Why did Sunday talk shows this week revolve around the GOP's future?
November 17, 2008 8:50 am ET by Eric Boehlert
It struck us as very odd. Twelve days after Democrats posted big election gains, one of the themes on almost every Sunday talk show this week was, how does the GOP recover; how does it map out a new future? The topic actually seemed to overshadow the rather obvious, and more newsworthy, issue of the emerging Obama administration.
Specifically, we were struck by the appearance of Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota on Fox News Sunday, and Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana on Face the Nation. Both are Republicans, both were reportedly on John McCain's VP short list, and both have already been mentioned as possible GOP players for the 2012 contest. Meaning, both were invited because they're considered overtly political players with presidential aspirations.
Throw in Newt Gingrich (Face the Nation) and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (This Week) into the mix, and it was like one big bull session for Republicans. (This Week's topic: "Reviving the GOP.")
Why is the Beltway press right now so worried about the state of the GOP? And when the Dems were on the outside looking in, did the media ever show this kind of concern?
UPDATE: What Amato said.
Media Matters: The Palin chronicles
The Friday Rush: A series of conflicts
Contrary to media hype, Sarah Palin is very unpopular
Don't want to sound corny and obvious, but isn't the news media run by big corporations?
The only way to deal with this problem is exactly how MMFA is doing it here-- point it out, then ridicule it, to the point where these people can't be taken seriously as journalists. That's the only way they will change.
The conservatives are everywhere these days. The Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore was on The Colbert Report and Bill O'Reilly was on The Daily Show. (The Charlie Rose Show comes to mind, too.) But I do not think they are very convincing. Concerning these comedy shows, I think some of this is "you scratch my back ..." stuff (i.e., book marketing), some of it is wanting to be gracious winners, and some if it is a desire to appear balanced and not turn off the conservative part of their audience.
Also, there just seems to be a concerted effort being made by conservatives to get onto the airwaves. Clearly, they are rattled -- both by the financial collapse and the Obama victory. And so, in I think this is probably natural, and I do not fault the media for giving them an airing. There is probably some Obama campaign fatigue and not so much Democratic news to report during this transition period. But still, that is no excuse for not being critical of what these conservatives are saying, or what the Bush administration is doing.
I suppose that an up-dated Karl Marx would now say that there can be no true enlightenment until the workers control the means of information.
Corporate media will continue to push their conservative views ad infinitum and will desperately attempt to convince the viewers that they are presenting the truth.