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Republicans Storming the Airwaves to Promote Message of Doom

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NPR CHECK

Are We Stimulated Yet?


There is a Santa Claus! NPR is in the gifting mode, handing out airtime to yackers from the Grand Old Party (Republicans that is) – and a reader of this blog, “Grumpy Demo” from Dallas, was so kind as to do a bit of analysis of NPR’s big tilt toward Republican talking heads in it’s economic coverage of late. Here’s what Grumpy sent me:

In Reporting On White House Economic Stimulus Package, NPR Interviews Six GOP Congressmen For Every Democrat.

Based on NPR’s own data, NPR demonstrated a preference for Republican members of Congress in its reporting on President Obama’s Economic Stimulus Package. A review of NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” broadcast records for the month ending February 3, 2008 indicates in the 50 stories on the stimulus, NPR interviewed and quoted 12 GOP Congresspersons, while only quoting 2 Democrats. Numerous polls show that a majority of Americas support the White House’s stimulus package.

When viewed in context – that NPR’s sole Washington news analyst is FOX News’ employee and O’Reilly Factor guest host, Juan Williams, combined with numerous interviews with Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, American Enterprise Institute, and National Review pundits, with no members of the progressive movement given equal time – NPR demonstrates a clear and unambiguous conservative bias in its reporting. Additionally, during this same period no White House spokesperson was interviewed or quoted by NPR.


Search Data listed below:
Month Ending February 3,2008
Total Stories: 50
Congressmen Interviewed, Quoted: 14
GOP Congressmen: 12
Democratic Congressmen: 2
White House Spokesmen: 0


Morning Edition
  • 01/07/09 Oakley D-WI
  • 01/19/09 Gingrich D-GAx
  • 01/22/09 Roehmer R-TN
  • 01/25/09 Cantor R-VA
  • 01/20/09 Pence R-I
All Things Considered
  • 01/06/09 Hoyer D-MD
  • 01/15/09 Cantor R-VA
  • 01/20/09 Pence R-IN
  • 01/26/09 Grassley R-IW
  • 01/27/09 Camp R-MI,Simpson R-ID01/29/09 Gerlach R-PA,Davis RNC,Camp R-MI
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Posted by Mytwords at 4:47 PM

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POLITICO

By: Michael Calderone
February 5, 2009 04:31 AM ESTRachel Maddow seemed pleasantly surprised when Republican Rep. Donald A. Manzullo turned up on her show last week to talk about his vote against the Democrats’ stimulus plan.

“I can’t tell you how many times a day Republicans say no to invitations to be on this show,” said the liberal MSNBC host. “So we’re very grateful to him for saying yes tonight.” Maddow may have to get used to the experience.

If she had been monitoring MSNBC last week, she would have noticed that more congressional Republicans than Democrats appeared on the network to discuss the stimulus — by a tally of 15-9.

In fact, more congressional Republicans than Democrats appeared on all of the major cable news networks — CNN, Fox News, Fox Business and CNBC — during three days last week surrounding the House vote on the stimulus plan. That’s according to a report by Think Progress, a project of the left-leaning Center for American Progress, which added up congressional TV hits related to the stimulus bill.

The study found that Fox News struck the most balance, with eight Republicans to six Democrats; on CNN, there were two Democrats to seven Republicans.

Now out of power, congressional Republicans are turning to the power of the press, it seems.

“I think this is one of the models that we’re going to use going forward,” said Michael Steel, press secretary for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). “Our votes generally don’t matter anymore, but our voices do. Our job is to win the argument, day in and day out.”

And the Republican message offensive didn’t go unnoticed on the other side of the aisle, either.

“What happened with cable last week is that Republican House members were the only show in town,” said a House Democratic leadership aide, who similarly acknowledged that there’s a daily “battle” getting the party’s message to viewers.

Of course, it’s not as if the networks are cutting out the Democrats. But with so much network attention being paid to the Obama administration — including roughly 40 minutes a day devoted to Robert Gibbs’ press briefing — it’s understandable that bookers would seek out House Republicans to provide a counterbalance, even if it means leaving House Democrats out in the process.

CNN political director Sam Feist said simply tallying up appearances of members of Congress only — and specifically when discussing the stimulus — doesn’t offer a complete picture of a network’s coverage, he said.

“As I have looked at what CNN has done the past couple weeks over the stimulus debate, I’ve found the balance is there,” Feist said, adding that it’s never going to be a “perfect balance, minute to minute.”

Doug Thornell, communications director for Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen, said that while it’s important to make the rounds nationally via cable news, Democratic House members have been reaching out on a local level, too.

“Republicans are hoping to keep the debate in a national partisan box, disseminating their talking points and message through cable or conservative talk radio,” Thornell said.

“Van Hollen has been urging recently elected Democrats to aggressively make the case for the recovery package to their constituents who are hurting as well as to local media,” he said. “I think at the end of the day, it’s easier for Republicans to explain their opposition to an anchor on Fox News than to a worker in their district who just lost their job.”

But it’s not only Fox News, with cable’s most conservative stable of commentators, that Republicans have visited lately. While the rank and file beats the drum over media bias, some elected Republican leaders have hit up the oft-maligned networks among conservatives: MSNBC and CNN.

“You get left out of the story more because you weren’t effectively responding than [because of] any bias,” said Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, who serves as chairman of the House Republican Conference.

Since becoming conference chairman, Pence — who has a background in television and radio — has beefed up the press shop with additional bookers and is in the process of adding a deputy press secretary to deal specifically with Hispanic media outlets.

Pence said that because the “Republican conference exists to promote Republican members,” he’s been closely watching the morning’s headlines and then having staff reach out to media outlets with those members who can speak authoritatively on specific subjects — subjects that include the stimulus, national security and trade. About 70 members are now in the rapid response groups, which Pence has dubbed “tiger teams.”

Ron Bonjean, a former top Republican spokesman for the House and Senate leadership, drew parallels to the early days of the Clinton administration, when “the Speaker’s Lobby was packed with reporters trying to get Republicans, to get the other side of story.”

Bonjean said that while in the minority, Republicans will have less responsibility in Congress, such as management meetings, thus freeing them up in greater numbers to speak with the press.

“I think that will be a standard template going forward,” Bonjean said, “as long as Obama keeps making news and dominating the media space.”

Politico Becomes Official Shit-Stirrer of Obama Administration

Beltway Groupthink, DC Press, Jonathan Martin, Nancy Pelosi, Politico, Rahm Emmanuel, Steny Hoyer

Pelosi lays down the law with Rahm
By: John Bresnahan

December 16, 2008

bama
In a recent conversation with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rahm Emanuel offered some advice on a Democratic House leadership race. Pelosi’s response, according to several Democratic sources: It is “an internal House Democratic Caucus matter, and we’ll handle it.”

Democratic insiders say there’s no animosity between Pelosi and Emanuel, who’s leaving his post as chairman of the House Democratic Caucus to become the next White House chief of staff.

But the speaker is laying down the law nonetheless.

In talks with Emanuel and others, sources say, Pelosi has “set parameters” for what she wants from Barack Obama and his White House staff — no surprises, and no backdoor efforts to go around her and other Democratic leaders by cutting deals with moderate New Democrats or conservative Blue Dogs.

Specifically, Pelosi has told Emanuel that she wants to know when representatives of the incoming administration have any contact with her rank-and-file Democrats — and why, sources say.

During the Bush years, the White House set policy, and Republicans on Capitol Hill were expected to follow it. Former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) occasionally lashed out at former White House chief of staff Andy Card or other senior administration aides when he felt they had gone too far. But in general, Republican lawmakers followed Bush’s lead on every major legislative battle, from Iraq to tax and spending bills to anti-terror policies. With the exception of immigration reform, the House fight over the $700 billion Wall Street bailout package and last week’s meltdown over a bailout for the Big Three automakers, Bush got what he wanted from Congress, especially within his own party.

Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are signaling that they won’t tolerate a repeat with a Democrat in the White House and Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate.

Pelosi “is not going to allow Obama to triangulate her,” said a Democratic source close to the leadership. “It’s not going to happen to her.”

Pelosi’s mantra, in a way, is “no surprises.” The speaker wants to be told when Reid is communicating with the Blue Dogs or other factions with her caucus, and she expects the same from Obama when he arrives in the Oval Office, said Democratic sources.

“We certainly are in frequent communication with the [Obama] transition team,” said Brendan Daly, Pelosi’s communications director. Daly noted that Pelosi and Emanuel have long-standing ties — she appointed him to head up the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee at the start of 2005 — and added that Emanuel often speaks directly with John Lawrence, Pelosi’s chief of staff.

Daly said Pelosi will work closely with Obama and Reid to craft an economic stimulus package early next year, as well as other economic recovery legislation.

“She and President-elect Obama have the same goals,” Daly added. “It’s a matter of working together to get things done.”

Pelosi herself said the same about Obama in an interview with Bloomberg’s Al Hunt last week, stating that “our priorities are the same about creating good-paying jobs.”

But it won’t always be that easy. Capitol Hill veterans predict that, no matter how much goodwill there is at the start of a new administration, there are always battles over policy and legislative priorities between the White House and Congress.

“There is tension. There is going to be tension,” said a Democratic veteran of Capitol Hill. “This is not Hastert. She wants to know what they are up to.”

The Emanuel-Pelosi relationship is a complex one that defies easy explanation. Emanuel was a rising star inside the Democratic Caucus — with many members convinced he would be speaker one day — until Obama tapped him for the West Wing job. In large part, Emanuel owed his rise to Pelosi, who put him in charge of the DCCC, where he helped lead the Democrats back to the House majority after 12 years out of power.

From the DCCC, Emanuel moved up to the chairmanship of the caucus. But both he and Pelosi had stocked the DCCC with their own loyalists after the 2006 election, and they both tried to influence campaign strategy as subtly as possible through these surrogates. At the same time, Emanuel was often jockeying with other members on major legislation, including immigration reform and the Wall Street bailout, but rarely without the speaker’s blessing.

Pelosi sometimes resisted Emanuel’s desire to always be on the attack, but she did respect his insight and his willingness to work hard to achieve legislative and political goals. She refused to back Emanuel when he made noises about running for majority whip, the post now held by Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.). But when Obama approached him about the chief of staff job, Emanuel consulted Pelosi first.

Yet the two will find themselves on different ends of Pennsylvania Avenue next year, and that will change the nature of their current relationship profoundly.

“Look, they have different goals now,” said an aide to one top Democrat. “Her job is to protect her members; his job is protect Obama. Those can’t always be the same thing.”

This source added: “I think they will do what they can to work together, but these are two strong-willed people who are used to getting their way. There’s bound to be some areas of disagreement. We’ll just have to see how they handle it.”