April 19, 2004
FOCUS GROUP EXTREMELY FOCUSED
John Leo has some questions for the President’s questioners:
When two reporters ask the president three times if he feels responsible for 9/11, do they realize they are enraging people from coast to coast? Ron Brownstein reports in the Los Angeles Times that an unnamed Democratic lobby gathered a focus group and showed them a campaign ad accusing Bush of negligence for failing to stop the 9/11 attacks. Brownstein wrote that the focus group exploded with "volcanic" rage against the ad. He quoted a Democratic operative as saying, "They were so angry I thought they were going to turn the tables over." Why do you think a notion that enrages normal Americans is considered worthy of throwing in the president's face at a press conference? At least the reporters didn't ask him if he and Osama hatched the 9/11 attack together. Wouldn't you say they could be a bit out of touch?
The Republicans should buy that ad and broadcast it.
Posted by Tim Blair at April 19, 2004 12:07 AMReal audio of NBC's David Gregory on what his job was as a White House reporter at the news conference, namely to make a scene http://rhhardin.home.mindspring.com/imuscut.dgregory.ram
What they are actually doing, though, to cut through the fog, is playing to their target audience, which consists of soap opera fans. Everything has to tie into an eternal drama (``powerful man goes bad, how like my own life!''). Other audience segments aren't reliable enough to target. Reporters that can do that survive.
Posted by: Ron Hardin at April 19, 2004 at 01:26 AMThe problem is they don't understand a simple fact. Osama bin Laden is responsible for 9-11. The American public understand this fact. The BoBo's of te Democratic Party don't. So they will keep trying bang their head into the wall, because they see us as stupid.
Posted by: Alien Grey for Haliburton at April 19, 2004 at 02:40 AMPetty, puerile, pompous, partisan. That's how the newsboys looked at that so-called press conference. Who cares how Bush did? It was more interesting to witness the journos marginalizing and prostituting themselves so openly at a time when most Americans see them as political hacks for the Democrats, anyway.
Re 9-11, Bush should have apologized, though. He owed it to America to beg forgiveness for the policy and security failings of the previous administration that had eight years to get it right. They didn't, and now we're at war.
Surely the WH press corps can 'connect those dots'...
Wouldn't you say they could be a bit out of touch?
I would say that each and every one of them has their head up their rectum.
Posted by: JeffS at April 19, 2004 at 07:39 AMMost Americans are neither Democrats nor Republicans. An extreme political position alienates the country.
Posted by: Fred Boness at April 19, 2004 at 08:42 AMWhat extreme political position would that be, exactly?
Posted by: Stephanie at April 19, 2004 at 06:45 PM