Bill McKibben is the founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and democracy. In the latest issue (subscription required) of Rolling Stone he wonders “Will a Silver Wave Help Elect Kamala Harris?”
“Eighty-six percent of older Americans think abortion should be legal at least under certain circumstances — in part because we’re old enough to remember coat hangers.”
I immediately got the reference but started wondering if younger folks do not remember the wire coat hanger. Are they all plastic these days? (Yes, I stopped going to the dry cleaners when I retired) ChatGPT provides some history: Continue reading →
“I’m a registered Democrat in Texas. After seeing several other posts, I checked my registration. I’m “suspended.” It says I can still vote if I update my information (it’s already correct) but this has never happened in my 20 years of voting in Texas. Check your registration.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and his daughter Hope at the Minnesota State Fair.
Don’t know who produced this. Don’t know if it was the Harris-Walz campaign (doesn’t look like it to me). What I do know is it didn’t come across as a slick political ad. Whoever is doing the social media stuff for the campaign knows what they’re doing. But this really works because these are two, real, normal people…not mouthing talking points (and looking creepy). NO talking points. Just father and daughter at the state fair.
Now, let’s take a look at how legacy media (WRAL TV in Raleigh, North Carolina) covered Governor Walz and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper when they stopped by Cook Out for milkshakes.
Compare that with the same “event” as it appeared on Tim Walz’ YouTube channel. See how WRAL sucked all the life, all the humanity out of the moment. Why would you ever talk to a local reporter when someone with an iPhone can do this so much better.
I’m old enough to remember a time when political discourse at least pretended to be civil.
“The gentleman from West Virginia apparently believes his constituents prefer not having clean water or affordable health care.”
Those days are long gone and it’s common to hear a member of congress insult —often using vile language— another member or that person’s family. Nothing is off-limits. Since we’ve come this far (down), let’s go one step further. Fistfights.
If you insult me or my wife or my children, I can invite you to join me in the parking lot and we settle or differences like adults. Okay, not adults. Like, high school kids. I seem to recall a long, proud tradition of duels in American politics. Are they really any less dignified than what we’re seeing today? And if the loud-mouth declines to “step outside,” we wait for him/her in the parking lot.
During my 30 years working in broadcasting (a term that seems quaint these days) I worked with some really good journalists. Bob Priddy, Kay Henderson, and Clyde Lear…just to name a few.
For most of that time the Iowa Caucuses kicked off the presidential election cycle and Kay Henderson was at ground zero, including covering the Iowa delegations at the national conventions. In 2000 she filed these audio reports. (As emails to friend and fellow journalist, if I remember correctly.) I found an interesting nugget from her July 29th report:
“Donald Trump is sending a bus to the hotel on Tuesday at 11 a.m. to take the Iowans to the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Does he know these people are Republicans — and they can get their fix in our own casinos? Perhaps he’ll run as a Republican in 2004 and is laying the groundwork.”
This is one of the better parody songs I’ve seen. Production values top-notch, but the cheap suit might be the best part. Had not heard of Don Caron but found this on the Parody Project website:
For over 50 years Don Caron has been active in the entertainment industry as a composer, choreographer, pianist, sound engineer, editor, screenwriter, author, producer, and director. He has composed extensively for orchestra, choir and chamber groups and his music has been performed and heard world-wide.
“I’m so tired of being told, “We disagree politically, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends!” Dude, if your political opinion is that children shouldn’t be fed, that the poor shouldn’t be housed, that the sick shouldn’t be cared for, that women shouldn’t control their bodies, that Americans can’t marry who they love, or that certain people shouldn’t exist… Yes, that most definitely means that we can’t be friends.”
The Beltway press is angry that Vice President Kamala Harris hasn’t sat down with them to talk about things like policy. In their warped, archaic minds, they are important to the political process as a way to inform readers about the candidates. That was a thing before social media and the internet, for sure. But today? The Beltway media is broken beyond repair, and we’re all doing fine learning about Harris on our own, thank you very much.
A presidential candidate’s job is to win. That’s it! So pray tell, how does talking to The New York Times or any other national media outlet help that cause? Either journalists will ask ridiculous, shallow questions and waste everyone’s time, or they’ll fish for a gotcha quote they can use to generate “controversy” and clicks.
Look at the press’ behavior. When given a chance to ask questions, they sound like they’re in a lockerroom, seeking quotes, not policy. This does nothing to inform the electorate. I know the argument about testing a candidate. But the press as currently configured aims for game & gotcha.
The press needs Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris doesn’t need the press. Their motive in whining for what they take as their birthright (hello, A.G.) is to salve their editorial egos and earn them attention (and money). They have not earned this role; they have forfeited the privilege by their behavior.
The press collectively believes at all times that it must constantly be fed. Like an infant or toddler who doesn’t get their food at precisely the moment their bellies start rumbling, the press throws up these occasional tantrums. On the other side of the aisle, they are willing to put up with the abuse of the infantile Donald Trump because he gives them precisely the empty calories they want: Nonsensical outrage that attracts clicks and eyeballs and attention and leads to ad revenue and book deals and the like.
Harris and her campaign have been able to masterfully frame the election as a battle between normal progressive ideas and the weird conservativism of the right, not via sit-downs with stuffy news anchors and reporters working on their next book deals, but by constantly pumping out content via their existing press infrastructure and social media.
A Harris social media post can reach every single one of the people who are going to cast a ballot […] If she speaks directly to camera and hits “post,” she no longer has to worry about whether the editors hiding behind their monitors have deemed it “newsworthy.” That is now for the potential audience to decide, not them.
This is the most effective political… not sure what to call it. Doesn’t feel like advertising or marketing although both terms apply. I’m going with “media.” The most effective political media I have ever seen. Yes, I’m sure someone came up with this and there was probably a list of talking points and they might have even tried a few minutes to see how it worked.
During my working life I did hundreds of interviews and the chemistry and sincerity that comes across in this ten minute video is hard to fake. I think these two actually like each other thereby come across as likable.
And it is a good example of what can be achieved when you stop letting the media mediate your message. A point well made by John Stoehr, editor of the Editorial Board:
“The Harris campaign is not letting the press corps wedge itself between her and voters. She is not allowing the news media to mediate her message. In effect, she’s preventing the press corps from speaking for her and, as a consequence, she’s preventing it from exercising a de facto veto on her speech. In that, she is taking power – defining her campaign as well as Trump’s. She is turning the narrative about Biden’s age (81) back against Trump’s (78), such that whatever he says in self-defense is seen as proof of the allegations against him.”
There are no rules. There is no lawbook declaring that candidates shall talk to reporters. There is a playbook, if that’s what you mean, but not a lawbook. The vice president could go the whole time without talking to one reporter and she would not have done anything morally wrong.
Do you think any reporter is going to tell us what kind of music these people grew up with? What their childhoods were like? That’s not gonna generate clicks so no thank you. I stopped believing journalists really care about truth or honesty or protecting democracy. Maybe once upon a time. No more. Take your story directly to the people.
