This was an absolutely great thread.
The Editorial Board (@johnastoehr) posted at 7:25 AM on Wed, Aug 14, 2024:
Kamala Harris is taking power back from the press corps. She learned from Biden’s fatal error. A THREAD.
1. The first thing you need to know about the vice president’s approach to the Washington press corps is look how well she’s doing as a result. Kamala Harris is now leading Donald Trump in some national polling averages as well as in some swing-state polls.
2. True, her lead is within the margin of error in most cases, but that’s an improvement from where the Democrats were before Joe Biden dropped out of the running and orchestrated instantaneous unification around his second-in-command.
3. I don’t think I’m overstating things. Her lead, the millions she’s bringing in, the thousands who are signing up to help, the big big mo’ – I think all of it comes directly from her campaign’s decision not to give the press corps too much access too fast.
4. I think that decision comes directly from the fact that Harris saw firsthand what the press corps did to Joe Biden’s campaign.
5. Some members of the press corps have noticed how well Harris is doing without them, and apparently, it doesn’t sit right. Here’s Chris Cillizza with a representative sampling.
6. The former Post writer said the vice president has been “almost entirely” ignoring the media since she launched her campaign, and that’s bad, he said.
7. Cillizza: It “bypasses the argument that the media is a critical part of our political system and any candidate who wants to be president — whether they are winning or losing — should be regularly subjected to scrutiny from the press.”
8. Even if I agreed that candidates who want to be president should be regularly subjected to media scrutiny, I don’t think this press corps, as it is currently organized, is able to.
9. There are exceptions, of course, but this press corps is generally not equipped to scrutinize candidates on matters of fact and substance. I say this because this press corps has conspicuously traded matters of fact and substance for vibes.
10. It didn’t matter what Joe Biden did – pull the country out of a pandemic, dodge a recession, tame inflation, grow jobs, revive every single one of the “left behind” counties that voted for Trump in 2016 because of “economic anxiety” – it *didn’t matter* what Joe Biden did.
11. The press corps decided nothing was more important than his age, and lo! 2024 became an election about vibes and vibes ended his candidacy.
12. Vibes are this press corps’ forte, not fact and substance. If fact and substance were its strength, there would have been a different reaction to The Disaster Debate during which Biden talked about policy and issues while Trump didn’t bother.
13. Trump was incoherent and false, but he came off as confident and strong, and he came off as that way, because the press corps’ forte isn’t fact and substance.
14. If fact and substance were important, there would also have been a different reaction to Biden’s NATO press conference last month. He did it after the Disaster Debate to show he still had what it takes. He talked for an hour about foreign affairs, international laws and war.
15. But this press corps didn’t hear any of that after Biden said “Vice President Trump” by mistake. There’s no grace for the old in Washington, nor is there interest in anything but vibes in the Washington press corps.
16. There was a time when liberals and Democrats would have nodded in agreement with Chris Cillizza on the merit of candidates being regularly subjected to scrutiny.
17. But after this press corps made a fetish of Biden’s age, I don’t see any more room for the benefit of the doubt – and there’s no going back.
18. This press corps made the election about vibes and it’s going to remain an election about vibes, and if those vibes now grind against the instincts of this press corps, tough shit.
You reap what you sow.
19. In the future, we might look back and see the most important difference between the Biden and Harris campaigns is their level of trust in the press corps.
20. The president believed voters would reward him for the substantial things he has done, and he trusted – indeed, he depended on – the press corps to inform voters, as it’s supposed to.
21. But where he saw fact and substance, the press corps saw only vibes. And in depending on the press corps to get his message across to voters, Biden effectively handed over power that was rightfully his.
22. He allowed the press corps to be the principal arbiters of his reality, rather than reserving that right for himself. You could say Biden was waiting for power to be given to him and he suffered gravely for it.
23. By contrast, the Harris campaign is not letting the press corps wedge itself between her and voters. She is not allowing the news media to mediate her message. She’s preventing the press corps from speaking for her and she’s preventing it from exercising a veto on her speech.
24. In that, she is *taking power* – defining her campaign as well as Trump’s. She is turning the narrative about Biden’s age (81) back against Trump’s (78), such that whatever he says in self-defense is seen as proof of the allegations against him.
25. This decision leaves the press corps on the outside looking in. She’s sustaining a conversation with voters directly, on her own terms, and she’s doing well as a direct consequence of that decision.
26. But being on the outside looking in feels bad to people who see themselves as the adjudicators of American politics. They have incentive to turn attention back to where they think it belongs.
27. That’s why some are busy manufacturing a phony moral standard by which to scam Harris into playing by their rules. That phony moral standard goes something like this, courtesy today of Chris Cillizza:
28. He’s being coy but, in essence, he’s saying that Harris is violating some kind of taboo, or worse, that she’s hiding something of great importance from voters. This, of course, is favorable to her opponents, but let’s be clear: she’s violating *nothing*.
29. There is no lawbook declaring that candidates shall talk to reporters. There is a playbook, if that’s what you mean, but not a lawbook. The vice president could go the whole time without talking to one reporter and she would not have done anything morally wrong.
30. I will repeat myself till I burst. This is a democracy. Harris is obliged to talk to Americans. That’s the end of her obligation. She’s not obliged to talk to the press corps, as if it were a constituency. If she stopped talking to voters, that would be disqualifying.
31. This is not to say she shouldn’t, but that’s a different question, isn’t it? If Harris decides to talk to the press corps about matters of fact and substance relevant to her, it will be her decision made out of concern for tactics and strategy for her campaign.
32. Reporters like Cillizza have a bad habit of presenting themselves to voters as if they operated in their interest and we know nothing could be further from the truth. We should not only stop tolerating this bad habit. We should be hostile towards it.
33. The most powerful thing Harris has done – a game changing decision, if you want to call it that – was to learn from Biden’s fatal error.
34. He tried to meet the press corps’ phony moral standard, only to have it move around, beyond his reach, thus surrendering his power. In the end, his dependence on the press corps made it so he had to ask for permission to campaign.
Harris isn’t asking.
/end
(https://x.com/johnastoehr/status/1823701999956722074?t=Tcx-GHKEY1vfYlB_zz_iPg&s=03)
That was an entire sermon, and ICAM.
DFW Sports 4Life (@Kennymack1971) posted at 11:34 AM on Tue, Aug 27, 2024:
This is the type of newsman I grew up watching. He told you the news and never made it about him. When he did give commentary it carried weight (ask LBJ). You trusted him because you knew that he put in the work. Today’s legacy media could never. https://t.co/me1aaMgI8V
(https://x.com/Kennymack1971/status/1828471125589848536?t=lRGrz0NPifUProqrRJu5OA&s=03)
Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) posted at 0:04 PM on Tue, Aug 27, 2024:
Harris is running as the 1st post-media president. It’s the media’s own fault!
Instead of meeting a threat to democracy, careerist clickbaiters have both-sidesed, fact-checked trivia, and asked pointless questions
My column on 2024’s massive media fail🎁https://t.co/eoJRnw7Jwg
(https://x.com/Will_Bunch/status/1828478723517034941?s=02)
Hey Jo 🤍 (@joe_jo4) posted at 0:27 PM on Mon, Aug 26, 2024:
Ken Paxton literally confiscated phones and computers from Latino Democrats based upon a debunked conspiracy that Maria Bartiromo made stating she heard from a friend, who heard from a friend that his wife said there was a massive line of immigrants obtaining driver’s licenses at a DPS office in Weatherford.
THEY ARE TERRIFIED OF THE LATINO VOTE!
texastribune.org/2024/08/26/tex…
(https://x.com/joe_jo4/status/1828122036847174080?t=O7s0EGqIoXs53rBHHXf05w&s=03)
Kylie 🌸 (@diaryofkylie_) posted at 10:49 AM on Mon, Aug 26, 2024:
When I told my family I was getting divorced, my grandmother who has been a stay at home mother and wife her entire life, told me “you go to school, get yourself a good job, and build yourself a life that no man can take from you.” And I’ll never forget it.
(https://x.com/diaryofkylie_/status/1828097454882922862?t=j9rM9PW8TbQS4DA_tHLb1w&s=03)
Take Back the House and Save the Senate (@Needle_of_Arya) posted at 11:29 AM on Tue, Aug 27, 2024:
the non-bigots who’ve chosen MAGA as their little best friends have made their choice on another level; they’re the types who pose all those silly rhetorical questions here but who have zero communication or life experience with any of non-white Twitter for very obvious reasons
(https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/1828469989105357062?t=_rotICyzpJ2RAxAAe5ZKGA&s=03)
Take Back the House and Save the Senate (@Needle_of_Arya) posted at 8:12 PM on Mon, Aug 26, 2024:
the far left weaponizes Trump against all the various beleaguered minorities that they already hate, and that can never be forgiven
(https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/1828239047556227279?t=ghFZZgbB3ASBKX_9ugKGdA&s=03)
CJ G (@cjgproduxions) posted at 10:52 AM on Tue, Aug 27, 2024:
At this point the Tariq Nasheedian #FBA organization members fall into two categories for the most part.
1. They are voting for Trump. However, they claim to be neutral. They claim to want detailed policy, but when shared will move goal posts, while not requiring it from the guy they are voting for. “It’s not Black specific” “How will she do it” “I need a 20 page list” they I won’t read
2. The Contrarion – They are not voting, but just want to make it look like they are different. They will go against the grain no matter what. They like to create chaos and tend to be crabs in a barrel.
https://t.co/OF3J7lWzYz
(https://x.com/cjgproduxions/status/1828460498578481653?t=qGrJzCqq2m80LChubVVDTw&s=03)
Hey Jo 🤍 (@joe_jo4) posted at 2:45 PM on Mon, Aug 26, 2024:
Greg Abbott’s wall is a money laundering scheme!
Texas tax payers leased 5 miles of land for $1.5 million for a 30-ft steel fence through Stuart Stedman’s 40,000-acre ranch. Stedman, a major Abbott donor, has given $1.1M to his campaigns since 2015. In 2021, Abbott appointed him to the UT Board of Regents.
Get it: Texas taxpayers give Stedman $1.5 million, Stedman gives Greg Abbott $1.1 million. #MONEYLAUNDERING
texasobserver.org/texas-strikes-…
(https://x.com/joe_jo4/status/1828156763071533309?t=OFNBdZewHBnxR4fOEimE6Q&s=03)
Anthony Coley (@AnthonyColey) posted at 1:17 PM on Mon, Aug 26, 2024:
What do I love most about the Harris operation? They know OFFENSE.
Forcing Trump’s team to defend silencing their candidate during the debate, someone who lacks impulse control, is brilliant.
+ He needs the debate > her.
Smart tactical play to drive the media narrative.
(https://x.com/AnthonyColey/status/1828134638658953650?t=gY1_fp1GCqx8jukc_QxuKw&s=03)
Young Trumper goes to Home Depot, expecting to find like minded people.
He was surprised 🤣🤣🤣
https://x.com/PopularLiberal/status/1828163676328566886?t=7XRhG5gsP8lUmVnaikF-AA&s=19
Tiff4Mahogany_44 🇺🇸 NATO MEMBER (@tiff4mahogany) posted at 8:37 PM on Mon, Aug 26, 2024:
Did y’all read CNN’s response to being caught lying to their viewers?
CNN’s response was to shrug & say we’re moving on.
CNN also admitted that they place decided voters on their undecided panels.
Do what you want, but CNN would have to pay me to watch.
(https://x.com/tiff4mahogany/status/1828245410533499360?t=EVB4OtRPWE-gSoX-KLHuBQ&s=03)
👑 Mr. Weeks 👑 (@WonderKing82) posted at 7:21 PM on Mon, Aug 26, 2024:
It’s political brilliance how Vice President Kamala Harris is operating her own campaign. It’s definitely a modernized campaign. She’s not allowing the media, the most powerful entity in America, to frame her. She’s going to bring her fight directly to the people, no chaser.
(https://x.com/WonderKing82/status/1828226367298904107?t=zl4j6e7nfpxpAu2E6gLDMQ&s=03)
Alex Burness
@alex_burness
I cover felony disenfranchisement around the U.S., and have rarely seen something so shocking as what’s happening now in Nebraska: 2 state officials overruling lawmakers to rescind the voting rights of tens of thousands of people, weeks before an election.
https://x.com/alex_burness/status/1828136083802202567
The Nebraska Voting Rights Restoration Coalition was ready for July 19. A new state law, Legislative Bill 20, would take effect that day, instantly granting voting rights to some 7,000 people with past felony convictions. Because the law requires state officials to do very little to notify people of their newfound eligibility, let alone to automatically register them, the work of contacting and assisting those affected would largely fall to community groups.
And so the coalition reserved ad space on print, digital, and radio platforms. It organized registration drives in Omaha and Lincoln, each to be held in the first days of the law’s enactment. Those events were to kick off a statewide campaign that would touch many more towns and cities, and go through late October, when Nebraska cuts off new voter registration ahead of the general election.
But the ads never ran. No one was registered at the events in Lincoln and Omaha. More than a month after its planned launch, the campaign has yet to begin.
That’s because two Republican elected officials in Nebraska—Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Secretary of State Bob Evnen—halted implementation of the new law, shutting down new registrations for people with past felonies and throwing into question the voting rights of tens of thousands of other Nebraskans who, until last month, were legally, unambiguously eligible to vote.
Nebraska voting rights advocates maintain hope that the actions of Hilgers and Evnen will be reversed soon, but they also worry that profound, lasting damage will have already been done: this registration shut-down has prompted so much confusion and fear, they say, that it could cause many people to disengage entirely with the democratic process.
https://boltsmag.org/nebraska-voting-rights-restoration/
Love it. Press pundits keep pretending that they are reporting the news when what they are doing is trying to CREATE news that will gain them and their owners more impressions, clicks and advertising revenue, inflate their egos and their speaking fees. The Pundit Press needs to go back and retake Journalism 101-102 grin.
Good Morning, Everyone 😊😊😊