What The GOP Should Learn From Bill Clinton
Yes, I know--a bit out of character for me. But there's a coherent thought in here somewhere, so come along for the ride.
First, I have to say I do not understand the Clinton tirade at Chris Wallace. Start from the premise that Bill Clinton is-unquestionably-one of, if not the, most gifted politicians in modern America. Which means that he is a master manipulator of thoughts and emotions. Which, to keep going, means that it is very likely that he has very few [public] authentic emotions. And that is before we take into account Bill Clinton himself. In other words, it seems to me somewhat unlikely that he was genuinely surprised and angry at Chris Wallace.
Which leads me to wonder: what was the political calculus involved in his tirade? Certainly, he has made himself the story for the last few days, and, given what we know about Clinton, that may be enough to justify the tirade. But he has also made his attempts at getting bin Laden a big part of the story, and I think that does not serve him well at all. And it also brings to mind the overall Democratic philosophy with regards to fighting terrorism: try to get a warrant and an indictment, but don't take any serious action. Which does even more harm to his party with the mid-term elections coming up.
However, and back to my original point, notice WHO he made the enemy: Fox News. His tirade was directed at the anchor and at the news channel.
Which is what the GOP has to learn from Bill Clinton.
Take the other big story from this week, the National Intelligence Estimate. The original story, based on the leak, was that the War in Iraq was making the terrorists stronger. The real story is that the aggressive efforts of the Bush administration have severely damaged the terrorist networks worldwide.
And so, once again, you have a major media outlet--the New York Times--misrepresenting reality based on a leak from sources within the bureaucracy, becoming a thinly disguised shill for the Democratic Party. This, after the media has twice revealed programs essential to protecting the United States from terrorists.
In other words, the GOP must, in my opinion, appeal to its voters based on the unholy alliance between Democrats and the media. Attack the media--discredit it, and do everything in our power to point out the falsehoods, the misrepresentations, and the outright lies coming from the Democratic moutpieces in the media, and tear down the credibility of the media in covering the election.
It was said that in 2004, the media bias was probably worth 8-10 points FOR John Kerry; I would posit that it is even worth more in this off-year election.
The Republicans had better be ready to fight on all fronts, or they may as well concede and save their money for 2008. | |
