The Dems’ national security strategy gets stuffed

March 30, 2006

Roll Call reported today that the president was scheduled to deliver his latest speech on his Iraq policy at 1:30 yesterday afternoon, but made a last-minute switch. The White House decided it preferred that the speech “begin just minutes before the planned Democratic rollout of their security agenda.”

Democrats interpreted the timing of Bush’s speech as the clearest signal yet that they are putting the GOP on the defensive on an issue that has served as an electoral firewall for Republicans, and they argued it mirrored a favored 2004 campaign tactic of Bush adviser Karl Rove in which Bush would upstage Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) by holding an event in the same town either the same day as or just prior to a visit from Kerry. […]

“Karl Rove’s playbook of distortion and distraction is well known,” a Senate Democratic leadership aide said Wednesday, arguing the move “demonstrates a concern they have about Democrats’ united position on national security, and it shows they have real concern about where this debate is going.”

How’d the “distortion and distraction” strategy work? Fairly well, unfortunately. Consider the [tag]media[/tag] coverage today of the Dems’ major event in DC yesterday:

* The Washington Post ran a brief, 600-word story on page A12.

* The New York Times ran a preview article yesterday, and had no coverage of the Dems’ event at all today.

* USA Today literally ignored the event and the Dems’ new strategy altogether.

* The LA Times didn’t run any news coverage on yesterday’s roll-out, but instead went with a Ron Brownstein column on the [tag]national security strategy[/tag], which Brownstein criticized for lacking specifics. It ran on page A14.

I’m glad the Dems put the “Real Security” document together; it’s a solid piece of work. I’m also glad the Dems held a well-planned, well-executed event yesterday in DC. The problem is the news coverage. If the party releases a national security strategy and the news outlets blow it off, does it really make a sound?

Update: I forgot to mention TV. ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News, combined, didn’t mention the Dems’ event at all during last night’s broadcasts. Literally not one word.

Initial media coverage matters a whole lot less than dozens of Democratic candidates consistently emphasizing this agenga again and again and again through the election season. They must also present a unified front on this issue. Democrats simply can’t fall back on saying it once and hoping voters got the message. And they certainly can’t fall out of ranks and deride the proposals with the GOP spin machine cranks up. Repetition and party unity count.

  • Can this post be forwarded to every Dem in Congress — so that in a month or two, when the press is accusing the Dems of “not having a plan,” they can whip this out of their pockets and read from it?

  • Well of course it is only natural. I would be interested to see the media in Germany as the Nazi’s rose to power.

    “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer!” – Possible FOX news motto…

    Seriously though, “One People, One Empire, One Leader!” does sound exactly like what the wingnuts want.

  • Oh, I’m sure the document will get press coverage. Tweety will call it Dead On Arrival on Hardball without actually discussing it, The Today Show will have some wingnut “discuss” how stupid the plan is, and this weekend Meet the Press, This Week, and Face The Nation will all have their right-wing guests rip into the document while the so-called ‘liberal perspective” guests will just sit their catatonic.

    Damn liberal media

  • I’m glad the Dems put the “Real Security” document together; it’s a solid piece of work. I’m also glad the Dems held a well-planned, well-executed event yesterday in DC. The problem is the news coverage. If the party releases a national security strategy and the news outlets blow it off, does it really make a sound?

    So call another media event. And then another. And then another. How many times has Bush given the same “Iraq is swell” speech?

    Also, to echo my comment from yesterday, *and* prm above, Dem congresscritters should have a handy-dandy laminated card that summarizes the Real Security message with them at all times. Every chance they get to speak in public or be interviewed or otherwise appear at a podium, they should break out their Real Security card and emphacize whatever point, or points, that are germane to the discussion.

    Is this political theatre? Yes. Is it a bit absurd? Again, yes. Have Rove and the GOP consistently beat us in recent elections by being more absurd with their political theatre antics? For a third time, yes.

  • I fault the Democrats for not reducing their 123 (?) page report to a one-page “bullet” summary. Preferably a half-page. The GOP (and Democratic) nitwits and “journalistic” morons can’t absorb/transmit anything more substantial.

  • “I fault the Democrats for not reducing their 123 (?) page report to a one-page “bullet” summary. Preferably a half-page. The GOP (and Democratic) nitwits and “journalistic” morons can’t absorb/transmit anything more substantial. ”
    –
    Maybe we need to reduce it to talking points, print and laminate the cards, and send it to every democrat senator and congressperson.

  • I think it’s pretty clear we need to bring back the Fairness Doctrine and start pressing for equal time rules to be enforced. Its absence is crippling our country. People really need to start agitating for this to be brought back. Hell, we could probably even get the Fox News viewers (though not the Fox News staff) to get behind this if we sold it to them as a way to combat that dreaded Liberal Bias.

    And Xeroman, don’t drag out the Nazis for this one. Playing the Hitler Card is the fastest way to destroy your credibility, unless you’re having a debate about WW2 or something.

  • Maybe we need to reduce it to talking points, print and laminate the cards, and send it to every democrat senator and congressperson.

    If that’s what it takes I’m in. Lets agree on the bullet points and the cards and I’ll mail them to my senators and House representative (i’m in Northern CA).

    On the other hand, in the other thread, commenter seamus indicated that this was in the works. Mr. Carpetbagger, can you corroborate this? Is the DNC or some other Dem group on top of this, or do we need to do it?

  • You know, there’s a reason they call it a bully pulpit. We’re on the wrong side of it now, but I well remember hearing similar complaints from the right back in the day. You just have to keep on plugging, and as Ed points out, sharpen the message and distill it to a few provocative sound bites. The Dems need a punchy title for their program that can capture the imagination of the typical TV-news watcher. Something like “A Shield for America”? Yeah it sounds silly, but The Contract with America was dumber, and it worked pretty well for the GOPpers.

  • Ross,
    I must point out that I did not implicitly employ the “Hitler” card, instead I expressed an interest in comparing the current state of affairs to Germany during it’s descent into fascism. Please spare me the finger waving with regards as to what is and is not taboo. This isn’t about WWII, this is about a society that seems to be heading down an alarming path that may have been travelled before. I for one would like to know if it is the same path travelled by the Germans. I find it odd that bringing up history is going to destroy my credibility… It strikes me as similar to a tactic employed by the right wing noise machine – any unfavourable comparison to the dear leader is automatically attacked, belittled then ultimately dismissed. I raised the point that the right wing seems to strongly believe in “One people, one empire, one leader” and you choose to ignore the idea and issue a casual dismissal. I am not alluding that you are a Bush follower of course, but I think you have absorbed some of their methods. If not that, perhaps you are merely an elitist…

    Regardless, if I want to compare the US to Pre-Nazi Germany, it is my right, just as it is your right to challenge me on my assertions or to brush them aside without contemplation. One is more likely to be found in a debate, while the other is more likely to be found on the O’Rielly Factor. So please, if you think my idea is crap, call me on it and explain why.

  • Of course it gets no media coverage. They’ve worked their asses off for years to prove the Democrats have no plan; they’re not going to ruin all that now with a few facts and some truth.

    I mean, really, what do you expect of the media?

  • The democrat plan for security is to have democrats doing all the same stuff that the republicans do (fight war, tap the phones, throw money at their supporters). That’s not news.

    The fact is that both parties are the same. They are both the party of Yale educated Skull & Bones members. They are both the party of big pharma and the military industrial complex. Both parties want war. Both parties want affirmative action. Both parties want illegal immigration. Both parties want a war on drugs. Both parties want expensive lobbyists.

  • The Fairness Doctrine won’t do it — even if we could get it re-enacted, which we can’t.
    WE NEED OUR OWN MEDIA.
    That is the only solution. There is a market for real news; somebody — a whole lotta somebodies — could get rich off this.
    Why are OUR wealthy stalwarts not already investing in a cable channel, a radio network, and a national paper — NOT as a political giveaway, but as a profit-motivated investment? The viewers, listeners, and readers are there. The advertisers are there. The REAL journalists are not only there, but would probably line up begging for jobs at half the pay of the sellouts in the MSM. Why has this not already happened?
    WE NEED OUR OWN MEDIA.
    Everything else is secondary until and unless that happens. And when it does, not only will it give “progressives” — by which I mean the 64% majority who don’t still love Dumbya — a necessary voice, it will force the MSM to reverse their rightward slide in response (just as they have all slid to the right in response to Faux, Murdoch, et al).
    Say it with me, please: WE NEED OUR OWN MEDIA.

  • Well, the problem with that is there really isn’t a market for truth and journalism. Only sensationalism and punditry. America thirsts for the unhinged, loofa-wielding whack jobs that populate the ‘news’ these days, even if they don’t agree with them.

    After all, the only reason people watch NASCAR is for the crashes.

    • Comments are closed.