10.05.2004
DNC Prefab Spin
Best of the Web (WSJ's James Taranto) exposes dissemination tactics used by the DNC to spin the last debate -- before the debate took place last Thursday. We find talking points and phrases that appear in seminar letters to the editor.
This is the original, taken from the DNC official website:
Taranto then gives several examples of such letters, some with little variation at all from the original. While many papers identified and refused to print this shill-tripe, several others either didn't see it, or saw it, and printed such letters anyway. One paper, The Bergen (NJ) Record, printed two versions of the letter on the same day!
There is something that deeply troubles me about this sort of wet blanket coverage, which filters down to the smallest of hometown newspapers. It's not that it is dishonest, so much as it is unthinkingly partisan.
There is a familiar mantra of the left wherein Limbaugh's listeners are referred to as "mind-numbed robots". Dems are for more demonstrative of that mind-set than conservatives.
Best of the Web (WSJ's James Taranto) exposes dissemination tactics used by the DNC to spin the last debate -- before the debate took place last Thursday. We find talking points and phrases that appear in seminar letters to the editor.
This is the original, taken from the DNC official website:
In the first presidential debate, I was hoping to hear two things.
First, I wanted to hear John Kerry lay out his plans for Iraq and for winning the war on terror. I wasn't disappointed. Kerry staked out a strong plan to bring peace to Iraq and to refocus our efforts to fight terrorists around the world.
Second, I wanted to hear President Bush tell the truth about Iraq, but he refused. While his own intelligence services, military advisers, Republican colleagues, and even his Secretary of State have said that Iraq is in chaos, Bush still presents a version of Iraq seen through rose-colored glasses.
This debate made it clear: John Kerry is a leader we can trust to tell us the truth when it comes to our nation's security. George Bush has had his chance; I'm ready for a new direction.
Taranto then gives several examples of such letters, some with little variation at all from the original. While many papers identified and refused to print this shill-tripe, several others either didn't see it, or saw it, and printed such letters anyway. One paper, The Bergen (NJ) Record, printed two versions of the letter on the same day!
There is something that deeply troubles me about this sort of wet blanket coverage, which filters down to the smallest of hometown newspapers. It's not that it is dishonest, so much as it is unthinkingly partisan.
There is a familiar mantra of the left wherein Limbaugh's listeners are referred to as "mind-numbed robots". Dems are for more demonstrative of that mind-set than conservatives.
// posted by HunterByrd @ 4:58 AM 
