Top Dems Acknowledging They’re Being Outworked On TV, Vow To Fix
Okay, here’s some more for you on that big advantage that Congressional Republicans seem to have over Democrats when it comes to getting on the cable chat shows, which I wrote about below.
I’ve now learned that the Democratic leadership’s operatives are privately conceding that they are getting badly outworked by the GOP on the airwaves, and are vowing to take new measures to remedy the situation.
“Republicans are winning this thing right now because more of them are shouting louder, not because of what they are shouting,” one very senior leadership aide who is directly involved in booking Congressional guests on the chat shows conceded bluntly to me.
The numbers show that Dems are badly outgunned on the talk shows. This morning, Politico highlighted a Think Progress study showing that Republicans outnumbered Dems by substantial margins on the cable shows as the stim proposal was being debated.
After working the phones a bit, I’m now convinced that the Dem leadership sees this as a serious problem for them. “Moving forward, we need to be much more aggressive in deploying our folks,” the senior leadership aide said. “We need to saturate the airwaves like it is the week before an election.”
The aide said that the Dem leadership would push bookers to be more aggressive with network producers to book equal numbers of Dems and would also take aggressive steps to push more members of Congress to go on the air. “We’re gonna renew our push to get out there,” he said, adding that the topic was likely to be discussed at the Dem retreat starting today.
“There is also an onus on producers to remedy this issue,” the aide said. “But we are aware of the problem and are taking steps to fix it.”
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Finally. Good lord.
we’ll see what they do…
Greg, they need to not only get people out there – they need to give them some media training so that they’re effective. And screw the “equal” numbers – we’re in the majority – the guests should reflect that. (no, I’m not demanding, why do U ask?)
I’m like to see plain, concise, hard hitting language. Claire McCaskill does a pretty good job. More like that. NO LEGIS-SPEAK. kai, thx bai
Equal numbers? Even when they begin to get a clue, they’re still clueless. There was, what, a two-to-one (or more) Republican advantage during the entire Bush Administration? We’re in charge of the White House and both houses of Congress, they should be demanding a booking advantage at least equal to what the GOP got, and consider negotiating downward from there, not starting with “equal.”
Is there no one on the Democratic side who understands that successful negotiation doesn’t start with “ask for no more than what you think is a minimally fair end result”?
well, good points, all. I mean, I think it would be surprising and uncharacteristic if Dems actually did what it takes to get equal numbers
Greg, me too, but a girl can hope. Who do we contact to make the case?
You know what the real problem is? Our Democratic leaders only know carrots they don’t know how to use the stick. President Obama knows the stick though. He could go on FoxNews any time he wants to now. I am not saying they would treat him fairly but they wouldn’t ***** over him during the interview. Why???? Because he shut them out during the campaign and he WAS the campaign story. So many of our liberal/Democratic surrogates will allow the talking heads to beat them to pieces and yet still show right back up on the show the next week. At some point there needs to be some reprecussions for this like boycotting certain shows and or boycotting some networks.
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Many of yall might not remember but some years ago there were a whole slew of video games that used the NFL logo and rosters. Well that was good and bad because while it offered up more revenue it also opened the NFL up to having their brand ruined by certain companies. So they decided to just go with a few exclusive deals. At the time everybody thought they were crazy. But in the end what they did was protect their brand AND give the Madden franchise of video games a lot more legitimacy. Democrats can do the same thing if they decide to go on only certain networks or only certain shows. They get to improve their brand and also push the rogue talking heads to get their sh*t together if they ever want to have another Dem on their show.
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They could also have more press conferences. Thats the way the Republicans have super saturated the conversation. They call a press conference every day or so and sometimes more than one on the same day. So not only are there rethugs all over the talking head shows, but now you also have them getting to give their talking points unfettered with now questions and every network cuts from regular programming to show it.
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I think Plouffe should start directing media relations for the Democratic Party as a whole and then they could totally dominate the news cycle with youtubes from every Dem leader, text messages, emails etc.
Walk softly but carry a big stick. Dems need to show some spine and talk over the loud mouths and obstructionists on the air waves. Obama won the Dems won. For God’s sake let middle class America win too. Pass the bill before our State Governments go bankrupt. Wake up and smell the coffee.
plouffe as uber flack — intriguing idea…
Holy ****… It would help that if the Congressional democrats had better leadership than Reid or Pelosi. Following their examples is about as effective as Shaq making free throws.
Greg
I think this is an important (and interesting) direction you’re pursuing.
It seems odd to me that the Obama team didn’t have a media operations post/function with the responsibility of ensuring that supportive voices would match (at least) voices for the opposition being booked into the talk shows. That seems a simple, obvious and prime PR necessity in the present political world. We know that the media narratives will move towards consensus (the pretense of ‘reality’ is comforting to everyone, not least to Chris Matthews) and we know that these narratives are created and advanced towards that consensus through, primarily, repetition. From the thin air about, big clunking hunks of ‘truth’ get fabricated and gain inertia. Ed Kilgore has the moment pegged quite well, I think, when he wrote today: “but still, I’ve never quite seen so much of a mood-shift based on, well, a mood-shift.” http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/ (10:39 AM)
I asked this question before and I’m hoping someone might have personal or professional knowledge on the matter. I’d like to better understand the process networks use to fill up their daily pundit quota. From what you’ve written above, Greg, it looks like there are bookers working from the other side (from the parties) to get people in front of the cameras and microphones. I assume they liaise with a booker at the networks. I wondering how determinative the network bookers are in who ends up in front of the camera?
plouffe as uber flack — intriguing idea…
Posted by: Greg Sargent | February 5th, 2009 at 04:03 pm
I like it!
The other day over at the Swampland blogs Karen Tumulty posted a recap of how things went down when Zoe Baird had to with draw because of tax issues. Behind the scenes evidently Clinton never thought there would be a problem but then all of these people called in opposing her nomination. And that public sentiment was what torpedoed the nomination evidently. After that they did something referred to as switchboard polling in that article where they judge public sentiment by who calls in for and against.
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Now I won’t make a sweeping indictment but I do think that conservatives/Republicans do a better job of going old school and phoning in their support or opposition. liberals/progressives/democrats seem to more so want to send emails or sign online petitions and I don’t know if that has the same effect. I think one thing we can do better is mobilizing phone banks to call the offices of moderate Republicans and voice our concerns and wear out their switchboard. I also think that if we are going to send emails then we should do so many that it shuts down their senatorial websites. Thats how we can get more attention than just the usual online petitions and or blogging (although I must admit I am definitely addicted to blogging lol)
The business media (WSJ, CNBC, Fox Biz) are overwhelmingly Republican. Dems start all econ debates miles behind.
The feedback loop is: WSJ editorial pans Dem proposal; CNBC rehashes WSJ editorial as fact; Wall Street Republican flack machine goes into gear to reinforce the message. S&P average goes up or down based on trader reaction to this message machine, pushing the influence into the hinterlands via 401k and Schwab accounts.
Watch CNBC for a few hours. They don’t even need Republicans from Congress to make their case, since Kudlow and Kernen and the rest carry the water all day. Any disagreement with Reagan dogma is “socialism” regardless of relevance.
Gonna take a LOT to counter this reality.
’bout damn time. They muffed it on their first shot out of the gate. It would also help if they chose effective mouthpieces. McCaskill, Klobuchar, Webb, and Frank were reliable “talkers” during the election. Keep Harry Reid off the teevee machine. He sticks his foot in his mouth but, unlike my fave foot-eater Joe Biden, Reid lacks charm.
“… and Frank were reliable “talkers” during the election.”
Barney Frank – - are you kidding? The man who stood up just a few short months before all heck broke loose with this financial crisis and said Fannie and Freddie were just fine?! Reliable? Hardly. A vewy siwwy boy? Absowutewy!
Obama had an interview with O’Reilly during the campaign and he was given a fair shake. Democrats OWN the network news affiliates – how about you go on MSNBC or something? Oh, I forgot…no one watches MSNBC.
How about sending them on with Chris Matthews – isn’t he on CNN or something like that? Doesn’t he still get the tingles for Obama? At any rate, have you forgotten that this Democratic Congress had lower poll numbers than former President Bush? Who will watch them, even if you do plaster them all over the news?
Even if they squelch free speech by enacting the “(Un)Fairness Doctrine” people will simply not watch television or listen to talk radio (can you say “Air One” anyone?).
In addition to pressing to get ON the air, they need to learn how to shout over ReThuglicans. ReThugs learned long ago to shout, shout, shout. They’ve now added insult, insult, insult. If you haven’t seen that former “gentleman” of the Senate Dick Armey belittle Joan Walsh on Hardball, look it up.
They need to get their talking points daily and beat them like gongs. They have to learn to speak without listening. To repeat like parrots no matter what the questioner asks.
THIS is the only way to reach the American mind.
Mia, I guess you missed Frank on This Week Sunday. He rocked. Just because he’s gay doesn’t mean he’s a sissy.
Well, excuuuuuse me, but Armey’s name IS DlCK, short for Richard. It’s the name he uses and if your robot *’s out every DlCK, does it also * out every JOHN? How about BUSH?
Sheesh.
You *** out GAYE, too? Man what a stupid policy.
“They need to get their talking points daily and beat them like gongs. They have to learn to speak without listening. To repeat like parrots no matter what the questioner asks.
THIS is the only way to reach the American mind.”
Oh, like “Oh-BAH-Mah…Oh-BAH-Mah..Oh-BAH-Mah!”…like that? Hope! Change! Tingles up your legs! FREE Health Care for EVERYONE! Come get your stimulus CHECKS! Oh yeah! It’s all FREE! We’ll just take from the rich and give to the poor – like Robin Hood! Peggy the Mooch won’t have to worry about her mortgage or putting gas in her car! ACORN will give you all the free cigarettes and $20 bills you can hold! Woo Hoo! What can Oh-BAH-Mah do for you? Oh yeah. They bought it hook, line and stinker! What a bunch of maroons! Can you say 37% approval rating?
Hey, maybe your Dems could go on Saturday Night Live? Oh yeah…no one watches them, either – - unless they have Sarah Palin on.
I don’t care how many Dems go on TV, they do a terrible job of presenting their point of view. Contrary to what these fools think, it is what the Republicans are shouting as well as the number shouting that is tanking public support.
Republicans know how to stick to effective, albeit dishonest, talking points. For example they have been proclaiming for years that tax cuts raise revenues, conveniently not saying that taxes never raise anything close to what is lost to the cuts. As a result even though their tax-cutting strategies have only worsened our situation, the public is still convinced that tax cuts are always good and government spending is bad. That is why the bill Republicans have proposed contains nothing but tax cuts but there is no outcry.
Democrats have failed to get the message out that putting money into the hands of low income people is the most effective stimulus we have. Low income people will spend it all quickly out of necessity. Yet Republicans are getting away with saying those provisions are welfare, not stimulus measures. Mainstream media types like Mika Brzezinski have been repeating this garbage on TV on a daily basis with no push back from Dems. No wonder the public is buying it.
On ABC’s This Week Jim DeMint repeated the misleading spin that we have the highest corporate tax rate in the world so we desperately need more corporate tax cuts in the bill. No one contradicted him by pointing out that corporations have plenty of deductions for things our country wants to encourage – worker health care, reinvestment, R&D, etc. – making our tax rate very competitive with other countries. Viewers who heard this go unchallenged would naturally have assumed it to be true.
Democrats have been defeated by Republican propaganda ever since Reagan, yet they still think the substance of what is being said doesn’t matter. What losers!!
I’m gay and I find it offensive you that you blank out gay.
Let me see….who won the election? Even tho Obama won, top Democrats still feelin’ a little insecure with their convictions? Democrats do not have a Radio Talkshow problem…they have a Blago, Wrangel, Daschle, Richardson, Geitner, etc. etc. etc. problem
This is glaring incompetence on the Dem’s part. One might think they were new to the game. No wonder the Republicans are generally 3 steps ahead of them and keeping them on the defense so often.
I seems to me that Republicans enjoy politics, and Dems are either scared of it or consider it unseemly. How else to explain their ineptitude in the face of a gang of batshit-crazy morons?
Pelosi and Steny Hoyer and the rest of the House Dems caused this by trying to put everything they have been denied for the last eight years in the Bill. Granted they are losing the “talking heads” war but it is way more than that. They do not have a clue what it takes to be a PATRIOT….to put country first. And Reid continues the same in the Senate……GOD HELP US ALL!
“Mia, I guess you missed Frank on This Week Sunday. He rocked. Just because he’s *** doesn’t mean he’s a sissy.”
I guess you missed it, Cal Gal, but I didn’t call Bawney Fwank a sissy or make any mention of his being gay. He’s an idiot. He’s dishonest. He’s a liar. But I never called him a sissy or gay. I was making fun of his speech impediment. You know – like libs made fun of G.W.’s speech. So, you can go back to chanting “Oh-Bah-Ma” and saying your prayers to the ACLU, secure in the fact that no **** were harmed in this conversation.
Evidently the networks involved have forgotten who won the election, and maybe even the fact that if there are currently more Democrats in the country, and independents who voted Democratic in ‘08, then they are serving their sponsors very poorly by favoring Republicans. NOTHING gets a networks attention quicker than grumbling from those who buy ads if they feel that a significant demographic is being pushed aside in favor of squawky complainers. Call a few of these sponsors, and you’ll see some changes real quick…
I predict a strongly worded memo.
Greg
New polling from Gallup/USA Today suggests that the presser, increased public appearances and general bully pulpit moves have done the trick.
“Public support for an $800 billion economic stimulus package has increased to 59% in a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Tuesday night, up from 52% in Gallup polling a week ago, as well as in late January.”
“Last week, Gallup found 70% of Democrats in favor of Congress passing the economic stimulus package, but today that figure is 82%.”
http://www.gallup.com/poll/114577/Stimulus-Support-Edges-Higher.aspx