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Step aside Governor Palin. The MSM has acquired a new primary target, GOP Kentucky senatorial candidate, Dr. Rand Paul. The host of Sunday’s Meet The Press kicked off the campaign. So let the spin begin.
Here’s what it sounded like, with Key Spin Language (KSL) underlined, as David Gregory opened the program with his brief monologue.
This Sunday: The politics of anger and the anti-Washington wave.
Anger is KSL. Anger is irrational. It conveys a heat level beyond resistance and opposition. Anger is wrathful, hot-tempered and indignant. Anger is bad. That’s taught in kindergarten.
Here was Gregory’s intro for the first segment, which focused on Rand Paul’s recent controversial comments about the 1964 Civil Rights Act:
Democrat Albert Arnold Gore, Sr., who filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act, with wife and Albert Arnold Gore, Jr.
Good morning. Super Tuesday 2010 unleashed a new power player within the Republican Party. But by week’s end, Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul, son of former presidential candidate Ron Paul, found the spotlight a little too hot, canceling his appearance on this program and raising doubts about his prospects for the fall.
Gregory was obviously peeved that Paul cancelled his appearance on his show. How dare he! Gregory spun it as a sign of Paul’s fear of facing the heat, and concluded that Paul’s election prospects were now in doubt. Then his next statement linked the Tea Party movement to his, Gregory’s, interpretation of Paul’s statement about one aspect of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
A political novice, Kentucky ophthalmologist Rand Paul took on the Republican establishment and won big. He won nearly 60 percent of the vote and put the tea party on the political map.
Never mind that the Tea Party movement has been “on the political map” since at least the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts; the essential nexus for the coming MSM’s spin on Paul is already clear in Gregory’s mind. Because Paul solicited the support of those who support the Tea Party movement, his particular libertarian-based interpretations of civil rights legislation in America are necessarily equivalent to those of the Tea Partiers. Unwilling or unable to parse Paul’s nuanced comments about one title of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and engage that discussion, Gregory and the MSM pundits will paint him with a broad racist brush and, by association, continue their characterization of the Tea Party movement similarly. Gregory wasn’t done spinning.
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Paul ignited a controversy with his extreme views, and under pressure from both sides of the political spectrum, he backtracked the next day, issuing a statement saying he would not support repeal of the Civil Rights Act. But he added, “The federal government is out of control, and those who love liberty and value individual and states rights must stand up to it.” But by week’s end, Paul again drew criticism for his views, this time by accusing the president of too harshly criticizing BP for its role in the Gulf oil spill.
Never mind that Paul never suggested repealing the Civil Rights Act; “backtrack” is what evasive and scared politicians do. Paul began to clarify his views, characterized by Gregory as “extreme.” That’s another bad word – extreme. Gregory piles on by implicitly criticizing Paul’s criticism of President Obama’s criticism of British Petroleum. He did everything but mouth a…tsk tsk…as a video of Paul showed him saying,
What I don’t like from the president’s administration is this sort of, you know, “I’ll put my boot heel on the throat of BP.” I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business.
Before turning to his first guests, Senators John Cornyn (R, Tex.) and Robert Menendez D, NJ), Gregory once more vented his anger over Paul’s appearance cancellation.
Dr. Paul wondered publicly Friday where his honeymoon was, and later, citing exhaustion and an unwillingness to answer any further questions about his stand on civil rights and the role of government, canceled his appearance here. But there are questions about his principles left unanswered, like whether his belief in limited government means he opposes, say, the minimum wage, the ban on child labor laws, or workplace safety rules. Perhaps the bigger question is whether this fresh new face in politics is now a weaker candidate than he was Tuesday night.
Democrat Sen. Sam Ervin who, like Byrd, also filibustered the Civil Rights Act
Bigger in whose mind? Gregory left out questioning whether Paul believes in reinstating slavery and widespread cruelty to puppies.
In one exchange with Senator Cornyn – who, yes, actually said that Paul stumbled on a question because he’s not a “professional politician” – Gregory deployed the classic Leading Question format made famous by the onetime CNN interviewer Paula Zahn.
[D]on’t you think that this is fair game, questions about his view about the limit and the scope of government?
And then:
You don’t think he’s [Paul] a weaker candidate today than he was Tuesday?
He was looking for a “yes” in each case. Next he deployed another standard KSL interview tactic: The Forced-Choice Question, like “Do you still beat your wife weekly, or are you now on a bi-weekly schedule?” Gregory asked Cronyn,
But, but his, but his view is that private businesses should not be subject to a government mandate even about discrimination. Is that something you agree with or do you think that’s beyond the pale of, of mainstream conservative views?
By page 4 of the 17-pages transcript Gregory, struggling to catch his breath after displaying a quote from the Economist that classified Paul as a “genuine radical,” verged on going apoplectic.
But it’s fair–I mean, even in the case of, of Dr. Paul, I mean, you would admit, wouldn’t you, it is a–it’s a question, and, and I don’t know the answer, where they think the line is in terms of the role of government? In terms of regulation?…In terms of what laws the government should pass? I mean, you would, you would admit that Dr. Paul is still opaque on this point? [another leading question] There’s a lot of questions that he has invited.
Gregory doesn’t need to ask Paul any questions. He’s already decided how he feels about him. The spin is in.
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