HuffPo: The Press Plays Dumb About Bush Bounce

The mainstream media's incessant, excited chatter about a looming Bush Bounce represented just the latest embarrassment in an endless parade of journalism missteps during the Bush years. The depressing puppet show--senior White House aides announce things are great, conservative 'news' outlets echo the spin and then MSM journalists gamely play along--has become annoying, tiresome and transparent. Yet the MSM won't stop embarrassing themselves.

Two problems with the contagious Bush Bounce story: a) the Bounce was all but non-existent, with three of the last four national polls (USA Today, WSJ-NBC, CNN) showing no statistical movement whatsoever for Bush following last week's wildly hyped "wave of good news" (AP).

And even more importantly, b) when it was eagerly misleading news consumers about how Bush was about to enjoy a big bump in the public opinion surveys, the press provided virtually no context regarding exactly where Bush stood in the polls. Yes, some journalists noted in passing that Bush's job approval ratings had vaguely fallen during his second term. But notice what is not reported and discussed in polite Beltway company--that Bush is an historically unpopular president. Period. (Fact: If Bush doesn't post an approval rating gain soon, he'll trail only Richard Nixon in establishing the longest sub-40 job approval rating streak in modern American history.) Journalists routinely refuse to put Bush's sorry standings in any sort of perspective. Instead, they go to extraordinary lengths, as they have throughout the last two years, to avoid spelling out the obvious--it would take an hydraulic lift to get Bush's approval numbers back into the realm of respectability, let alone popularity. i.e. Bush would need a 25-point spike to equal the lofy heights President Clinton reached during his second term.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-boehlert/the-press-plays-dumb-abou_b_23380.html

Fact: If Bush doesn't post an approval rating gain soon, he'll trail only Richard Nixon in establishing the longest sub-40 job approval rating streak in modern American history
:rofl:


Where did that man date go?

mission is to protect Bush at every turn and lie to the American people to accomplish that mission.

"You know you're being used, but in a way you kind of like it (...)"


During the June 18 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources, Gloria Borger, a CBS News contributor and U.S. News & World Report contributing editor, acknowledged that the media "are suckers" because of their coverage of President Bush's surprise June 13 trip to Iraq. Adding that "e do like these secret trips," Borger concluded: "ou know you're being used, but in a way you kind of like it because it's good pictures." During the segment, photographs of President Bush walking into Air Force One, riding in its cockpit, and walking with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki appeared on screen.

From the June 18 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources:

KURTZ: Gloria Borger, are journalists suckers for this kind of secret trip to Baghdad stuff? I mean, Bush was there less than six hours but got an avalanche of mostly positive coverage.

BORGER: I think we are suckers. Particularly if you're the one who gets to go on the pool, Howie, and gets to travel with the president on a secret trip to Baghdad. We do like these secret trips."

see
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/06/20/cbs-reporter-we-are-suc_n_23402.html


Access is everything, baby, even if you can't practice journalism.
Pimps and ho's.