The Overnights – 4 November 2009

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, having a really bad night.

Today’s Overnight is dedicated to yesterday’s special elections, or – more properly – to media coverage of one particular special election: the one in New York’s 23rd Congressional District. Threedonians are familiar with the story: a Democrat, another Democrat masquerading as a Republican – what Mark Steyn dubbed a “DIABLO”; Democrat In All But Label Only – and a conservative who adheres to positions that the Republican party used to universally espouse.

How did the mainstream media react to this race? Let’s start with Fox:

For many of us, this race, and the other races, are evidence that there is a great deal of dissatisfaction with the Obama administration’s agenda. Fox agrees, as you would expect, but gives the administration their say as well:

As Republicans have begun to crow about the positive implications for them any GOP wins might carry, the White House is arguing the elections mean very little — though President Obama or Vice President Biden actively campaigned for the Democrat in all three of those races.

“I know there’s a great cottage industry in this lovely town that looks at what happens today and sees what it portends for next year,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. “I don’t believe that local elections in Virginia and New Jersey portend a lot about legislative success or political success in the future. I just don’t.”

That’s paragraphs three and four. Now let’s move on to CNN:

“Question marks for GOP…” Really? I rather thought this was more of an exclamation point. To wit: don’t give us any more crappy “moderate” candidates. There is a word for “moderate” Republicans. We used to call them “Democrats”. The MSM loves to imagine that there is a massive fissure in the GOP. In reality, it’s a minor – though annoying – crack, one that the current occupant of the White House is doing a whole lot to heal. That’s the real message of 11/3/2009.

On to ABC:

Yeah, it’s all about the Democrats. God Knows that you wouldn’t want to use the words “Republican victory” or “GOP gains” in a headline. Do that, and the you’ll have the Ministry of Information on your ass in a trice.

For ABC, with regards to Republican gains, “…the biggest threat to keeping it in GOP hands has come from the right.” You may find this explanation in the dictionary. Look up the term “convoluted logic”.

Have you been waiting more MSNBC’s take? It’s positively precious.

According to MSNBC:  “They’re in a civil war over the definition of their party,” said Paul Blank, a Democratic consultant. “And the extremists have won.”

Actually Paul, your extremists won in 2008. Oh, and by the way, your last name is a particularly apropos expression of your party’s position on the scoreboard of “original ideas that help advance American ideals”.

Let us close with CBS coverage, which wins the Miss Congeniality booby-prize for not being absolutely horrible.

We’ve got the usual MSM attempt to paint Doug Hoffman as a whacky right-winger:

The contest for New York’s 23rd Congressional district is being cast, fairly or not, as a referendum on the future of the GOP. Among the questions being asked: Will moderate Republicans like Scozzafava have a place in the party? How much control does the party have over the so-called “tea party” activists who back Hoffman? And will a move toward dogmatic conservatism in relatively liberal states like New York result in Democrats picking up seats that have traditionally gone to Republicans?

Whatever. But, in the next paragraph, CBS does manage to suggest that the race for 23rd in New York might actually reflect something more than an “extremist” effort to hijack the party:

Perhaps it’s no surprise that both national Democrats and Republicans are thus making an extraordinary effort to win the race. This morning Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Watertown, New York to campaign for Owens; the Republican National Committee, meanwhile, released a radio ad backing Hoffman that includes the line “what we decide on Tuesday will echo from Albany to Washington.”

What is telling here? For the MSM, it’s all about the polls. If a candidate doesn’t track with the polls, then said candidate must be an extremist. But that’s not how it works. Americans, by and large, are smart enough to realize that there is a great deal they don’t really understand in an increasingly complex world. They may have an opinion, but they are not tied to that opinion.

That larger issue is that Americans are increasingly dissatisified with the way the nation is being run. They may not know why, exactly, but they can’t escape that feeling that things have gone horribly awry. They are, in other words, looking to be led. Republicans have the opportunity to provide that kind of leadeship, for real leaders don’t follow the polls – they drive the polls. In this off-year election we have had a handful of candidates who get that, even if the MSM is incapable of understanding the principle. Here’s hoping that 2010 brings more of the same.

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