The Dynamic of a Bush Scandal: How the Spying Story Will Unfold (and Fade)

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: December 21, 2005 1:16:38 PM EST
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] The Dynamic of a Bush Scandal: How the Spying  
Story Will Unfold (and Fade)
Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com

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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