusader band just doesn't ring true.
MuddyLee on August 09, 2012 9:58 AM:
Hooray for Mother Jones, Talking Points Memo, and Washington Monthly. God knows America needs something to push back against Drudge-Rush-FoxNews: they brought us Bush-Cheney. Hey repubs: still waiting for that apology to the voters for the Iraq War....
Kathryn on August 09, 2012 9:58 AM:
Can hardly wait to hear Ohio Attorney General explanation of different voting hours in different Ohio counties and why that is hunky dory in his legal opinion. Nothing to see here, totally random, each county free to do as they see fit. We''ve gone from states rights to county rights!
Any lawyers on this sight care to comfort me with the hope of stopping this nonsense in court before Novemer, please.
T2 on August 09, 2012 10:03 AM:
"the Actual Liberal Media Has Arrived - yeah, as long as you sit in front of a computer all day and night. If you get your information by newsprint or Broadcast or Cable TV, that is hardly the case. Just because there are Left blogs that tell the truth (from our viewpoint) doesn't mean that filters out to the vast majority of Americans. They are treated to a never ending stream of "both sides do it" and false equivalents that tell the people that a factual lie equates to a factual truth because both come out of the mouths of politicians.
For all the good that comes from liberal blogs, those on the Right have their own blogs, spewing the lies and hate that end up being portrayed on FOX as Real American viewpoints and on NBC, CBS, ABC as 'he said, she said" types of stories. And frankly, MSNBC can be counted on to be just as "both sides" as any other network except FOX. Just watch Andrea Mitchell squirm as she tries to "be fair" on every issue.
c u n d gulag on August 09, 2012 10:13 AM:
Compared to the right, what you're describing Ryan, is a fart in a wind tunnel.
KEEP FARTING!!!
BillFromPA on August 09, 2012 10:28 AM:
Quote: 'Greenwald and company are a price worth paying for avoid becoming a lockstep, humorless propaganda machine.'
If winning requires us to become a lockstep, humorless propaganda machine, sign me up.
trog69 on August 09, 2012 10:54 AM:
While certainly no propaganda machine, everytime I watch Mr. Greenwald's interviews I can't help but notice his dour and humorless responses. He's a great journalist and adds much to the conversation, and we've plenty of entertaining lefty so I don't hold it as a negative aspect.
And this on August 09, 2012 11:28 AM:
Speaking of a lock-step propaganda machine, The Morning Joe show-- these days ever more ruthlessly led by conservative republican Joe Scarborough-- has absolutely turnd into Fox News in making excuses for Romney and his fledgling campaign -- while *totally* maligning the president and heaping great disdain on the president's team.
Even Mika B. is piling on-- while clearly appearing to let Team Mitt slide. So much for journalistic integrity.
I would add that the familiar day to day cast of "guests" on the Morning Joe show are long since compromised in their reporting and commenting (Mark Halperin, John Heilleman) as they persist in a comfy gig day after day with Scarborough---Game Change, indeed.
Seems like the way to stay on and keep that cushy job is to agree to disseminate lockstep propaganda demanded daily like Sean Hannity from the Joe of The Morning Joe.
Just sayin'.
Most daily news seekers know it's Romney who's routinely found to be dishonest in his ads, statements and overall campaign tactics as he distorts the president's remarks, intentions and policies!!!
Romney's ads contain provable lies and deceptions--the actual truth of the matter inevitably shown--and usually quickly-- by past video and/or printed data!!!
The welfare ad-- an absolute lie. Statements on the economy-- distortions--as if Romney is rooting for more unemployment these days.
Any regular listener can ascertain he is not truthful about his income taxes, his investments, his time at Bain. Heck, there is duplicitousness at every turn. Massachusetts residency or Utah residency? SEC filings clearly naming him CEO of Bain while he contends he wasn't? Removing all the computers from the Massachusetts' governor's office to keep them secret?? Destroying Olympic records? Hidden overseas tax shelters? Unwilling to release tax statements? Retroactive retirement from Bain? Talk about deceiful shenannigans! It is endless!
Also-- while speaking of out of touch stuff related to televised republicans on cable, and to Ro-money--just caught a glimpse of The Olympic's dressage horses with their aristocratic attire and regal presentation--- one of the horses danced to the tune of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by the band Tears for Fears---- **quite appropro :>)
Thanks for the opportunity to comment on this wonderful blog.
Rich on August 09, 2012 11:41 AM:
Schreiber is usually a better, writer and an avoider of "they all do it" centrism or Joe Klein-like contrarianism. The Globe actually seems to like Romney and the bio of Romney by two of their political writers really avoids going too deep into obvious trouble spots, like the formula Bain used to reorganize (i.e., gut) mature businesses. To mention Media Matters, et al., without mentioning Fox or more contemporary operations like Breitbart and their many differences is a blinder. But the focus on bloggers 9(s well as MSNBC) suggests that Screiber is one of those dead tree dinos who resents how TNR's historic turf has been invaded by other voices. Marty Peretz has done his own damage to TNR and the mag moved rather slowly into the internet world partly because of his personalized management.
FlipYrWhig on August 09, 2012 11:42 AM:
Trog69 beat me to it... The day Glenn Greenwald is the opposite of humorless will be the day Usain Bolt is the opposite of fast.
Renai on August 09, 2012 11:52 AM:
Thank you, T2. Said it far better than I could.
FOX and Limbaugh have national microphones. I only have to turn the dial on my car radio to get a good healthy dose of Rush and Talk Radio. Fox? Fox comes free with basic cable, it's on in my doctor's office, my state capital, my garage...the scales are far from balanced. Even NPR has sold out to the Republican point of view.
OT PS: "whatever cutthroat stuff the likes of Harry Reid happen to be doing"??? Cutthroat, now?
schtick on August 09, 2012 11:57 AM:
When the media is owned and controlled by the tealiban, how on earth can it be liberal? First, instead of hiring tealiban politicians, the media needs to make an honest effort in hiring REAL journalists and let them do their job instead of being given their tealiban talking point memo of the day. Both sides do it? What exactly has the Obama ads lied about and what exactly has the Willard ads had an ounce of truth about?
BTW, the statement on their lips everyday should be: Willard, where are you tax records? Where are your work records at Bain? Where are your records from SLC Olympics? Where are your records from your time as governor of Mass? And most of all, why did you run and hide in France when it was your turn to put on the uniform for the country that gave you the opportunity to make millions?
Until at least one of those tealiban hacks has the nerve to ask that question and demand a real answer from Willard, they are all tealiban hacks and they are being paid to be tealiban hacks.
June on August 09, 2012 11:59 AM:
It seems to me that to really buy into being a conservative, one must have a complete willingness to, on some level, be completely delusional. Pres. Obama is the most actively engaged and down-to-earth president I've seen in my lifetime. On the other hand, there is no discernible humanity behind Romney's eyes - this is a guy who stuffed $100,000,000 into an IRA account, who took a huge medical deduction on a horse that amounts to more than most people's yearly gross salary, and who is incapable of giving a principled answer on anything - yet, he's he's supposed to be accepted as the warm-and-fuzzy one? Delusional from the outset.
cmdicely on August 09, 2012 12:13 PM:
I dunno, if this was projected image was all that successful, one would expect that W. would have managed to actually get more votes on Election Day in 2000, which, even by the official counts (without considering the disputes) he didn't. Bush won the electoral vote in 2000, because the electoral college disproportionately favors smaller states (by population), and the Republican Party's support skews to smaller states (not inherently because of their size, but because of regional and other factors and where the smaller states happen to be located), despite his failure to present a more compelling image, not because of the his campaign's success in doing so.
cwolf on August 09, 2012 12:19 PM:
As much as I like WM,,,
Compared to "...Greenwald and company...",
this blog is a government propaganda organ.
Texas Aggie on August 09, 2012 2:43 PM:
So the question is still unanswered. How do we get the information on blogs into the common knowledge?
The other day I got a completely fictional list of attacks on Obama to the point I thought it was someone making a parody of the right wing. Just in case, I corrected the errors and sent them back, and it turned out that the guy was furious! He absolutely believed what he had said about everyone in the administration being either a socialist or a communist. He believed the whole birther BS. He believed that loaning money directly to students instead of through the banks was evil. He believed that all the debt that we carry is because of Obama's policies and Bush had nothing to do with it. He believes that we are still paying GM and that Washington is still controlling it. And it goes on. so how do you get information where people like that will be exposed to it?
FlipYrWhig on August 09, 2012 2:46 PM:
@Texas Aggie, people like that don't want information. They know what they know with theological certainty, and it's going to stay that way. We just have to wait for them to be outnumbered dramatically, then die off.
LAC on August 09, 2012 3:45 PM:
There is no way a chinless, cherry picking twat like Glenn Greenwald is a price worth paying. And cutting and pasting portions of other articles to fit your libertarian twit narrative is not journalism. Ugh, the guy left Salon, can we stop venerating him already?
And this on August 10, 2012 7:48 AM:
Interesting this morning how MSNBC's Morning Joe Program is heavily harassing its democratic-leaning panelists today. Scarborough's yelling at & bullying former Congressman Harold Ford at length for disagreeing with him that (grandma cliff pusher) Rep. Paul Ryan would be a perfect choice for vice president. (So loud I had to turn down the tv.)
And (republican convert) Mika Breszinski's yelling at & interrupting columnist Eugene Robinson for not agreeing with her that (perennially angered) Gov. Chris Christie would be a perfect choice.
No room for dissension at the republican's table.
Hired toughs, those two.
Thanks to Al Gore's Current TV where I can go to the morning program from Bill Press and later, Stephanie Miller.