The Beltway media bubble
February 06, 2009 1:43 pm ET by Eric Boehlert
Has the press ever seemed more out of touch than when covering the unfolding stimulus debate? Even the new, historic and catastrophic unemployment numbers haven't been enough to budge some media elites from their ho-hum complacency.
What's the rush, an annoyed Mika Brzezinski asked about the stimulus bill, echoing the online chorus of right-wing bloggers. (Who yes, are sure the economy will improve in coming months even if the government does nothing.)
(h/t Big Tent Democrat)
If the economy improved, they could say "I told you so" and pat themselves on the back for saving us from socialism. If, on the other hand, things got worse, they would weep and wail and rend their garments, accusing the Democrats of negligence and failure to act.
It's hard for Democrats to fight this, since it's nearly impossible to engage an opponent for whom dishonesty is the norm.
It could be a win-lose as well. Hence, if Obama gets a bill passed, and things start to swing upward again, he's done what he said he'd do, and they were no on board to "save America", and then we really take over the Senate and House during mid-terms. I can hear the ads now...
"Mitch McConnell didn't vote to save the American economy, but he did want to protect the sky high paychecks of banking executives who took our taxpayer's money. McConnell, anti economy, and bad for America..."
But, if it fails, and we continue this downward spiral, they win, because, they told us so...