Karl Rove’s Media Birds Chirp About Obama’s ‘Arrogance’

[babylonsister]

Karl Rove’s Media Birds Chirp About Obama’s ‘Arrogance’
by Glenn Greenwald

snip//

GOP operatives whisper insipid, petty, snide (though highly coordinated) gossip into the hungry ears of Beltway reporters about the effete, girly, arrogant liberal. Reporters then — uncritically and endlessly — repeat what they hear until it completely dominates and overwhelms our political discourse, and then — “fair or not” — becomes entrenched narrative.

This is what happens over and over and over. Media stars love to be used this way. The themes never change and neither does the process. Still, it’s amazing how fast it travels from Karl Rove’s lips and then out of the mouths of the vast bulk of “journalists” covering the presidential race for establishment media outlets. As Gloria Borger of CNN and U.S. News & World Report said: “when Rove speaks, the political class pays attention — usually with good reason.”

The fact that they all say the same thing at once (”up next: Is Obama arrogant?” — “Obama’s arrogance can hurt him” — “Obama is striking many as arrogant and presumptuous” — “Obama needs to be careful not to appear too arrogant”) doesn’t strike any of them as evidence that they’re mindless, manipulated spouters of conventional wisdom. They actually think it proves the opposite — that it’s evidence that they are political sophisticates plugged into the important election themes (”Obama is arrogant and presumptuous”).

The most inane part of it all is that even as they willingly serve as the GOP’s attack amplifiers, they simultaneously and openly fret that they’re being unfair to Republicans and too biased towards liberals — a message that they also get from the same GOP operatives who so transparently write their script. Thus, without any recognition whatsoever of how contradictory they are, the two predominant themes from our establishment journalists are now this: (1) Obama is an arrogant, presumptuous, effete liberal whose arrogance is deeply unattractive, and (2) we in the media are far too enamored of Obama and unwilling to criticize him because we’re biased members of the Liberal Media.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/31/10735/

[Demeter]

1. Rove Should Be in Jail--In Solitary--in a Non-English-Speaking Land

[LynnTheDem]

2. Doesn't Rove mean to say "uppity negro"?

Rightwingnuts; filthiest, stupidest, sickest MFers ever.

[cap]

3. yup

[underpants]

4. arrogance apparently tested well in focus groups as a replacement for 'uppity"

Yep

[MasonJar]

5. Why should not a presidential candidate appear presidential?