I am not sure, but didn't Al Gore run the Willie Horton first during the democrat primary in 1988?

Gore brought up Horton's furlough during the Dem primaries. I don't believe he ran a TV ad about it.

It's an old adage that 'history is written by the victors' , but in American politcs, history is often written by the losers who occupy the halls of the media and the universities.

Every election has its issue, unfortunately for the old media, this election is turning on the inability of the press to stay ahead of the story.

Had the press been able to put aside its verdant hatred of George W. Bush, it would have done a better job in 'vetting' John Kerry during the early Democratic primary. They failed to do their job and the effect is that they have lost credibility in the eyes of their audience.

The fact that the "swift boat" story has been forced onto the media, and still has legs despite very heavy handed attempts to minimize it shows that they are playing catch up with the story. This is proof that the media can no longer drive an agenda the way it had free reign in doing in previous years.

To paraphrase a saying we have in my industry, "old media" is a hierarchial design trying to get by in a distributed processing world.

But their best candiate was Lieberman (actually a great candidate) with Al Sharpton a distant second.

The media still drives public perceptions, but mostly only in the short-run. They often don't stand the test.

I had thought similar things but you're correct to say I read it here first... and elegant too. This is one of the best articles I've seen on this sight. Thank you.

FWIW I too think you are 100% correct. Not that you'll get any credit for the observation (except from your loyal readers).

And whatever you may think of Al Sharpton (who came to linger in the limelight as a result of his ardent defense of Tawana Brawley's faked abduction) he didn't try to tailor his pronouncements to fit what he thought the voters wanted to hear. Definitely an unusual display of integrity, for what it's worth.

But if you would like to reallly be entertained (or appalled) with some truly loony ideas about why some "progressives" think the conservatives are winning, take a look at the interview published in the UCBerkeley News with George Lakoff, professor of linguistics and cognitive science. URL:http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/10/27_lakoff.shtml

I commented on some of his points in my own blog, but you should definitely see the whole interview. Also please visit the website of the Rockridge Institute (http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/) which he and a number of other progressive faculty of the University of California system started recently. According to the professor, the institute "offers its expertise and research on a nonpartisan basis to help progressives understand how best to get their messages across."

The Democratic Party has been losing ground around the country in his view, because the REPUBLICANS have fooled us into believing them by dominating the language framing political discussion.

This is like the assertion that pharmaceutical companies fooled us into believing in headaches by dominating the language framing the aspirin discussion.

Sorry, the gulf between the Democratic Party’s claims of fairness and noble compassion, and the actual depravity and expedience of the Party’s celebrated leaders are too conspicuous to escape notice by even such benighted folk as we commoners. The simple reason people like me have decamped from the democratic party over the last few decades, is disgust and dis-illusion. NOT, thank you very much, because of clever words by shadowy Republican manipulators.

It is my opinion that journalism has abandoned its claim to principled standards, and the this is what has driven the public to the Do-It-Yourself internet search, assisted by such as drudgereport.com and the growing crop of serious bloggers. We recognize that the internet has mis-information, but we also recognize that this no longer distinguishes it from traditional information sources.

A few years ago, RESPECTABLE journalists were unable to untangle Clinton’s definition of the word “is.” More recently they’ve had difficulty grasping the idea that an “ally” is a country that supports goals to which they have agreed, NOT one that obstructs. In the last weeks before the Republican National Convention, they are confused over whether the function of journalism is to report news or suppress it. At the current rate of regression, by election day journalists will have difficulty working out a use for their fingers beyond merely excavating their nostrils.

Leave it to a Bezerkley Academic to
"forget" about how leftist both his
profession and the media are.

Must have slipped under his radar,
so to speak.

I think the professor needs to realize that the reason his "progressive" (what makes him think his ideas are progress) ideas have been rejected is that they do not result in progress. They, instead, result in more of the same and the people are fed up with the "more of the same" that their policies result in.