By Feeney @Adobe Stock
Who gets the biggest blame for blowing the Democrat Party’s bid for the White House? Writes Kimberley Strassel in the WSJ, not surprising, the US media needs a fat digit pointed its way.
Fantasy vs Conventional Wisdom
The press’s naked shilling for Democratic candidates amounted to an in-kind campaign contribution, notes Ms. Strassel.
… no doubt the media’s ceaseless attacks on Donald Trump and Republicans did help round up some undecided voters. Yet the boosterism for Kamala Harris & Co. came at a far bigger cost: A narrative full of fantasy enabled Democrats to live in a world disconnected from the mood and worries of the country.
Voters will need short memories if they are going to come to terms with the press assuring everyone that President Joe Biden was “sharp as a tack.” Footage of Joe Biden wandering around aimlessly at the Group of Seven conference, way back whenever, were met with derisive claims of “edited,” “lacking context,” “misleading.”
Only when the Trump-Biden debate made Mr. Biden’s decline undeniable did the media drop the charade. Then it immediately turned to recast Ms. Harris—a presidential primary loser turned unpopular vice president—as a political genius and the obvious savior of the Democratic Party.
Asks KS, how’d that work out?
Joe Is Fine, Was Not a Best Seller
Joe Biden’s failing stamina and cogitation should be as upsetting to Democrats as it was to other voters. A competent press would have given Democrats the unpleasant but still manageable “reality of a needed change.”
A primary would have produced a tested nominee, likely one less encumbered by the Biden record. As Harris adviser (and Obama veteran) David Plouffe complains, Team Biden created a “hole” too “deep” for his sidekick to dig out of.
The media industry’s job is to call out political fiction, but instead it wrote the “Joe Is Fine” novel.
It is shocking to read how shocked Democrats are. Unsettling that their Party tried to sell as normal: making lemonade out of inflation, crime or chaos at the border. To any opposition came the slap down, “out of touch.”
In Biden-Harris world, the press printed their spin as gospel. Four years of headlines insisted Americans live in one of the “strongest economies” ever. Crime rates were falling. Red-state governors engaged in “stunts” to magnify the migrant problem.
The biggest issues facing our country were climate, systemic racism, abortion and transgender rights.
Right up to the election, the fantasy was maintained at a great cost to the Democrat Party. The media Ignored the GOP’s pointing to surging voter registration, unprecedented early votes, and notable demographic shifts. Headlines, instead, insisted that Kamala would claim victory on “a wave of abortion-and-Liz Cheney-loving suburban women, comedian-condemning Puerto Ricans, and white dudes impressed by Tim Walz’s camo hat.”
No wonder Tuesday was a surprise. The America that voted for Mr. Trump never even made an appearance in these outlets.
The Choices Facing Democrats
- Does the Party now acknowledge this defeat as a sharp voter rebuke of progressive policies: admitting that lawfare was a mistake, that the party is culturally out of touch, that lunatic interest groups are running the asylum.”
“They worry about a growing political realignment that threatens the party’s future. That we are hearing these voices is an improvement over the past eight years,” KS assures readers.
- Or will the Party allow progressive architects of the mess, already rationalizing away the night as a function of racism, sexism and America’s supposed love affair with “fascism” to continue its hold on Democrats?
They mark the loss down to “tactical” errors—the failure to court pro-Palestinian voters, a misallocation of door-knockers, poor timing in ad buys. The party just needs better “messaging” of its “historic achievements.”
If Democrats really want to connect with voters, the party would be wise to ignore the media’s soothing alternative to the blunt reality of its ideological failure. Wonders Ms Strassel, will Democrats be lulled again?
If (Democrats) really want to reconnect with voters, they will at some point have to break with what is proving to be a debilitating feedback loop.
The media met its match when Joe Rogan interviewed Donald Trump.
Nearly 50 million people have listened to Joe Rogan’s interview of Mr. Trump, as it provided a more accurate assessment of the GOP nominee’s positions and the concerns of the country than “news” articles about the “authoritarian” intent on destroying the climate, abortion rights, democracy—choose your obsession.
Ms. Strassel reminds readers how the Founders accorded the press the honor of inclusion in the First Amendment in recognition of the vital role it traditionally plays in keeping pols honest.
The industry is meant to ride herd on government—on both sides—in the interest of the people. That job is essential—not only for transparency, but to provide self-deluding politicians constant gut checks as to how their policies sit with the nation. When that guardrail falls, the nation suffers, but so too does the party that gets to live the make-believe.
From a separate article in the WSJ:
Asked if as a conservative voter, he was happy with the election outcome, he replied, “Not exactly happy. But it was so much better than the alternative.”
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