Another "How can Bush come back?" story (ugh!)

[bluestateguy]

I'm getting really tired of seeing these stories pop up in publications all over the country with the same common them: how can Bush come back? It's as if the media is trying desperately to prop back up their precious little Baby Bush. Stories are framed in the context of what Bush needs to do to regain political momentum, what Bush needs to do to re-connect with the American people, what Bush needs to do to once again be perceived as a strong leader. These stories, one of which I have linked below, tend to downplay what Bush has done wrong, instead spinning it as just an unfortunate series of good faith mistakes and bad luck. Nor is there much coverage of what Bush's critics are doing right. It reminds me of the way the East Coast-centric sportswriters cover the New York Yankees when the team is not playing so well. The sportswriters will then drone on and on about what the Yankees need to do to get it together again, and what the Yankees management is strategizing to do next, rather than what the Red Sox or Orioles are doing right.

An example of what I am talking about:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051029/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_what_next

[thebigidea]

1. the talking heads were doing the same thing.

could you imagine them agonizing for days about how Clinton could "move forward" after that Monica stuff?

[WI_DEM]

2. the press wants nothing more than Bush "coming back"

and it puzzles me because they have been the most anti-press administration I've seen--even more so than Nixon, but still too many in the press seem to fawn over the chimp. It's bewildering.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

3. You're lucky you didn't watch Tweety earlier this week...

...he asked if Bush could regain his "sunny nobility."

Swear to God.

The next night he said "I took some criticism for saying this, but can President Bush regain his nobility?"

:puke:

[Lexingtonian]

4. same here

though I kind of understand it. All these journalists really only know Republicans running Washington and the country with Democrats a weakling opposition, and they've spent a lot of years getting used to and cozy with Republicans. Plus, an awful lot of the Washington and domestic political beat reporters simply are white men over age fifty- as much as they are liberals personally, these are people they know and understand. Democrats are sort of an unknown quantity to them- lots of women, diffuse or seemingly inconsistent points of view, unlucky, shaky with the electorate for as long as they've been on the scene, full of old men turning frightened and conservative for the longest time.

The idea that this era in American politics might be over is a hard one. Tt's been thought a couple of times but never turned out to be the case. This present Republican decline is sort of slow and the leaders look as solid as they ever have, which the reporters intuit means there is a lot of recovery potential still there. They expect a massive swing to be dramatic, emotional, loud, and taking place over a few months at most.

Then there's the audience, which is wary Democrats not generally sure what to make of it all after so many disappointments, and Republicans are looking everywhere for a reprieve and solace and affirmation (whether or not it's real or illusory). Conservative-leaning people are the marginal readers and viewers of news that all the outlets want to keep, so the way to do the coverage is obvious: they won't much affect Democrats reading or viewing whatever they do (other than lying and blatant onesidedness) but they can get more out of Republicans and leaners by slanting coverage to be sympathetic to them.

[MaineYooper]

5. "...to re-connect with the American People." ?!?!?!?

No.

Sorry, that would more accurately be:

"...to regain the illusion of a connection with the people of America."

[bluestateguy]

6. Here's another one

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/politics/30leak.html?ei=5065&en=7796617c41bc53d3&ex=1131249600&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

Geez. The corporate media types are like a bunch of babysitters.

[opihimoimoi]

7. Who in their right minds want him making a comeback??? Everytime he shows

up, things get fucked....he is a walking cluster fuck...

Get him on the plane back to Crawford...

[Nothing Without Hope]

8. Here's an interesting variation from the LA Times - recommending that

Rove, Cheney and Rumsfeld be retired and Bush reconnect with the moderate wing of his party. As if.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2194761
thread title: LAT op/ed (10/30): “Saving the second term” - Good advice Bush won’t take

You'll note in the article that Bush's own terrible decisions and governance are not mentioned. No, it's because these other players made mistakes.