When Up is Down, and Hope is Pessimism...Dean blog

[madfloridian]

When Up is Down, and Hope is Pessimism
Atrios senses a new meme emerging from the right-wing punditocracy, based on this morning's New York Times article on how the Bush campaign plans to distort what it is we're fighting for:

The first appearance of a talking head referring to Dean as "pessimistic" or discussing his "pessimism" was Laura Ingraham on the Friday Dec. 19 Hardball, followed by Mary Matalin on the Sunday Dec. 21 Meet the Press.
Look for it to be coming out of every Republican's mouth soon, and then it will increasingly creep into "objective" reporting. The process will go something like this. First, they'll quote Bush campaign sources describing Dean as "pessimistic." Next, they'll move onto Democratic campaign sources, often anonymous, describing Dean as "pessimistic." Next, they'll stop bothering getting the quote and just write things like, "Some have criticized Dean for his unappealing pessimism..." And, then, finally, process complete, campaign analysis pieces in print and the "objective journalists" on the roundtable shows, will just write/say things like "Dean's pessimistic rhetoric..." By the end no discussion or news story about Dean will see the light of day without the word "pessimism."


So a basic primer is due: there is nothing more optimistic than saying that the American people have the right and the responsibility of self-government. There is nothing more optimistic than running a campaign that is designed to bring people back into the political process. And there is nothing more optimistic than asserting that the American people, armed with the founding principles of our Republic, will prevail over the special interests that write our laws in the current administration.

And there's absolutely nothing pessimistic about believing that once the American people take control of their own government, we will be able to bring health care to everyone, jobs based on a new energy economy to those who are out of work, and effective environmental protection for our children and grandchildren.END SNIP

Posted by Mathew Gross at 07:50 PM
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Golly, glad I have not seen this "pessimism" deal here at DU. Sure glad of that. :evilgrin:

[Rose Siding]

1. Matthew cracks me up

snip>
For Karl Rove and George Bush to say that believing in people is pessimistic-- well, that's a bit like calling the gutting of pollution controls Clear Skies, isn't it?

[Cha]

2. Well we know mary matlin is a

freakin' liar. How james carville can be married to her is something I will never understand.

they just lie to keep from telling the truth because the truth would boot them out of the white house on their collective asses. And they're still gonna get The Boot. :kick:}(

[KoKo]

3. Ingraham and Matalin are old "hacks." Who listens to them anymore?

They are the old 20th Century attack hacks. I think so many of us have "moved on" that they are just left to arguing into the "box."

It's laughable that they think they are the "keepers of wisdom and pontification about politics anymore. :crazy:

[caledesi]

4. Matalin and Ingraham are SO last Century. nt

[madfloridian]

5. Found one thread on this already today.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=28605

Doesn't take long.

[WillyT]

7. Wow... You're Right That WAS Quick, LOL !!!

Thanks for the info!!!

:kick:

[NewYorkerfromMass]

6. Dean was surely a pessimist when it came to Iraq and IWR

for an optimist would have expected Saddam to comply with inspections and no war to have transpired.

[Cocoa]

8. did anyone see that focus group on C-span?

I think I remember the pollster, Peter Hart, pushing something very much like this at the meeting with the reporters afterwards.

He was surprisingly dishonest about it, he actually played a trick that I saw Frank Luntz do once. He literally changed what his panel had just said. He said that none of them mentioned Dean in one of his exercises, when in fact they did mention him, and they mentioned him in exactly the way he said they didn't.

[madfloridian]

9. I did notice that.

He played word games.