In light of Martin Bashir’s somewhat… alarming foray into full-contact comparative religion (short version: Bashir attempted to consign Mitt Romney to hell, on-screen, because Bashir thinks that Romney is lying and lying is supposedly grounds for immediate damnation in the Mormon faith*), it’s probably time to revisit my old checklist on conservatives and the media. Romney campaign? This is more or less for your benefit, so please note:
Ten Media Truths for Conservative/Republican Legislators
- The Media hates you, and wants you to die in a fire.
- The Media will only reliably compliment you when you do things to help liberals and Democrats.
- The Media loves it when you attack other conservatives/Republicans.
- You will never, ever, ever be able to reliably buy off the Media by being a ‘good’ (i.e., self-hating) conservative/Republican.
- Every flaw that you have – real or perceived – will be magnified by the Media. You will get no slack at all.
- Every flaw that your opponent has – real or perceived – will be downplayed by the Media.
- If you get an endorsement from a major Media source, it’s probably because your opponent was caught in a horrific scandal. So don’t count on getting that endorsement the next time.
- The Media has no shame, no sense of guilt, and no institutional memory of its own faults, flaws, and prejudices. Do not appeal to its better nature: the Media could care less about your opinion of it.
- Do not whine about any of this: the truth is, this unrelenting hostility from the Media will (if properly handled) simply make you an unstoppable political machine.
- Most importantly: THE MEDIA DID NOT ELECT YOU. The voters did. Keep that in mind when you’re working out your legislative priorities.
Especially the first one. Oh, my, yes, especially the first one.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
*Man, MSNBC must be desperate for ratings.
And hence the problem with Mitt. He wants the media to like him.
I am not so sure he wants the media to LIKE him; I think he wants the media to pay attention to him. His campaign has certainly had some delicious comebacks to the latest claptrap being spewed by the LSM.And they are actually having to pay attention because they don’t control the non-LSM media and they do not want to have people think they have been blindsided when the issue arises again. The democrat party will not stop; they’ll just keep arranging to try to have Obama’s chestnuts pulled out the oncoming conflagration. Heh.
You know, I could be content if republicans could just remember # 10.
I would suggest combining #5 and #6 so as to keep a nice, symmetrical “top ten list”, and adding after the existing #9:
9. Little or none of this is a mystery to the voters. Even the lowest-information voters have a sense that something is wrong, and they will react badly toward you when you pander to the media.
You might also think about a ten points list relating to “collegiality”, especially useful for Republican Senators.
Shouldn’t this be “Ten Media Truths For Conservatives/Republicans [full stop]”?
It definitely should’ve been “Ten Things John McCain Never Understood”.