The Coming Bush Rebound - Democratic Underground

Presstitutes

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Tue Nov-01-05 10:03 AM
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The Coming Bush Rebound

From Salon:

http://daoureport.salon.com/synopsis.aspx?synopsisId=6215627a-4353-4aad-982c-3d9f2904e577

BUSH'S REBOUND: The Libby indictment was an inflection point, marking a nadir in Bush's political fortunes. Going forward, the new media narrative - and the White House's raison d'etre - has shifted from "Bush the victim" to the "Bush rebound." A hasty SCOTUS pick to appease the distressed base, a roll-out of Avian Flu strategy, upcoming elections in Iraq, more terror speeches and who knows what else. All these are part of a concerted p.r. offensive with a single objective: to show an uptick in Bush's approval ratings. Once that occurs, and it likely will, the media and the rightwing noise machine can create a self-reinforcing loop by using the poll numbers to cement the 'rebound' narrative.

The media's role in this process is critical. As noted by Pre$$titutes, there's been a rash of "Can Bush recover" stories in the traditional press, but precious few reporters asking "whether Bush and Cheney should resign for lying America into war and bringing disgrace and dishonor to the Oval Office and to the country." Quote: "There's absolutely no reason the media should ask the former question and not the latter. There's no law that says they have to assist Bush in recovering his fabricated image."

It sounds counterintuitive and poll numbers seem to indicate otherwise, but Bush's supporters can take solace in the fact that their man has been largely unscathed by the many scandals plaguing the Republican Party. I would guess that conventional wisdom about Bush's personal character has not taken the hit that it might have, considering the vast majority of coverage is about scandals "swirling around him" and the media narrative has been "Bush the Victim."

Democrats have proven slow to understand the importance of 'legitimate' media narratives. In a piece about Bush's post-9/11 'leadership' aptly entitled "The Legend of Cowboy George, Brought to You by Deputy Democrats," James Boyce (HuffPo) points out at that "Myths, legends and reputations are powerful things. Once established as common knowledge or conventional wisdom, they are shatteringly hard to overcome. So and so is a jerk, such and such a place is lovely, or bug-infested or worse. It's hard to shake a myth once established. It's impossible if you don't even try. But the myth continues, the legend builds. And not only do Democrats not see it as myth, not attack it as myth, not attempt to lift the veil of the myth and show the true face of George Bush to the world, when given the opportunity to question the facade, they decline and in fact, enable the narrative to exist and grow."

Without further major developments in the Plame scandal, Bush's opponents and the Democratic establishment are running out of opportunities to personalize this fight, to permanently tarnish Bush's personal image (and not for lack of trying on the part of the netroots/grassroots). If the Plame scandal, Iraq, DeLay, Frist, Abramoff, Katrina, social security, etc. are seen as temporary political setbacks typical of the "second term jinx" - as the media is so fond of saying - then it will be that much easier to create and solidify the 'Bush rebound' narrative. The Alito showdown may be one of those opportunities...