Supposedly "liberal" talking points aim to confuse public over DOJ/AP phone scandal

[limpyhobbler]

Sorry, Media Matters, no one actually wants your talking points

Yesterday, Media Matters, the liberal media watchdog group, sent out to a fairly massive email list a talking points memo defending the Obama Justice Department’s obtaining of Associated Press phone logs. The talking points were distributed to 3,000 “progressive talkers and influentials,” according to Media Matters head David Brock. (But not me, for the record. I am not an influential.)

Like all talking points, these talking points were dumb and full of weird weaselly language and made worse by the fact that each claim was designed to be repeated by people on TV who presumably don’t believe what they say or at least don’t really care that much. “For those interested in pushing back against partisan attacks while the rest of us grapple with the larger questions, here is language to guide you,” the memo said. The rest of us will be back here, grappling, while you engage in your semi-scripted verbal combat, with some guy who has different talking points.

So the memo instructs the professional progressive “influential” to raise some “key questions,” like: “Is this story about a government source blowing the whistle on government misbehavior, or about a source gratuitously exposing ongoing counter-terrorism operations?” And: “How should the Justice Department strike the balance between respecting our free press and investigating damaging leaks that jeopardize counter-terrorism operations?” (These seem more like essay prompts than “issues,” actually?) And obviously “raising” these “key issues,” even in this “just asking questions!” manner, basically amounts, as Jason Linkins writes, to mounting a defense of the Justice Department that is neither necessary nor justifiable...

That’s why this memo was a failure before it was even drafted: I don’t think most liberals particularly want to defend the Justice Department in this case. The whole thing grosses people out. There is some “it’s not as bad as everyone is making it out to be” talk but not much going-to-the-mat “the administration is totally right and the AP is totally wrong and un-American” going on, from media liberals in the papers, the major blogs and even cable news. The best Message Matters could do is accuse conservatives of hypocrisy on the issue, which is a fair charge but note quite a compelling defense. Liberals will occasionally (or frequently, depending on the liberal) defend things Obama does that they would’ve protested coming from Bush. But they’re much more likely to ignore inconvenient stuff than defend it, as I’ve previously argued. (And make no mistake, vociferous, splenetic defense of literally everything Bush did was very much the operative mode of the conservative movement during those years, even if since he’s left office they now all pretend to have been disgusted by his profligacy.)
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more: http://www.salon.com/2013/05/16/sorry_media_matters_no_one_actually_wants_your_talking_points/

[GeorgeGist]

1. Fail!