The American Spectator

Special Report

In the Tank for President Kerry

By Jeffrey Lord on 10.7.08 @ 12:08AM

It's the narrative, stupid.

The media coverage of any Republican candidate for president by the "mainstream media" of America is specifically designed to help the Democrat -- any Democrat -- defeat the Republican and win the White House. No news there.

But how is it done? Specifically, what kind of stories are run and what message are they really intended to convey? Who writes them? What's the narrative?

While a close look at any presidential campaign in recent years will do, let's pick the last one that featured President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry (or, as he is known in these parts, Jean-Francois Kerry who by the way served in Vietnam). Let's look at the nerve center of the liberal media, the New York Times. The Times has for decades been the liberal journalistic blacksmith shop where the templates of a presidential campaign have been forged. From its pages the template, like a well-crafted sword, is sent forth in duplicate form to the network news anchors and producers, to the other print outlets in the liberal media arsenal, to be used relentlessly in each and every story. It carves the narrative of what is really happening in the campaign. The narrative is composed of daily messages, like a movie director's storyboards that become the scenes in a movie.

So how did this work in 2004?

Let's begin at the beginning of the fall campaign. Kerry has already been nominated, Bush is about to receive his re-nomination in New York.

September 1, 2004:

Headline: DELEGATES MOCK KERRY'S WOUNDS, ANGERING VETERANS
Reporter: Jim Rutenberg
Message: Bush and the GOP hate military veterans. Veterans, thanks to Democrats, are being informed they have been targeted by the GOP for "insults." One veteran says he is "outraged."

Headline: IN RETREAT, BUSH SAYS U.S. WILL WIN WAR ON TERROR
Reporter: Elisabeth Bumiller
Message: Bush is an idiot. He screwed up in an interview with NBC and gave the impression the U.S. couldn't win the war on terror. Then he "raced back" to his earlier statements in a speech to veterans.

Headline: KERRY NEEDS TO SHARPEN HIS ATTACKS, DEMOCRATS SAY
Reporters: David M. Halbfinger and Jodi Wilgoren
Message: Aimed at Kerry, the message is simple: ya gotta beat Bush's brains out or you will lose. Here's how.

Headline: CHENEY FUNCTIONS AS ICON AS WELL AS LIGHTNING ROD
Reporter: Rick Lyman
Message: Cheney is "perhaps the most controversial running mate since Dan Quayle." Meaning, once he was respected, now he's gone over to the Dark Side. He's so scary that, like Quayle, Cheney is "clearly a liability." The guy is downright scary.

September 2, 2004

Headline: JOBLESS FIGURES COULD EMPHASIZE BUSH'S BIG WEAKNESS
Reporter: Richard Stevenson
Message: The economy is going to hell in a hand basket. The Republican Convention enthusiasm may be dampened. This capitalist stuff is nuts and voters are running from Bush because they know he's an incompetent.

Headline: KERRY TELLS VETERANS BUSH FAILS ON IRAQ AND TERROR
Reporter: David M. Halbfinger
Message: Bush stinks as a Commander in Chief and Kerry, a real war hero, knows what he's doing. Kerry is taking the offensive on the Iraq issue, showing he's stronger than Bush.

Headline: POLICE TACTICS MUTE PROTESTORS AND MESSAGES
Reporter: Michael Slackman and Diane Cardwell
Message: New York City has been turned into a police state by the thug Republicans to hide dissent about Bush from the media and the world.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, Mainstream Media, Sports, Abortion, Law, Supreme Court, Military, Iraq, NATO