They will sow dissension
Oh my. Bill O’Reilly spent an entire show talking about Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally. Fox & Friends talked about it, too. And Megyn Kelly, and Bret Baier, and Greta Van Susteren! It’s all a conspiracy to play up that damned tea party!
No, wait. But Sean Hannity didn’t mention it. You can’t have a Fox News conspiracy if Sean Hannity isn’t part of it!
Okay, change of narrative. There’s a war brewing at Fox!
Right. This is something Ace at Ace of Spades HQ wrote about a couple of months ago: each story has at least two narratives. The one that hurts conservatives will be chosen. Suppose Hannity’s show, like the rest on Fox, had talked about Beck’s Restoring Honor event. The narrative then would have been about collusion among all of the Fox stars.
Dissension is also what the latest Vanity Fair Palin piece is about. In their case, though, it’s some real flailing about looking for an “appropriate” narrative. Palin has never hunted? Believing that requires a conspiracy of epic proportions committed by people who had no idea it would be necessary. But boy, wouldn’t that be a great rumor to get started among the second amendment tea partiers!
Fortunately, I don’t think second amendment tea partiers read Vanity Fair.
We also have to be careful of creating our own dissension. There were a lot of unnecessary threats and insults hurled towards Alaska in the latest primary, and I expect some of them increased the chances of a three-way race. I recommend following Palin’s gracious approach:
Congratulations, @JoeWMiller! Thank you for your service, Sen. Murkowski. On to November!
It is possible to be strong and graceful, and it’s worth striving for even in politics.
In response to The coming crisis: We know it. We just don’t know what it is yet.
- Amanda Coyne from the Liberal Alaska Dispatch Finds a Lie in the Vanity Fair Hit Piece: Ian Lazaran at Conservatives 4 Palin
- “If Vanity Fair cannot even convince a liberal like Coyne, the extremist magazine won’t be able to reach anyone but ultra-Democrat Party hacks.”
- In Sean Hannity’s world, there was no Glenn Beck Restoring Honor rally: Steve Krakauer
- “Bill O’Reilly spent his entire show Monday night talking about Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally. Fox & Friends talked about it. So did Megyn Kelly, and Bret Baier, and Greta Van Susteren. But Sean Hannity didn’t mention it. Huh. Isn’t that interesting.” (Hat tip to Erick Erickson at RedState)
- Now This Is Just Dumb: Erick Erickson at RedState
- From mediaite: “Bill O’Reilly spent his entire show Monday night talking about Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally. Fox & Friends talked about it. So did Megyn Kelly, and Bret Baier, and Greta Van Susteren. But Sean Hannity didn’t mention it. Huh. Isn’t that interesting.” From Erickson: “This is ludicrous and trying to start controversy where there isn’t any.”
media bias
- Rasmussen: Sestak Tops Specter, 47-42: Ace at Ace of Spades HQ
- “The media loves these story lines, because facially they appear neutral—‘money in politics is a danger’ has no on-its-face, explicit partisan import—but the timing of when to deploy a particular story line is highly partisan, and always made with the Democratic Party’s best interests in mind. Thus, when Bush refused the campaign spending limits, and spent only private money, it was nearly a constitutional crisis; when Obama did the same, it was a triumph of people-powered politics.”
- The “Neutral Story Line” and How the Media Uses It: Ace at Ace of Spades HQ
- “Heads the MFM wins, tails, the GOP loses… The rule is fake. It’s a post-hoc justification for their decisions, not a rule that actually guides their decisions. But it sounds like a neutral rule when they mention it in a single sentence. They just never explain why it suddenly stops operating when it comes to a Democrat.”