Here's a bizarre quesiton: Who decides who the media spokespeople are for the party?

[jpgray]

I remember seeing Jane Harman's jaw-dropping defense of the Iraq war on CNN, and I am still traumatized by any and all torpid Donna Brazille appearances. Begala, Carville, etc.--why these rather ineffectual fellows? Who makes the decision that so-and-so speaks for the party? What news editor can conceivably make the decision that someone like Tammy Bruce (extreme example) is a liberal and speaks for the left?

[NC_Nurse]

1. I once heard Donna Brazille on NPR and I was stunned at how

completely AWFUL she was. Just awful.

Kinda explains why the party is where it is these days...

[jpgray]

4. But is this a lack of media influence, a lack of party organization, a lack of spokespeople?

[Rex]

2. The taskmasters do what the paymasters tell them.

Money says who.

[jpgray]

3. And who are they? Who makes the decision?

[Rex]

7. They stay nameless

They are that rich.

[jpgray]

8. Nah, I won't stand for a nebulous pulp villain answer--News directors? Party leadership? Who?

Producers of individual shows? There should exist a pretty obvious chain of decision-making.

[Rex]

9. Well they are villains, what you expect them to be Walt Disney

in Candyland? Okay, an example would be Kenneth Lay. Or from a different perspective, Manuel Noreiga. A good example would be the Second Coming of Christ (didn't make it up) Sun Yung Moon. Okay, I made it up, but he is THAT powerful.

These guys are just the punks floating around on the surface (well not Kenny Boy).

[MadMaddie]

5. This is actually a great question?

Who does choose our spokespersons? All the people you pointed out are awful.

Who picks our marketing people? Because the Democratic party sucks in this area? What the hell is wrong with them?

I have an idea....maybe...just maybe we need to pick who we want to be our spokesperson. I know it's a novel concept but what the hell do we have to lose?

[jpgray]

10. The GOP has think tanks with billions provided by Scaife, Coors, etc.

Might that explain the marketing gap? I'm not sure what our version of that would be--most Democratic think tanks I know of are too business-oriented to be in touch with much of the party.

[City Lights]

6. Donna Brazile is awful.

I have no idea who determines who will speak for the party. Some of these commentators are professional talking heads hired by the networks. I'm pretty sure Brazile is employed by CNN as a political analyst.

[kansasblue]

11. yeh....why are we stuck with Carville ? nt

[grasswire]

12. From the Lewinsky days I have suspected...

...that the people who book guests for cable TV are paid off. Bribed. It doesn't take much for Richard Mellon Scaife to give a Mercedes, or a scholarship for someone's kid, or a boob job, or any similar trinket. I think some loot has been spread around.

At the time of the Lewinsky revelation, dozens of Scaife-paid pundits were deployed to the networks. Out of nowhere came Coulter, Ingraham, John Fund, Terry Jeffreys, Ben Ginsberg, Mr. & Mrs. diGenova, Barbara Olsen, Barbara Cochran, and many other lizards. How were they waiting in the wings? How were they ALL Scaife-tied in some way, unless he was buying their ticket to broadcast?

On the other side, it's clear that certain people were groomed to speak for Democrats. They're all DLC centrists, and most of them are just political hacks. Aside from the fact that they are lousy representatives for Democrats, please note that none of them are progressive.

None of them are able to communicate the proud and righteous history of the Democratic Party. None of them have the moral authority of the Civil Rights struggle or any real cause.

There is no reason why an organization the size of Democratic Underground cannot have a speakers' bureau or a media representative. All it takes is some organization. The hurdle, apparently, is in the hands of the bookers.

The only pundit who is useful is Ron Reagan, IMO.

[grasswire]

13. Does Jeff Cohen's book address this phenomenon?

I should get it.

[Telly Savalas]

14. I'm guessing there's some sort of informal good ole boys network in place

Say a "news" director needs somebody to fill a spot on a show. He calls one of his buddies who knows a few talking heads or their agents and such talking heads get booked.

A guy like Paul Krugman might be a better defender of the liberal position, but doesn't have his name in the right rolodex, so we get stuck with Begala.

[jpgray]

15. I'm figuring it's something like that as well. But is it a news decision or a corporate one?