[IP] The Dynamic of a Bush Scandal: How the Spying Story Will Unfold (and Fade)
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: December 21, 2005 1:16:38 PM EST
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] The Dynamic of a Bush Scandal: How the Spying
Story Will Unfold (and Fade)
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
The Daou Report
by Peter Daou
<http://daoureport.salon.com/synopsis.aspx?synopsisId=a6da2e05-
c808-4f7e-9ab2-3d2a01a82a15>
The Dynamic of a Bush Scandal: How the Spying Story Will Unfold (and
Fade) - The third button on the Daou Report's navigation bar links to
the U.S. Constitution, a Constitution many Americans believe is on
life support - if not already dead. The cause of its demise is the
corrosive interplay between the Bush administration, a bevy of blind
apologists, a politically apathetic public, a well-oiled rightwing
message machine, lapdog reporters, and a disorganized opposition. The
domestic spying case perfectly illuminates the workings of that
system. And the unfolding of this story augurs poorly for those who
expect it to yield different results from other administration scandals.
Here's why: the dynamic of a typical Bush scandal follows familiar
contours...
1. POTUS circumvents the law - an impeachable offense.
2. The story breaks (in this case after having been concealed by a
news organization until well after Election 2004).
3. The Bush crew floats a number of pushback strategies, settling on
one that becomes the mantra of virtually every Republican surrogate.
These Republicans face down poorly prepped Dem surrogates and shred
them on cable news shows.
4. Rightwing attack dogs on talk radio, blogs, cable nets, and
conservative editorial pages maul Bush's critics as traitors for
questioning the CIC.
5. The Republican leadership plays defense for Bush, no matter how
flagrant the Bush over-reach, no matter how damaging the
administration's actions to America's reputation and to the
Constitution. A few 'mavericks' like Hagel or Specter risk the
inevitable rightwing backlash and meekly suggest that the president
should obey the law. John McCain, always the Bush apologist when it
really comes down to it, minimizes the scandal.
6. Left-leaning bloggers and online activists go ballistic,
expressing their all-too-familiar combination of outrage at Bush and
frustration that nothing ever seems to happen with these scandals.
Several newspaper editorials echo these sentiments but quickly move
on to other issues.
7. A few reliable Dems, Conyers, Boxer, et al, take a stand on
principle, giving momentary hope to the progressive grassroots/
netroots community. The rest of the Dem leadership is temporarily
outraged (adding to that hope), but is chronically incapable of
maintaining the sense of high indignation and focus required to reach
critical mass and create a wholesale shift in public opinion. For
example, just as this mother of all scandals hits Washington,
Democrats are still putting out press releases on Iraq, ANWR and a
range of other topics, diluting the story and signaling that they
have little intention of following through. This allows Bush to use
his three favorite weapons: time, America's political apathy, and
make-believe 'journalists' who yuck it up with him and ask fluff
questions at his frat-boy pressers.
8. Reporters and media outlets obfuscate and equivocate, pretending
to ask tough questions but essentially pushing the same narratives
they've developed and perfected over the past five years, namely,
some variation of "Bush firm, Dems soft." A range of Bush-protecting
tactics are put into play, one being to ask ridiculously misleading
questions such as "Should Bush have the right to protect Americans or
should he cave in to Democratic political pressure?" All the while,
the right assaults the "liberal" media for daring to tell anything
resembling the truth.
[snip]
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
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