Friday, October 05, 2018

In other news....


Sen. Grassley is right, the media is biased.  Because when Democrats are motivated to vote, it's reported as "Yeah, sure, I'll believe it when I see it."  But then Republicans are, in one poll, reported as motivated to vote, the narrative is:  Well, that's it for the Democrats.  Even though the GOP is still, numerically, the minority party in America.  And this is all because young people/old people white people/brown people urban men/suburban women, something/anything.  And especially because Trump won when nobody thought he would (but lost the popular vote, which we are all supposed to ignore now) and the GOP controls Congress (by one vote in the Senate, and nobody thinks they'll hold the house in 2019, but still, motivated GOP voters mean...something).

Apparently motivated GOP voters will turn out, vote for the top of the ticket (where applicable), meaning the U.S. Senate candidates, and then stop voting because the House is a lost cause and local races where Democrats are likely to win are irrelevant and did we mention GOP voters are motivated so Democrats are doomed?

Because the media is biased?  No, despite my opening statement; no.  It's because they love the horse-race.  It's because, like the mythical priests of old, they like to read the chicken entrails and imagine they are seeing the future.  It's because they love the story, and they never want the story to end, or to matter without them.  So they decide GOP motivation trumps (sorry!) Democratic motivation, or at least puts the future in doubt and means the outcome could go either way!

And that's all that matters; that in the end, their continuous reporting on what happened next, is what matters most.  As someone mentioned on Trump's twitter feed, 24 hours ago the news dropped about Trump's tax cheating; who is talking about that now?  It's the eternal now that matters, and the pundits and reporters always need the news of now to keep the attention of the audience they crave.  If the story isn't always focussed on the churn, on how what they just reported changes everything and makes the future certain only in their claims of certainty (what was up is now down, what was down is now up, and we declared it first!), then they have lost their purpose and their aim.

Nobody is talking about Mueller, either, but he isn't going anywhere.  Nor, apparently, is Rod Rosenstein, a story concocted by the White House and fed to the press for reasons now forgotten.  The Southern District of New York, as well as New York State, are said to be interested in the tax games of Donald Trump and family; where that leads and how that motivates the GOP is apparently not a question anyone wants to answer just now.

Maybe it will be, when the press needs to draw attention to its importance again.

Vaguely related addendum:

Nobody's noticed yet, but all that talk of GOP "enthusiasm" just died in a spasm of joy at the announcement Kavanaugh has the votes.  People aren't going to turn out to vote for GOP candidates to congratulate them on this appointment.  By the end of the month (when early voting starts in most places), Brett Kavanaugh will barely spark recognition among those bothering to vote early and often.  Just ask Joe Manchin:  nobody's going to vote for him who wasn't before, but fewer people will (he hopes) vote against him.

The calculus is always in the negative.  Victory has a way of taking the air out of outrage and indignation.  It inspires the lackadaisical attitude as the vandals gather on the border, perhaps, but it doesn't urge voters on to greater heights of glory.  Trump got what he wanted, they're happy something happened that means they won; it's over now.

Democrats have a reason to vote 'em out.  The GOP voters won't be as inspired to vote 'em back in.

What happens is still anybody's guess; but don't expect the media to say that.
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