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'Gotcha' politics and the media that covers it

Submitted by Jasper LiCalzi on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 9:25am.

I know I am a geek when it comes to policy but doesn’t anyone else care about the position taken by the candidates?

One can go to the candidates’ Web sites to find out their positions but there is very little talk about issues when it comes to the media’s coverage of campaigns. It is not even possible to find this information out for most local candidates as many do not have Web sites.

Regardless, reading their position papers is not enough. Where are the probing questions that challenge candidates’ assertions and critique their plans for the future? It is being done to a limited extent by the print media but hardly at all by the talking heads of television news.

It seems the only coverage of the presidential campaigns these days is about gaffes and verbal missteps. The media scour the video records of all of the candidates to find something that could be taken out of context and exploited.

Now it isn’t just the media acting here. The campaigns are doing the same thing. I will give a partial pass to the campaigns because they are merely “feeding the beast.” Last week it was Obama on rural people, before that it was Clinton on her trip to Bosnia and McCain and his confusion of Shiites and Sunnis. Does hearing these comments really tell us anything important about the candidates? Is Obama going to ignore the concerns of rural America and only assist urban elitists? Will Clinton make a decision based upon a mistaken memory Will McCain order troops to attack the wrong people based upon a lack of understanding of their identity? At best, we are able to see how these candidates react when confronted with a difficult situation, though it is an artificially created one.

The cable TV bubble heads I mentioned in my blog on Tuesday are the worst. How many times can they replay the same clip and think it is important? Why do these media merchant constantly have analysts who are merely consultants to the campaigns? Do we learn anything from hearing Karl Rove talk about how Obama should spin his latest misstatement? As Walter Mondale said, in repeating an old Burger King commercial, “Where’s the Beef?”

I would bet anyone who has a TV can tell you what Obama’s minister has said and what Clinton’s superdelegate strategy is. How many could tell you what each candidate plans to do about health care? What is the difference between the candidates’ plans for heath care? Is this difference, mandates, important to you? Maybe policy positions are not the most important criterion of a candidate. How familiar are most people with the background of the various candidates? We all know that McCain was a POW (though probably some would get the war wrong) but what else has he done in his life? What did Clinton do before she was first lady? How did Obama’s relationship, or lack thereof, with his father affect him?

I believe the news media cover these “gotcha” items not because they are popular or they are what the people want but because they are easy. It would be difficult to comb through position papers and analyze differences. It is much easier to call in an “expert” and have him or her spout off some nonsense about some mistake made by a candidate and how it will affect the “race.” I know. I am sometimes the “expert” called by the print and TV media. What do I know?

Go Yotes.

Dr. Jasper M. LiCalzi
Professor
Department of Political Economy
The College of Idaho

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You're here. Enjoy the ride.

Submitted by foreignoregonian on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 9:28am.

This is what we were practicing for in junior high trying to ambush the candidate for class secretary.

Candidates are in the mirror

Submitted by udapimp on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 10:01am.

"Does hearing these comments really tell us anything important about the candidates?"

Yes, it tells us they are idiots just like the rest of us.
It tells us a lot if a candidate fully understand the Middle East issues. And if they are willing to lie or exagerate simply to make themself more appealing. Would an employer hire a prospective candidate if they knew the resume had lies on it? Of course not. But yet everyone 'exagerates' on their resumes.

*********

"How many times can they replay the same clip and think it is important?"

How many times can the Statesman replay the same Craig story?
The newsprint is no different than the TV media.

*******
"...media cover these “gotcha” items not because they are popular or they are what the people want but because they are easy."

I disagree prof. That is what hte people want because that is all the majority of the people can digest. If the media started analysing position papers and political policy, 95% of the people would fall over dead before they could get to the end of the analysis.

You operate in a unique world of academia, where your world is surrounded by students (some) who want to learn and other academia actually interested in this stuff. But the majority of the American population is too stupid to understand the advantages and disadvantages of a single payer universal health system. The evidence is all around us. As you stated some would not even know which war McCain served in. As old as he is it must have the Revolutionary War, right?

Anyway, I believe the masses do not understand the complexities of what you would like the media to discuss. And the masses thrive on trivial no-brainer stuff like Brittney, Deal or No Deal, and sensational headlines.

My God, you actually like that health care stuff?

Submitted by foreignoregonian on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 10:27am.

SERIOUSLY.

Udapimp, I can dig you but really...if you spend billions of dollars to equip kids with smart weapons only to have their bodies blown to Hello, my name is Parapalegic with DUMB BOMBS only to claim we can't afford to put Steve Austin together again or keep him sane...

What are the rest of us going to do, DIE?

The whole thing is a D Lie and a D is telling you that Wife-of-Bill needs gag...she noisy.

Reich, Media, Supercapitalism

Submitted by caldwell_yote on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 3:53pm.

What did Reich's book have to say about the effect of Supercapitalism on media?

Dunno! they all claim to be BROKE.

Submitted by foreignoregonian on Fri, 04/25/2008 - 3:16am.

Obamarama - he will be assimilated

Submitted by rmholt on Sat, 04/26/2008 - 4:36pm.

So today this minnow says he is going to outdo the other candidates in the "underprivileged" competition - I have been slogging through his books and did manage to see where he and a buddy had a good laugh at the idea they were underprivileged.

He was raised like Bill Clinton - except for the private boarding school and private college and private law school. And not having an alcoholic abusive father and not losing his mom for a good stretch so she could get a decent job. And seeing a bit of the world, living a life privileged compared to Indonesians but not as good as most expats - which he said in his book was a great position to be in - not isolated but not in grinding poverty. At least Bill did not have to go to a wacky church as an adult to figure out how to relate to African Americans with slave/West African heritage.

All this stuff I am saying about Obama came from his own words in his book.

Kennedy-esque? Where;s the service record, the US Congress record? Where;s the books about something other than himself?

Quiz: Which presidential candidate spent the summer after college in the PNW working in the fishing industry?

McCain pre POW

Submitted by rmholt on Sat, 04/26/2008 - 4:48pm.

MSNBC before they went completely into the Obama tank put together some 1 hour docs on each major candidate - i think Edwards, Clinton, Obama, McCain at least.

I saw the McCain one and it had my eyes popping. I have been a yellow dog dem all my life - wanted to vote for Jackson - heck, wanted to vote for Chisholm, voted for an R ONCE - a state officer who got in trouble right afterward. Taught me. But if Hillary (who has done shots toe to toe with McCain) is not nominated I will have to go with McCain:

Example: He was in his jet on an aircraft carrier in North Vietnam waters when another jet accidentally shot him up with a rocket. Instant LAKE of FIRE which ended up killing about 100 people, required flaming jets to be heaved overboard and nearly sank the carrier. Anyways, after getting hit, McCain popped his canopy and JUMPED from his jet to the deck, rolling - an impressive feat without the inferno beneath him - he rolled completely free of the flames and apparently right into the infirmary. I think Hillary would do that. I have NO idea if Obama would - I dont think even Obama knows. Michelle likely would and then go find the idiot with the loose rocket and give him a beat down.

Maybe I am seeing in him what other D's saw in Reagan. Only for real, not the movies.

Damn, that was an irrelevant tirade rmholt.

Submitted by ericn1300 on Sun, 04/27/2008 - 9:12pm.

Or maybe not. Your glorification and focus on a one hour infotainment documentary that had nothing to do with the issues just shows how well the media reads bubbas like you.

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