Shooting the Starting Pistol at Ron DeSantis
Tim
Graham | Dec 02, 2022
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do
not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
Presidential campaigns
always start too early, at least in the media. You might hear the starting
pistol and see it's being shot at Ron DeSantis.
For example, New York
Times opinion writer Frank Bruni wrote a piece describing DeSantis as an
"optical illusion," that "geyser of gibberish" Elon Musk
seems fond of him. "Magnates like Musk typically cling to the moment's
shiniest toys, and DeSantis, fresh off his re-election, is a curiously gleaming
action figure."
Bruni's spitting nails
at the idea that Musk could find him "sensible and centrist." He used
italics to ask "in what universe?" conservatives
wouldn't find him one bit appealing if he was "centrist" like
blue-state Gov. Larry Hogan. But liberal journalists have tried to paint pretty
much every Democrat nominee since Jimmy Carter as a "centrist." If
that's not silly enough, they try to portray their own media outlets as
sensibly centrist. Don Lemon thinks CNN's never been liberal.
Another ranting liberal
is Mark Leibovich at The Atlantic, whose idea of ruining DeSantis is to insist
he's not fun at parties, that he's a stiff, awkward guy. He found Republicans
to offer colorful quotes like, "My sense is that Trump would gut DeSantis
with a dull deer antler." He concluded, "Republicans who want to save
the party from Trump are investing great hope in a blank slate."
Somehow DeSantis is Jeb
Bush waiting to happen.
On MSNBC's "Morning
Joe" hootenanny -- which is never sensibly centrist -- Leibovich added
DeSantis holds press conferences and "loves attacking the media,
especially younger women reporters." He's apparently a sexist, which might
appeal to Republicans, who are trying "to find the better bully."
This requires rebuttals:
No. 1: Liberals like
Leibovich sees Republicans "attacking reporters" and never
acknowledge that reporters are attacking Republicans at press conferences. One
memorable attacker was Sharyn Alfonsi of CBS in 2021, working up a hit piece
for "60 Minutes." Alfonsi is 50 and hopefully wouldn't want Leibovich
to treat her like she's defenseless Princess Peach in a pink gown.
No. 2: Reporters have a
very sensitive definition of being "attacked." Alfonsi, for example,
was browbeating DeSantis with the conspiracy theory that he took $100,000 in
donations from people at the Publix supermarket chain and then hooked them up
as a primary site for COVID vaccinations. It's rude and sexist to call that a
"fake narrative"? Even then-New York Times media columnist Ben Smith
ruled CBS didn't prove their case: "Broadcast TV remains worse than anyone
else at just quickly admitting when they screwed up."
No. 3: Democrats aren't
typically "attacking reporters" because reporters usually toss
softballs, like then-New York Times man Jeff Zeleny asking Barack Obama what
"enchanted" him about being president. Ten years ago, Leibovich
penned a cotton-candy front-page piece headlined "Obama Seizes Chance to
Score as an Everyman." (Bruni did not ask "in what universe?")
Leibovich proclaimed,
"Obama's team has proven effective in exploiting each gaffe" Mitt
Romney made. On Twitter, he even kissed Obama strategist David Axelrod's ring
in response to one anti-Romney tweet: "You ate your Tweeties today, Axe.
Impressed."
It's a fair point for
Trump diehards to suggest that DeSantis is going to face an all-out
national-media assault. But that's true of any candidate who leads a Republican
primary poll. In 2011, the national media ripped into every Republican who
seemed like the front-runner, from Michele Bachmann to Rick Perry to Herman
Cain, and then Romney.
Republican presidential
contenders should never expect national reporters to be friendly to their
campaigns, and neither should Republican voters expect that national reporters
are interested in any other goal than keeping a Democrat in the White House.
Tim Graham is director
of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog
NewsBusters.org. To find out more about Tim Graham and read features by other
Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate
website at www.creators.com.
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