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Showing Original Post only (View all)How The Media Got EVERYTHING Wrong About Cantors Primary Defeat [View all]
http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=16586How The Media Got EVERYTHING Wrong About Cantors Primary Defeat
Posted by Mark NC on June 14, 2014 at 1:51 pm
Last week a tsunami of shock washed over the Washington press corps as the second highest Republican in congress was swept overboard in a primary race against an unknown Tea Party opponent. Eric Cantors embarrassing loss has sparked debate as to how such a powerful GOP leader could have been caught looking. Unfortunately, the media contribution to the debate is rife with speculation and error.
First off all, the characterization of Cantors opponent, Dave Brat, as an outsider who sprung from the grassroots to slay Goliath is a reflection of the shallowness of the research conducted by the mainstream media. Thom Hartmann went deeper and discovered that Brat was on the radar of the billionaire Koch brothers long before he launched his allegedly underdog campaign. Koch-affiliated financiers endowed Randolph-Macon College with half a million dollars to seat the Ayn Rand disciple as a trickle-down economics professor. Then, when the campaign commenced, radio talk show hosts like Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin took the baton and fervently promoted Brats candidacy. Ingraham and Levin are just a couple of the radio talkers who are sponsored by Koch front groups like Americans for Prosperity.
This brings us to the second point. The media repeatedly cast a spotlight on the campaign spending differential between Cantor and Brat. Cantor raised more than $5,000,000 compared to Brats $200,000. Many reporters latched onto the amusing anecdote that Cantor spent more on steak dinners than Brat spent in total. However, what they failed to take into consideration was the value of the airtime contributed by the likes of Ingraham, Levin, Beck, Limbaugh, Fox News, et al. It could cost a couple of hundred dollars for a thirty second spot on a high performing radio program. Extrapolate that to twenty or thirty minutes of direct advocacy by the the programs host every day for a month or two and you could easily have exceeded Cantors budget for broadcast advertising.
snip//
Fourth: Tea Party supporters were quick to jump on Brats win as evidence of a Tea Party resurgence. In just about every other race this cycle, the Tea Party challenger lost to an establishment incumbent. With Brats resounding victory, they claim to have regained their mojo. But the only way they can make that argument is if they forget that they lost just about every other race this cycle.
snip//
So Dave Brat won a peculiar contest in Virginia where he had hidden support from billionaires and an opponent who was widely disliked. Then he disappears and refuses to speak to the voters he hopes will be his constituents. Its been three days and he hasnt held a post election press conference. And yet the press continues to misrepresent the realities that produced the results of this election. Its a state of affairs that proves that Cantor wasnt the only loser last week. The voters and others who rely on the media to provide useful information and analysis also lost. But they should be used to that by now.
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How The Media Got EVERYTHING Wrong About Cantors Primary Defeat [View all]
babylonsister
Jun 2014
OP
THe "media" is our Freaking Enemy. They fucking hate us.. and the feeling is mutual with me.
Cha
Jun 2014
#12
No where near my home as well, Blanche, since the day after election day, Nov 2002.
Cha
Jun 2014
#18
I consider the media jackals to be Koch employees, not incompetent or making mistakes.
freshwest
Jun 2014
#20