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Desperate for Truth
Here is a prime example of the type of ads we will be seeing, void of truth and long in lurid accusations.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/18/anti-stimulus-group-attac_n_650386.html
After Republicans have done all they can to stall Obama/Democrat's agenda, they now criticize someone for not getting ENOUGH stimulus money! And they also are stalling unemployment extension bill which includes tax breaks for small businesses, both of which would be a massive help to Nevada!
I thought they were against such a thing. If Reid had brought more they'd be attacking him for all the earmarks. Go figure. The GOP were against it before they were for it, but still they were against it, now they are for it.
I have an enormous amount of respect for Rove and no problem with this ad.
During the 2004 presidential campaign Rove was challenged by a reporter (a rarity in and of itself) on the fairness of some attack ad he had run against Kerry. He said without missing a beat, "It's not my job to be fair. It's my job to get George Bush re-elected." The reporter accepted that response without challenging it, as indeed he should have.
Rove's various methods of message inversion, "big lie," and "triangulation" (which, as in this case, I think means attacking the opponent for his strength -- namely, Reid's failure to capitalize on the stimulus he touts as an accomplishment) are all out there in full view for public discussion and analysis.
Rove is great at what he does. There is not a conscious, thinking person of any political persuasion who doesn't know what he is up to or how he works. If he is effective, shame on his opponents for not being able to pre-empt or counter attack a strategy which has not changed one iota since he was running W's gubernatorial campaigns back in the 1990s.
Well, yes, Rove is certainly gifted at deception and manipulation of facts but I hardly think it's something one should be proud of. The main area I disagree with in your post is that the reporter accepted Rove's "job description" of getting Bush elected under false pretenses without challenging it (in your words "as indeed he should have.") Aren't reporters supposed to have follow-up questions for crap like that? Push the envelope a bit? Heaven forbid ask about why he couldn't have gotten Bush elected with real facts and the truth? Why did he need to lie and deceive? Was it that hard to "sell" his candidate with honesty? We really need more Tim Russert's out there to give some credibility back to mainstream journalism. Now it's just a pretty face and a catchy headline teasers. Rachael Maddow is one of the best out there now but (unfairly IMO) she is stuck with the category of "liberal journalist." Hopefully she can break out of that. I would love to see her replace MiKa on Morning Joe or even replace Gregory on Meet the Press! I think when people see that she'd be just as tough on "Progressives" she'd earn more respect. Back to the original topic, I know we all had doubts when Obama promised to run a positive campaign, keep clean with his ads. He pretty much kept to it and won so I have to have faith in the Anti-Rove alternative. Yes, Rove is a master, but if he even admits his deception, can we really say his "work" is worth praising?
I agree with Misty that the GOP screwed up their chance of a symbolic pick-up in Nevada. Even Dem's thought he'd be toast given talk of who might replace him as Maj. Leader (I was liking the Schumer possibility.) It ain't over 'til it's over but Angle does not seem ready for prime time to say the least.
Speaking of what might happen in November, Dem's have taken a significant 6 point lead vs. Republicans in a generic match-up with this latest Gallup Poll. I wonder if the BP defense and bashing the unemployed is taking a toll. Major gains for Dem's with Independent voters-very important voting block as we all know. Let's watch the next few polls to see if this holds up.
"Aren't reporters supposed to have follow-up questions for crap like that?" From the candidate or a political official, yes. But Rove was not running for anything; he held no public office at the time and was a self-admitted campaign hack. I have more of a problem as to why campaign hacks get interviewed by so-called legit press in the first place, but once Rove was miked up, there it was.
Rove wasn't the only one slinging horse waste that year or any year... he was probably better than most at it but he's not out there alone.
"Was it that hard to "sell" his candidate with honesty?" Honesty is not always a winner at the polls and... like the man said... winning was his job. There is something refreshing about a professional liar who, when asked directly, will not deny it or even hesitate. Of course, running a campaign with integrity is an ideal, but he is the highest paid man in a highly paid business, and honesty is NOT the main service they want from him.
"We really need more Tim Russert's out there to give some credibility back to mainstream journalism." Admirable man but I will NEVER forgive his one hour, buddy-up, softball interview on his cable tv interview show years ago (not MTP) where he gave Bill O'Reilly basically a sales booth o for one of O'Reilly's earlier books. I watched the whole thing in horror. NO challenge to O'Reilly on fiction-as-fact on his own show or at Fox -- not one. It was a couple of drinking buddies making it work for each other on the job. He basically treated O'Reilly as if he were a Tom Brokaw -- his professionalism assumed, no need to answer for anything, tell us about your background, Bill. Nice prestige builder at a time when O'Reilly, while hardly a joke and certainly popular, had a lot less professional stature than he has now. I will give Russert props for his overall career but I still recoil to think of that travesty.
I like Maddow but, during that promo series she and the other MSNBC anchors were doing in the spring, I think, when each one talked to a camera slightly at an angle as if they were in a conversation, Maddow had the line "I don't have an agenda." C'mon. She is tough on progressives when they start to moderate their progressiveness. I really like a lot of her agenda... but she sure as heck has one (or twelve).
But... big picture... we're still working the same side of the fence. I haven't seen a Tea Party candidate I would accept as a representative of my species much less my district or state; and the paucity of moderate, sane, humane Republicans (SAVE US CHARLIE CRIST) that are selling out or keeping their chicken mouths shut about the insane right is the single worst aspect of the domestic political scene...as it has been for at least a year.
The Republicans really blew this seat. And with Crist whooping on Rubio that's another seat too...
It's going to be a huge defeat for the GOP in November if they can't knock out the big prize... the Majority Leader.