On Tuesday, the American public spoke with their votes. The general message was extremely clear; the majority of America is unhappy with the way things are and the direction that president Obama and the Democrats have been taking us. The dissatisfaction of the public could not have surprised anyone. For the longest time, polling data has shown that by 2 to 1 or sometimes even 3 to 1, voters think the country is on the wrong track. Rejection of the Democrats could have surprised some who were not paying attention (although one would need to be oblivious to an avalanche of signs to have missed it.) Tuesday, however, was undeniable; Democrats were wiped out in the senate, house, governors and state legislative races. Even in states like Maryland and Massachusetts that are normally Democrat strongholds, the Republicans won.
So with the deafening roar of the voters giving this message, did Washington and the media hear it? Amazingly, the answer is that big chunks of the political/media complex did NOT hear.
I turned on the TV this morning only to hear a report that the "Republican brand is highly damaged". Huh? The GOP just swept the country in the elections. I know that the exit polling question said that voters disapproved of Republicans' performance in general, but the voters then chose to hand control of everything on the ballot to the Republicans. Instead of discussing how or why that happened, the TV news was providing the same coverage that followed the re-election of president Obama. For what it is worth, the exit polls showed that voters had no higher regard for Democrats than for Republicans in general; they were both underwater by the same amount. Of course, there was no mention of this on TV; nobody said that the Democrat brand is highly damaged.
Then there was the news coverage on the radio of yesterday's press conferences by Obama and senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. To hear the CBS reporters, Obama magnanimously offered to work with the GOP and McConnell gave lip service to the idea but then threatened Obama not to act on his own. The message on the radio was clear: Obama was trying to compromise and McConnell was getting ready to block any progress. The problem, of course, is that I happened to have heard both press conferences. (Okay, I listened only to the first 50 minutes of Obama's presser.) The radio reporter was completely wrong in what he said about these press conferences.
My favorite example of media blindness, however, has to be the article on Yahoo News that explained that the big winner in Tuesday's elections was none other than Hillary Clinton. At first, I thought the article must be a parody of some sort, but no, it was serious. Clinton campaigned for roughly twenty high profile Democrat candidates in close races. Other than in New Hampshire, every one of those candidates lost. Does that make Hillary the "kiss of death" for Democrats? No, Obama still owns that title this year. Nevertheless, Hillary did not do much to help herself or her "brand" in these elections. (I love using media nonsense slang like "brand" in discussing the clueless media elites who live in the Washington/Manhattan/Beverly Hills bubble.)
Maybe it is going to take some time for the news of the Democrat rout to penetrate the bubble. Maybe it never will. Maybe these folks know full well what happened and are in denial or are trying to reframe the discussion to one more favorable to their party of choice. The reality is that it does not matter why this happens; it only matters that the American people recognize this stuff for the nonsense that it truly is.
So with the deafening roar of the voters giving this message, did Washington and the media hear it? Amazingly, the answer is that big chunks of the political/media complex did NOT hear.
I turned on the TV this morning only to hear a report that the "Republican brand is highly damaged". Huh? The GOP just swept the country in the elections. I know that the exit polling question said that voters disapproved of Republicans' performance in general, but the voters then chose to hand control of everything on the ballot to the Republicans. Instead of discussing how or why that happened, the TV news was providing the same coverage that followed the re-election of president Obama. For what it is worth, the exit polls showed that voters had no higher regard for Democrats than for Republicans in general; they were both underwater by the same amount. Of course, there was no mention of this on TV; nobody said that the Democrat brand is highly damaged.
Then there was the news coverage on the radio of yesterday's press conferences by Obama and senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. To hear the CBS reporters, Obama magnanimously offered to work with the GOP and McConnell gave lip service to the idea but then threatened Obama not to act on his own. The message on the radio was clear: Obama was trying to compromise and McConnell was getting ready to block any progress. The problem, of course, is that I happened to have heard both press conferences. (Okay, I listened only to the first 50 minutes of Obama's presser.) The radio reporter was completely wrong in what he said about these press conferences.
My favorite example of media blindness, however, has to be the article on Yahoo News that explained that the big winner in Tuesday's elections was none other than Hillary Clinton. At first, I thought the article must be a parody of some sort, but no, it was serious. Clinton campaigned for roughly twenty high profile Democrat candidates in close races. Other than in New Hampshire, every one of those candidates lost. Does that make Hillary the "kiss of death" for Democrats? No, Obama still owns that title this year. Nevertheless, Hillary did not do much to help herself or her "brand" in these elections. (I love using media nonsense slang like "brand" in discussing the clueless media elites who live in the Washington/Manhattan/Beverly Hills bubble.)
Maybe it is going to take some time for the news of the Democrat rout to penetrate the bubble. Maybe it never will. Maybe these folks know full well what happened and are in denial or are trying to reframe the discussion to one more favorable to their party of choice. The reality is that it does not matter why this happens; it only matters that the American people recognize this stuff for the nonsense that it truly is.
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