Talking Back to the Talking Points (8/4/04)
by Dean Hartwell
I couldn’t watch the Democratic Convention at home. I was in a hotel room throughout the four days preparing to take the California Bar Exam.
The hotel channels were limited. The only way I could watch the Convention was to watch CNN.
CNN covered some of the speeches but spent much of its time with its “analysts.” Some of the analysts had real media credentials, like Jeff Greenfield and Bob Woodward. Others, however, were regular political hacks like Ralph Reed (who had ties to the Bush campaign), former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole and leading Democratic politicians.
Every time CNN finished showing a speech, a moderator like Larry King or Wolf Blitzer would question the panel of journalists and hacks to get their feedback on the speech. The journalists would respond evenhandedly, praising aspects of the speeches and critiquing others.
Then the microphone would go to the hacks. The Democrats would offer kind words, but not effusively. Then the Republicans would respond. Dole repeatedly said that he did not agree with what the speakers said (which wasn’t the point) and Reed would go through his laundry list of complaints about John Kerry and the Democrats.
According to the Republican representatives, the Democrats did not uphold their promise to conduct a positive convention. They cited the speech given by former President Jimmy Carter, for example. It was a cheap shot. Former presidents don’t get “vetted” as other convention speakers do.
Then, moving along in their talking points, Reed and company complained that Kerry had no record in the United States Senate, or, alternatively, voted to raise taxes too many times. Actually, every Senator votes to raise taxes, as Senator John McCain has pointed out.
The Republicans went on to say that the Democrats had nominated the “first and fourth most liberal Senators in the United States Senate.” Perhaps the Democratic Senators edge toward the moderate wing of the party. Also consider the fact that Senator Kerry voted for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and to reform welfare.
Then there is the charge that Kerry “flip-flops” or contradicts himself. Republicans have made much of Kerry’s vote for funding for the Iraq war before voting against it and I certainly heard plenty of it. As Kerry explained in his acceptance speech, issues are not all simple.
Kerry voted for funding the war based on rescinding President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy. When his amendment failed, he voted against funding because he didn’t approve of the source for it.
Only later did I find out that other channels had handled the Democratic Convention differently. My wife told me she saw it on the Public Broadcasting System. They had Democrats and Republicans appear as analysts for the speeches, but each of them weighed in objectively in discussing the speeches that they had heard.
What a concept - a media that sets aside its own personal biases and reports on what happened. As a result, people actually learn to think for themselves. I can only hope that CNN will get its act together for the rest of the presidential campaign.