Queston: Is the corporate media promoting Dean because...

[crissy71]

they think he's the easiest Dem to beat? I mean, yes he's definitely worth a cover story at this point, but on all three major news weeklies??

[CMT]

1. the corporate media has not been promoting him

most articles about him foster the idea that he is "unelectable". However, even the corporate media, TIME and NEWSWEEK has to acknowledge that this has been the Summer of Howard Dean.
Why?
1) He raised more money than anyone else--from small donations much of it from the internet
2) he has a strong grass-roots army--meetups over 70,000.
3) He is gaining in polls nationally
4) He is gaining in the polls in key early states like Iowa and NH

They have to report on this phenomenon.

[blm]

5. Not always true...

Fineman and Orin fawned over Dean while taking serious potshots at Kerry.
I know you don't suspect their motives, but, some of us MWO devotees do have reason to suspect anything that comes from those two.

[CMT]

10. oh certainly there are exceptions

but that goes for all the candidates. heck, even George Will endorsed Gephardt for the Democratic nomination in a NW piece a month or so ago.

[crissy71]

8. yeah but

THREE cover stories - if you're like me and think that we don't live in a Democracy anymore and that corporations pretty much control everything and that Rove is their unofficial leader, you have to wonder what's going on.

Of course it would be fun to see it come back and bite them in the ass - it really depends on how soft the support for the war is and whether any Dem can overcome the combined propoganda of the media and the GOP -

[CMT]

12. It happens

Jimmy Carter when he ran the first time and showed the momemtum he had (just like Dean today) appeared on the covers of TIME and NEWSWEEK the same week.

[blm]

21. They weren't owned by Bush lackeys back then.

The media has taken a hard turn to the right since the 80s.

[poskonig]

2. The corporate media promotes themselves.

Dean is simply a newsworthy story. The commentary about him, if you actually read it, isn't that flattering, unless you believe he is being "promoted" with the moronic McGovern talk.

[blm]

3. They've been giving him all the oxygen for 4 months now....

Kucinich, Graham, Kerry, Edwards and Gephardt have made really important points on serious issues and were almost completely drowned out by the all the airtime devoted to Dean.

[poskonig]

7. It is not about issues.

If it were, *I* would be in the news.

Dean is running ads in Texas, getting in Bush's face nonstop, using the internet innovatively, and doing things almost daily to get recognition. Yes, he is a news story.

The Bush-Cheney challenge/Texas stunt was designed deliberately to create media attention. I'd thought people would have figured that out by now.

[blm]

18. For FOUR months now?

Edwards topped the money list 1st Q and he didn't get Play Of The Week on Inside Politics. When Dean led the 2nd Q Schneider gave it to him.

When Gephardt can get the endorsement of a large union with 700, 000 members, he gets a nominal nod from the press. Kucinich pulls in major celebrity endorsements and he gets a nod from the press. Dean gets headlines for his meetups and his celebrity endorsements.

I'm sure it's his charming personality.

[ProfessorPlum]

24. there is some truth to this

they "know" these guys because they are already in DC. Howard is someone they don't know as well.

But you have to give Dean some credit for creating his own oxygen, as well, I believe.

[killbotfactory]

4. Dean did an end-run around the press last quarter...

and kicked them in the butt. I'm guessing they don't want to look like fools anymore and have decided to take him seriously.

[asjr]

13. Dean

I think you are exactly right. He is out there. If they don't ackowledge that he is doing what the voters want him to do, then they are really out of step. Of course we still have Brown-Mouth Woodruff and 18 wheeler Crowley to contend with, but I can ignore them. I bet more people ignore them also.

[jfkennedy]

6. He is the easiest to beat

Though I respect in some ways Democrats and usually vote Democrat, I wish for at least this time in history Democrats would follow liberal principles, we are not just pie in the sky thinkers.

The only reason the Republicans are selling Dean in the magazines is because he is not an adversary to them. Notice all the Clinton is way up on the polls. Yea right in a time of war a women can be president.

And Gore is coming back to kick butt. All lies. The only one that can beat Bush is General Clark.

[ProfessorPlum]

16. huh?

.

[patrice]

9. Dean's fund raising does represent something different,

The average amounts given by the mostly middle-class givers are nowhere near tapping those people out. If the campaign succeeds in convincing us that it is viable there is easily more where the fir$t round came from. So the question is, in comparison to Bush givers, who is more likely to be tapped out earlier: fewer people giving the max. they can afford, or many more people giving what basically is the price of a night out, or a Saturday at a pro-football game.

[Ripley]

11. They're covering him because he can't be denied.

Since the war was "Mission Accomplished" everyone in the media wrote him off, saying things like he is unelectable because he was against the war. Well, if that were true, how is he raising money and gaining high poll numbers?

[duid12]

14. new

Dean is newsworthy because he is new and/or fresh. People are interested in him because he is a real contender and yet not well known...what can they say about tired old candidates like Graham, Kerry, Lieberman and Gephart? who all just figure if they stay around long enough they are entitled to a nomination...

[jfkennedy]

The news never prints news

The news never prints what is new (the news ) they print propaganda for the Republicans. Period.

[duid12]

23. thats funny

thats funny because most republicans believe the media is propoganda controlled by leftist democrats(don't beleive me?, checkout freerepublic)...I guess if neither republicans or democrats are happy with the coverage then maybe the media isn't doing such a horrible job afterall of trying to steer a course in the middle...as they should imo.

[ProfessorPlum]

25. I don't think there is any denying

that most times the media is the house organ for the Republican party. But they will occassionally turn on a Republican if it sells them a few more papers.

[jfkennedy]

22. The news never prints news

The news never prints what is new (the news ) they print propaganda for the Republicans. Period.

[quinnox]

15. It's summer and has been slow for news

They have to put something on their covers, so why not "flavor of the month" Howard Dean?

If one looks for conspiracies in everything, they will be found even where none exist.

[Ripley]

17. If Kerry gets on all the covers sometime later in August

can we assume he is the "other flavor of the month?"

;-)

[killbotfactory]

19. Jeeze, how many months can he be "flavor of the month"?

What is this the fourth or fifth time people have predicted the demise of Howard Dean? Does he get a prize if he goes 12 months straight?

[crissy71]

20. yeah well after Lewinsky, Florida, 911, Wellstone, Iraq,

California recall, Texas redistricting, Enron/CA Energy crisis (breath, did I leave anything out?), one has to wonder doesn't one

[DrFunkenstein]

26. No Conspiracy Besides The Need For Novelty

And Dean is definitely a novelty, if nothing else. While Dean has been struggling for exposure - a struggle that paid off handsomely - Kerry has quietly been putting together a top notch national-level campaign.

Unfortunately, the compressed primary schedule favors established names with strong grassroots organization. Getting 70,000 internet folk together is not a grassroots organization. Although it is larger the population of Vermont, it is a more a novelty than an organization. Yes, it is exciting, and conventional politics are terribly tedious, but a Presidential campaigns is not checkers. It is chess. And Kerry is the only chessmaster worthy of Rove.

Kerry is in for the marathon, and when Dean is catching his breath, Kerry will have just hit his stride.

Expect alot of magazine covers in Kerry's future, because he will be the one to take the crown off the chickenhawk's bobble-head.

[Jim Sagle]

27. The media may have decided that they can't stop him

from winning the primary, so they've decided to put the spotlight on him and start hammering him right away.

IMO.