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Even the most craven "third way" Democrat will not be viewed as friendly to corporate profit and expansion when compared to the most moderate Republican.
The media here are owned by corporations. Based on watching television news, it seems to me a kind of awareness-euthanasia--you can watch it for an hour and learn only the most topical, superficial facts on celebrity errata, sexual assaults and kidnappings, and absurdly general scrapings on geopolitical issues.
Context is very rarely given, and statements from the White House or Pentagon are taken at face value when they are demostrably false. The major media, certainly the television media, *have no memory* when it comes to administration statements. The best example, at least the most widely known, is the Niger claim. Here is a statement debunked in November 2002 that was treated as quite credible by our media up until some time after the "major conflict" in Iraq ended--some eight months afterward. Then there was a queer little blowup that died down very quickly. We are now experiencing a similar phenomenon with the Novak leak--an odd litte period has gone by between the time when the facts were known and the time when the media paid the story any attention.
Now, you can believe the media either are run on the cheap to such a degree that they do little investigation or research, or that they are used to some degree to help profit the corporation. Both views would be consistent with corporate operation policy, and it may well be a combination of both.
We also have witnessed a systematic belittlement of Democratic bastions such as unions, social services, corporate regulation and public education. What were once core principles of the Democratic Party, values that allowed it to dominate the Republican Party for many years, now generate a knee-jerk negative reaction in many voters. In my opinion, this reflexive negativity is due to media influence. In some cases it seems to be "helped" by deliberate mismanagement, as in the case of Leave No Child Behind. It goes without saying that some groups have an interest in undermining these institutions, just as it goes without saying that these things are basic civil necessities fro a modern nation.
The Democratic Party will never compete with the Republicans for media control, unless it wholly betrays all its leftist values. The party of corporate friendliness is the GOP, and as the media are owned by corporations, it is my view that they have an inherent advantage when it comes to coverage. People lament that the Democrats don't "take it to the Republicans". Ask yourself if you would even know about it if it happened. I'm not sure I would. Democrats who are fighting against GOP action can at one end be marginalized, as in the Judicial appointments and Byrd's or Kucinich's criticisms during the march to war. On the other end, the visible leadership can be scared off by a media broadside, especially one that threatens electability. We don't have a wholly perfect, untied or popular group of congressmen and women from our party, and some will rather avoid the controversy to hold onto their seats.
The DNC and DLC are trying to hold up a house's walls and repair them at the same time: they are trying to hold on to their seats and shift positions to acheive better results at the ballot simultaneously. The big danger about the current strategy is that it alienates the base like nothing else, and it leaves blood in the water for any and all enemies of Democratic values, and even some well-meaning left-leaners who want to shift the party (or replace it) by attacking it when it is weak.
The "third way" just can't do it--no Democrat can ever be Republican enough. I guess my question is, how do you deal with a permanent media disadvantage? I find it amusing when people advocate using Republican tactics, and then are shocked at the hypocrisy apparent when the media condemns a Democrat for doing the exact thing they laud a Republican for. There is a bias, and it may well be permanent. Now how do you deal with it? The time to fix these problems is now, and so 2004 is more important than ever--and we DO need coattails.
The cheerleading for Republicans is getting loud and it is getting ridiculous, as this recall has shown. To watch CNN, you would believe that the sources of California's economic problems were nebulous and unknown, but nevertheless completely Davis' fault. You would also get the impression that the groping accusations were amusing and somehow planned by Democrats as a smear campaign. How do you fix this? I have no idea, but it needs to be fixed. We may be able to get in for 2004 through disgust with Bush, but in what should be an easy campaign, we will be fighting a s4 hour advertising campaign at all fronts of the media for his reelection. We will never have an easier time of it than now, and knowing that inspires me to get to work.
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