event, asking Whitman about judicial nominees would be like asking Bill Clinton for marital advice. Governor Whitman singlehandedly turned the New Jersey Supreme Court into the most ridiculous court in the nation, easily overtaking the once-infamous California Supreme Court and even beating back stiff competition from the Florida Supreme Court. 34 If Whitman had chosen judicial nominees by randomly pointing to names in a telephone book, New Jersey would have been better served. Obviously, the nation cried out for Whitman’s expertise in choosing judicial nominees.
Like other “moderate Republicans,” Whitman is at least smart enough to realize that she cannot rely on her genetic capacities to avoid being called stupid. Luckily for her, actual intelligence has nothing to do with being called smart by the media. Whitman’s avid and outspoken support for abortion assured her status as a Republican “idol”—idolized exclusively by the media that decide who will and will not be called a Republican “idol.”
This is precisely why abortion makes such an excellent litmus test for Republicans. Not because abortion is the most crucial moral issue facing the country today or because it is a winning issue electorally—both of which it is, incidentally. The reason it makes such a handy litmus test is that the media detests abortion opponents. Any politician who is pro-life has proved that he needs no camouflage, and can get by just fine without the media’s phony “respect,” thank you.
The media prattle on about money in politics, corruption, and influence-peddling on the basis of flimsy little “voter guides” distributed by the Christian Coalition. But whatever vast and insidious influence the Christian Coalition voter guides have, they sure couldn’t have kept Bob Packwood in office throughout two decades of egregious sexual harassment. Only the media can own a politician.
If God himself emerged and told Teddy Kennedy to oppose abortion, he couldn’t do it—at least not if he wanted to keep his job, which is dependent on the media forgetting about Chappaquiddick. Anyone with a skeleton in his closet has got to jump when the media says jump, or get out of politics.
Pimping for his masters, former Klanner and current Democratic Senator Bob Byrd voted against removing Clinton from office despite his conclusion that the president had committed “high crimes and misdemeanors.” (“No doubt about it in my mind,” Byrd told Cokie Roberts on ABC’s This Week.? 5
If the media’s puppets ever diverge from the party line or otherwise become dispensable, people will start to notice little things like Byrd’s former membership in the Klan, Jim Jeffords failing, on several tries, to put one single coherent sentence together, and Christie Todd Whitman not knowing what her own state supreme court does. They might even remember Chappaquiddick.
The media will tolerate any disreputable behavior in order to win. Principle is nothing to liberals. Winning is everything.
FOUR
creating the psychological climate
Man must be penetrated in order to shape such tendencies. He must be made to live in a certain psychological climate.
jacques ellul, Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes
G enerally, it is difficult to make sweeping statements about the political views of an entire industry—but it’s surprisingly easy in the case of the media.
In the 1992 presidential election, a mere 43 percent of Americans voted for Bill Clinton. That same year, 89 percent of Washington bureau chiefs and reporters voted for Clinton. Only 7 percent voted for George Bush. 1 (It should be noted that, despite their adoration, even Bill Clinton has referred to the media as “the knee-jerk liberal press.” 2 ) Indeed, the media elites covering national politics would be indistinguishable from the Democratic Party except the Democratic Party isn’t liberal enough. A higher percentage of the Washington press corps voted
Like other “moderate Republicans,” Whitman is at least smart enough to realize that she cannot rely on her genetic capacities to avoid being called stupid. Luckily for her, actual intelligence has nothing to do with being called smart by the media. Whitman’s avid and outspoken support for abortion assured her status as a Republican “idol”—idolized exclusively by the media that decide who will and will not be called a Republican “idol.”
This is precisely why abortion makes such an excellent litmus test for Republicans. Not because abortion is the most crucial moral issue facing the country today or because it is a winning issue electorally—both of which it is, incidentally. The reason it makes such a handy litmus test is that the media detests abortion opponents. Any politician who is pro-life has proved that he needs no camouflage, and can get by just fine without the media’s phony “respect,” thank you.
The media prattle on about money in politics, corruption, and influence-peddling on the basis of flimsy little “voter guides” distributed by the Christian Coalition. But whatever vast and insidious influence the Christian Coalition voter guides have, they sure couldn’t have kept Bob Packwood in office throughout two decades of egregious sexual harassment. Only the media can own a politician.
If God himself emerged and told Teddy Kennedy to oppose abortion, he couldn’t do it—at least not if he wanted to keep his job, which is dependent on the media forgetting about Chappaquiddick. Anyone with a skeleton in his closet has got to jump when the media says jump, or get out of politics.
Pimping for his masters, former Klanner and current Democratic Senator Bob Byrd voted against removing Clinton from office despite his conclusion that the president had committed “high crimes and misdemeanors.” (“No doubt about it in my mind,” Byrd told Cokie Roberts on ABC’s This Week.? 5
If the media’s puppets ever diverge from the party line or otherwise become dispensable, people will start to notice little things like Byrd’s former membership in the Klan, Jim Jeffords failing, on several tries, to put one single coherent sentence together, and Christie Todd Whitman not knowing what her own state supreme court does. They might even remember Chappaquiddick.
The media will tolerate any disreputable behavior in order to win. Principle is nothing to liberals. Winning is everything.
FOUR
creating the psychological climate
Man must be penetrated in order to shape such tendencies. He must be made to live in a certain psychological climate.
jacques ellul, Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes
G enerally, it is difficult to make sweeping statements about the political views of an entire industry—but it’s surprisingly easy in the case of the media.
In the 1992 presidential election, a mere 43 percent of Americans voted for Bill Clinton. That same year, 89 percent of Washington bureau chiefs and reporters voted for Clinton. Only 7 percent voted for George Bush. 1 (It should be noted that, despite their adoration, even Bill Clinton has referred to the media as “the knee-jerk liberal press.” 2 ) Indeed, the media elites covering national politics would be indistinguishable from the Democratic Party except the Democratic Party isn’t liberal enough. A higher percentage of the Washington press corps voted
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