Preview of the Bush Campaign's Media Endgame
W ith the presidential debates now behind us, the struggle forthe White House will tilt even more toward decentralized mediabattles for electoral votes. Between now and Election Day, vastresources will go toward spinning local news coverage in swingstates while launching carefully targeted commercials on radio andtelevision.
For the Bush campaign and its allies, the media endgame willinclude these components:
* Smearing John Kerry
For months already, paid advertisements and interviews withpro-Bush operatives have portrayed Kerry as a betrayer of Americantroops in Vietnam. President Bush gained a temporary lead in thepolls thanks largely to deceptive commercials aimed at discreditingKerry's bravery under fire. Next came a fierce propaganda assault onthe most laudable actions of Kerry's life -- his antiwar efforts asa Vietnam veteran.
In 1971, Kerry gained national prominence as an eloquent leaderof Vietnam Veterans Against the War because he expressed thethoughts and feelings of so many veterans. Today, the media attackson his activism are efforts to sway voters by rewriting history, asthough the Vietnam War amounted to some kind of noble undertakinginstead of the illegal and immoral crime against humanity that itwas.
The TV chain that owns more stations than any other firm in thecountry, the Republican-allied Sinclair Broadcast Group, has orderedits stations to preempt usual programming to air a 42-minute film,'Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," in late October. The movieis devoted to bashing Kerry for his antiwar activism. Conveniently,more than a dozen of Sinclair's stations are in pivotal swingstates -- Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Especially inbattleground states, such defamation of Kerry is likely to intensifyuntil the last votes are cast on Nov. 2.
* Exploiting anti-gay prejudices
It has become a media truism that ballot measures against gaymarriage in some states will boost the turnout of Bush voters. TheBush-Cheney '04 campaign has winked and nodded at virulent anti-gaybigotry on the ground.
It's part of a dual-track strategy: While the Republican ticketavoids overt anti-gay comments, and Dick Cheney uses high-profilemedia venues to express personal support for his lesbian daughter,the GOP campaign is avidly working to gain votes by capitalizing onanti-gay prejudice.
* Inverting realities of class warfare
All four men on the major-party tickets are rich. But thepositions taken -- and constituencies represented -- by Bush-Cheneyand Kerry-Edwards aren't the same. Typically, Bush has denounced theDemocrats' call to raise taxes for Americans earning more than$200,000 a year.
To obscure their own ultra-elite loyalties, Bush and Cheneywill keep trying to portray Kerry and Edwards as tools of wealthytrial lawyers and Hollywood snobs. In reality, however, as reflectedby the delegates to the Republican and Democratic nationalconventions, the base of the GOP is far more wealthy, corporate andnon-union.
* Making use of Ralph Nader's 2004 campaign
In a little-noticed GOP maneuver during the last days of the2000 campaign, Republican forces poured money into commercialsboosting Nader in some battleground states. This time, we can expectpro-Bush forces to do the same -- but on a much larger scale.
"In a pre-election twist," the Associated Press reported onOct. 27, 2000, 'Republicans are buying TV ads featuring Ralph Naderin states where votes for the Green Party candidate might tip theoutcome to George W. Bush. ...Republicans hope the commercials willhelp Bush by persuading would-be Gore voters to back Nader instead."A Republican group targeted three closely contested states in2000 -- Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin -- with ads that featuredfilm clips of Nader attacking Al Gore, the Democratic presidentialnominee. AP reported that the Republican Leadership Councilearmarked at least $100,000 for those commercials, airing just daysbefore the election.
The official Bush campaign of 2000 was glad to leave such Naderadvertising endeavors to unofficial Republican allies. TheAssociated Press reported four years ago (on Nov. 4) that theRepublican Leadership Council 'ran ads last week to help GOPpresidential nominee George W. Bush. The ads were designed to induceDemocrats to defect to Green Party candidate Ralph Nader." Theexecutive director of the Republican Leadership Council, MarkMiller, said: 'I don't think he (Bush) could have gotten away withit the way we did."
This year, Nader wasn't able to get an endorsement from theGreen Party. But he'll be on the ballot in most states -- includingmost swing states. And it would be surprising if Republicans don'tflood the airwaves in many of those states with commercialsfeaturing Nader in the final days of this election campaign.
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