Same Old Song and Dance

E. J. Dionne has a good editorial dealing with a topic that I’ve been thinking about for the past few days: the Republican habit of playing the refs. As Dionne discusses, you can’t say it hasn’t been a successful strategy for them. With the pick of Palin as McCain’s running mate, it’s clear that there were two primary considerations: one, evangelicals love her. They’re all over the moon with the pick, and are more likely than not voting for Palin, not McCain, a man they never really loved and whom they know is not really one of them. So, mission accomplished on that score.

The second issue is that by picking someone that the base loves, and given the sexual and social stereotypes and traditions of our society, McCain and Steve Schmidt can come out and denounce any instance of the media or a Democrat questioning or attacking Palin as not showing the proper “respect and deference.” Questions are too hard? How does it look when big, mean Joe Biden or Barack Obama are attacking a helpless woman? She has five kids! She’s against earmarks! She doesn’t have to go in front of a “hostile” “liberal” media. And why should she? The Republicans only really feel comfortable when they’re on (or appear to be on) the defensive. The gays are attacking marriage – just like your marriage! The ACLU is trying to stop you from teaching your children to be a Christian!

This Bridge to Nowhere nonsense has been debunked time and time again. That certainly hasn’t stopped Palin and McCain from repeating it over and over. What does the media do? They simply throw their hands up and say, “Well, isn’t that an interesting argument?”

Working the refs has been a very successful strategy for Republicans for a long time now. At some point you’d think that media outlets would stop being cowed about helping to disseminate and to obscure completely false claims. They have on Republican and Democrat “analysts” all the time – they pay these people. You’d think that they’d eventually stop throwing money at people who repeat demonstrably false claims. Or would that be bad for ratings?