• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

In my day, never was longer.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

In after Baud. Damn.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Republicans in disarray!

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Not all heroes wear capes.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Crazification Factor / Open Thread: The 24/7 Media Beast

Open Thread: The 24/7 Media Beast

by Anne Laurie|  September 22, 20125:41 am| 48 Comments

This post is in: Crazification Factor, Election 2012, Excellent Links, Republican Stupidity, Outrage

FacebookTweetEmail

David S. Bernstein at the Boston Phoenix has a note on the dark side of the Wingnut Wurlitzer:

… There’s a common wisdom, in high-profile campaigns, that you need to “feed the beast,” meaning the media, with things to write about — or else they will go out looking for things, which might not be things you want them to write about….

That also applies to the movement-conservative marketplace, if not moreso. They have all day to fill up with radio gab and blog posts and twitter banter and so on. It’s actually not that easy to keep the audience hooked hour after hour. To keep it fresh and have people tuning in and calling and tweeting back, they constantly need things to be outraged about. And the truth is, campaigns tend to be a lot of the same thing over and over most of the time; fresh new outrages don’t always track to the lifespan of the last outrage.

It’s vitally important for, say, the Romney campaign to keep the movement-conservative audience engaged, to keep their interest up so they will turn out to vote in big numbers.

But it’s also important that the movement-conservative marketplace not go veering off into dangerous looney-land. And that’s really, really likely if you’re not feeding that beast. If you’re not giving them something reasonably safe to be outraged about, they’re likely to go looking for outrages in, say, the latest press releases from the Gun Owners’ Action League, or the latest book from Regnery, or worse….

So that’s a big part of the reason why, for example, the Romney campaign (presumably) dropped an old Obama “I believe in distribution” clip on Drudge the other day — not because it’s useful to the overall goals of the campaign, but because they needed to give the movement-conservative marketplace something to focus their outrage on, before they either start losing interest in hating Obama, or start talking really, really, crazy batwankery.

Sorry, Willard: “And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Sympathy for the terrible – Open Thread
Next Post: What is it with today’s Republican candidates and tax evasion? »

Reader Interactions

48Comments

  1. 1.

    Joseph Nobles

    September 22, 2012 at 5:46 am

    I think that has a lot of validity. Mitt has a tiger by the ears. Oh, it does suck to be him.

  2. 2.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    September 22, 2012 at 5:59 am

    The viability of media is based on change. What it’s accomplished is irrelevant if something’s not happening NOW. Remember when the crawl at the bottom of the TV screen only appeared when something really urgent was going on and it was rare? Now it never stops. Repeating the same ‘breaking story’ teasers to give the illusion of urgency. A news cycle that used to start off with a Sunday newspaper editorial and evolve slowly from there has turned into a 24 X 7 high volume/low density churn of barely processed information and hollering.

  3. 3.

    Linda Featheringill

    September 22, 2012 at 6:10 am

    @RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:

    A news cycle that used to start off with a Sunday newspaper editorial and evolve slowly from there has turned into a 24 X 7 high volume/low density churn of barely processed information and hollering.

    Yup. Do not miss the TV.

    [I do enjoy getting TV ala carte via the internet. Hooray for the 21st century!]

    But back on topic. Team Romney hasn’t done a good job of care and feeding of the press.

  4. 4.

    PeakVT

    September 22, 2012 at 6:28 am

    @RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
    I’ve seen the whole world six times over, Sea of Japan to the Cliffs of Dover…

  5. 5.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    September 22, 2012 at 6:31 am

    @Linda Featheringill:

    I do enjoy getting TV ala carte via the internet. Hooray for the 21st century!

    Yeah, I’m that one weirdo who doesn’t watch TV. Stopped around 1978 and never went back. In the last 5 years my wife has convinced me that there are some great shows and we get those on DVD. But I will never again sit down on their schedule for my entertainment, or watch a commercial that I can avoid.

    In other news, Bobo is at it again:

    But would you mind if I interrupted this cultural moment to point out that capitalism is an inherently elitist enterprise? Prosperity is often driven by small enclaves of extraordinary individuals that build new industries and amass large fortunes.

    I really wish I hadn’t stumbled across this steaming heap this early in the morning because now the part of my brain that hates teh stupid will be inflamed all day.

  6. 6.

    raven

    September 22, 2012 at 6:32 am

    Terri Garr is wonderful! Have ya’ll seen her dance on the TAMI Show?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lssbUjAMspE

  7. 7.

    raven

    September 22, 2012 at 6:36 am

    I watch TEVEE all the time!

  8. 8.

    Maude

    September 22, 2012 at 6:40 am

    @raven:
    I don’t, but you tell what’s going on. Good morning. Lovely morning.

  9. 9.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    September 22, 2012 at 6:47 am

    Regarding the media thing, Romney’s campaign is incompetently managing the press. Is it because they’re just not very good at it, or do they feel that pandering to the scribblers and blow dried talking heads is beneath them? I’d guess a combo of the two, with contributing proportions varying daily.

  10. 10.

    MikeJ

    September 22, 2012 at 6:49 am

    @raven: James Brown on the TAMI show, same tape I’ve had for years.

    PeakVT started it.

  11. 11.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    September 22, 2012 at 6:52 am

    @PeakVT:

    Great song. I love The Police. Stewart Copeland’s book Strange Things Happen is an interesting view into a mature band and the challenges of touring and being creative together.

    I would argue that the problem isn’t too much information but too much data. There’s a difference. Raw input with no context is data. Information has context and perspective. We’re lacking perspective and context in the avalanche of unprocessed facts that we get buried under around the clock.

  12. 12.

    Maude

    September 22, 2012 at 6:52 am

    @RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:
    The arrogant attitude prevents a person from learning. They know everything and after all, things have always gone their way.
    Romney thought things would just happen and he’d be president.

  13. 13.

    Linda Featheringill

    September 22, 2012 at 6:53 am

    @RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:

    Bobo’s right. Capitalism runs on social Darwinism and always has. It is a beast. And if you want to have a good life, you’ll have to try to keep that beast under control. Individuals can’t do that but societies can. Sort of.

    Bobo probably thinks that capitalism is obviously a Good Thing. Some of us think that the beast should justify its continued presence.

    The Righties seem to want to unleash that beast. I think they don’t understand what they’re asking for. The Lefties want to destroy the entire beast but they have nothing [yet] to replace it with. Maybe they don’t understand what they are asking for.

    If either the Righties or the Lefties get their way, we’re likely to devolve into a collection of local warlords, where the strongest and meanest rules. Welcome to Somalia.

  14. 14.

    Maude

    September 22, 2012 at 7:04 am

    @Linda Featheringill:
    Exactly right. WE are out of kilter.
    The economy got slanted toward the so called job creators, leaving the rest of us with ashes.

  15. 15.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    September 22, 2012 at 7:05 am

    @Linda Featheringill:

    Bobo seems to be proposing a cause/effect relationship between Elon Musk’s outsized personality/boldness and his business success. I don’t think there’s more than a weak correlation there. You don’t have to be an audacious risk taker to succeed. Those are just the successes that get noticed. Not because they succeeded but because they’re audacious in other ways.

    ETA: also, too the audacious gamblers who fail are never held up as cautionary tales. They’re forgotten because everyone loves a winner. Not least the weak minded centrist Brooks.

  16. 16.

    Scott

    September 22, 2012 at 7:12 am

    The manipulation of both the media and it’s own supporters by Team Romney has been fairly obvious. It goes something like this:

    1.)Romney says something really dumb and/or damaging.
    2.)Pundits go on TV and say WTF. Even Conservatives.
    3.)Romney camp shakes off flop sweat, calls Conservative pundits and says WTF are you doing criticizing us?
    4.)Conservative pundits go back on TV armed with talking points defending Romney.
    5.)Suddenly, some ‘new’ evidence of Obama’s blackness is exposed. Public is told they should be outraged.
    6.)Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

    You’re Welcome.

  17. 17.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    September 22, 2012 at 7:14 am

    OT: Charles Stross just tied Elon Musk and Mitt into a blog post where he asks the serious question ‘Why do already rich people keep piling up more dough than they can use?’. Stross is smart, and the short post is surprising and thought provoking:
    http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2012/09/on-the-diminishing-marginal-ut.html

  18. 18.

    Raven

    September 22, 2012 at 7:27 am

    @MikeJ: I had the boot DVD for years. No beach boys. They finally released the whole shebang

  19. 19.

    Raven

    September 22, 2012 at 7:29 am

    @MikeJ: mick did NOT want to follow that!

  20. 20.

    AdamK

    September 22, 2012 at 7:33 am

    Rmoney’s logo looks like a French whore’s leg.

  21. 21.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    September 22, 2012 at 7:36 am

    @Raven:

    I had the boot DVD for years. No beach boys. They finally released the whole shebang

    My wife ganked that as soon as it came out and made me watch it. It was fantastic. So much great talent in one place, and they seemed to all be on top of their game. Possibly the ‘competition’ was an inspiration. I even enjoyed Gerry and the Pacemakers (sp?).

  22. 22.

    PeakVT

    September 22, 2012 at 7:39 am

    1979 vs. 2008.

  23. 23.

    TheMightyTrowel

    September 22, 2012 at 7:42 am

    spent today hunting for an apartment and coping with sociopathic rental agents. first place that looked good turned out to be right next to a pretty rough council estate – agent told me estate was 20 minute drive away, but it was right across the road and i got offered hard drugs as i walked to my car. finally think i found a place after 11 viewings. now hitting the port hard as a reward.

    TMT +4

  24. 24.

    Narcissus

    September 22, 2012 at 7:45 am

    @AdamK: That’s not fair to french whores

  25. 25.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    September 22, 2012 at 7:47 am

    @PeakVT:

    The 2008 video is beautifully shot and recorded. Wow!

  26. 26.

    Maude

    September 22, 2012 at 7:50 am

    @TheMightyTrowel:
    But if you were on drugs, the council housing would see far away.
    Glad you found something.
    Happy spring. You are in OZ, right?

  27. 27.

    PeakVT

    September 22, 2012 at 7:50 am

    @RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: It is, but I like the 1979 performance better (except for that annoying whistle).

  28. 28.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    September 22, 2012 at 7:53 am

    @PeakVT:

    I had 2 chances to see them on that ’70s tour. Snowed out once and flu the second time. Hated hearing from my friends what great shows I missed. Say what you want about Sting but he has a great voice and knows how to write for it.

  29. 29.

    Soonergrunt

    September 22, 2012 at 7:57 am

    Can’t sleep. Muscle spasms.
    Going to buy a car today. Looks like a used 2011 Ford Fusion with 29k miles on it.

  30. 30.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    September 22, 2012 at 8:03 am

    @Soonergrunt:

    Sorry about the pains. A kinked neck woke me up at 4:45 but the pillz are working.

    I think you’ll like the Fusion. My wife designed some of the tooling! I have the greatest respect for Ford’s engineering all through their line. From our limited view into the autos’ production processes Ford looks like the one that’s got their act 100% together.

  31. 31.

    Soonergrunt

    September 22, 2012 at 8:09 am

    @RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: Well, I’m convinced that had I been in the car that my 2010 Ford Focus replaced, a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am, I’d still be in the hospital or maybe even the morgue. I walked away from getting t-boned by an F250 4×4 pick up.
    Muscle spasms are a hell of a lot better than the alternative.
    The Focus was totaled by the insurance company. I loved that car.

  32. 32.

    ericblair

    September 22, 2012 at 8:11 am

    @RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:

    Bobo seems to be proposing a cause/effect relationship between Elon Musk’s outsized personality/boldness and his business success. I don’t think there’s more than a weak correlation there. You don’t have to be an audacious risk taker to succeed.

    Damn right. For a lot of the successful, it amounts to being successfully born to the right person. These people are concerned with avoiding all possible financial risk, and have lately stuffing inordinate amounts of money into treasury bills and leaning on central bankers to keep inflation as close to zero as possible, neither thing helping with the whole job createrin’ deal.

    The successful businesspeople tend to get that way by figuring out how to avoid risk by clever use of existing assets. Using your railroad rights-of-way to string optical fiber; use your IBM contacts to get your operating system installed on every PC they make. “We’re going out on a limb here, and if we fail we’re fucked” doesn’t go over very well in the boardroom, and usually means desperation not success.

    What these people are talking about are the traders and ibanks, who also actually load as much downside risk onto everyone else as possible (see 2008). They’re happy to pocket the upside and call themselves muy macho. Great role models.

  33. 33.

    bemused

    September 22, 2012 at 8:17 am

    @RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:

    Power is another motivator that makes these guys tick.
    There is also a higher percentage of sociopathy in the “captains of industry” group than in the general population, heard on NPR a couple of months ago.
    One of the supporters at Mitt’s now infamous fundraiser was outraged at the lack of appreciation for people like him who kill themselves and hardly see their families to make more and more millions. That’s sick.

  34. 34.

    TheMightyTrowel

    September 22, 2012 at 8:18 am

    @Maude: yup. spring is glorious. still cool enough at night for port +5 now. B-)

  35. 35.

    the Conster

    September 22, 2012 at 8:20 am

    FB comment about Lady Ann’s smoke filled plane: Now they just need the mirrors.

  36. 36.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    September 22, 2012 at 8:28 am

    @bemused:

    I have no beef with the wealthy. But when one guy’s lust for millions means thousands of workers slide from middle class to insecurity or poverty it becomes obscene.
    The right treats the wealthy as ‘creators’ who make money out of thin air. But for many on their way up to the plutocrat class it’s easier to treat accumulating assets as a zero sum game with teh lower classes as the losers.

  37. 37.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    September 22, 2012 at 8:34 am

    @Soonergrunt:

    They do amazing things with high-strength lightweight steels these days. I was in a plant in Nashville last week where they were welding together three different-gauge sections of sheet into a blank for a body-side stamping. This puts the rigidity where they need it around the passenger compartment and lets the rest of the car crumple to absorb impact. vehicle safety has had huge improvements and newer is almost always safer than older/heavier.

  38. 38.

    jeffreyw

    September 22, 2012 at 8:40 am

    Mmm… breakfast

  39. 39.

    bemused

    September 22, 2012 at 8:42 am

    @RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:

    Agree. At the same time, they want to be exalted for climbing over the bodies on their way to the top.

  40. 40.

    Woody

    September 22, 2012 at 8:54 am

    The need for campaigns to spoonfeed Media or suffer the consequences is one of the unfortunate developments in the modern era.

    I’ve always felt that the GOP has enjoyed an advantage in this area because once a trope takes hold, the Fox/talkradio nexus repeats and recycles the trope without end. This pays long-term dividends, as it serves as a reinforcement tool throughout a conservative’s life.

    Cons who bought in during the 50s: The Commies and pinkos
    Cons who bought in during the 60s: The Hippies
    70s: The Liberal Media who invented Watergate and elevated Carter
    you get the picture.

    Non-27%ers chuckle when a Republican snarls about the Communists among us, but there are a lot of elderly that nod their heads in recognition and appreciation. I work with a con that believes the Washington Post is a liberal rag – but then, he was in his late teens/early 20s during Watergate.

    Coca-cola still advertises itself even though it’s the best known brand on Earth for a reason – to reinfoce itself throughout the generational cohorts. The GOP does this as well.

  41. 41.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    September 22, 2012 at 8:55 am

    @raven: What the heck was that!!??

    Chuck Berry
    Leslie Gore
    Beach Boys
    Temptations (?)
    Supremes (?)
    Rolling Stones

    Who did I miss?

    Was Terri (love love love her movies) the one in the striped shirt?

  42. 42.

    debit

    September 22, 2012 at 9:04 am

    @jeffreyw: YUM!! I have to tell you that sausage gravy and biscuits has now become a Sunday tradition in my house. Sometimes we have it for dinner instead of breakfast. It’s just that good.

  43. 43.

    cmorenc

    September 22, 2012 at 9:06 am

    @RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist:

    (quoting Bobo aka David Brooks):But would you mind if I interrupted this cultural moment to point out that capitalism is an inherently elitist enterprise? Prosperity is often driven by small enclaves of extraordinary individuals that build new industries and amass large fortunes.

    Actually, this is a valid, important point…so far as it goes. The problem isn’t that the dynamism and growth injected into our economy isn’t a critically important factor worth protecting, but rather with the GOP’s aggressive assertion that it is by far the paramount key factor vastly more important than anything else, such as a healthy, secure middle class, or a strong social contract that regards things like helping young people with education as the seed corn for both future entrepreneurs and a large portion of the middle class who will staff their enterprises as well.

  44. 44.

    jeffreyw

    September 22, 2012 at 9:10 am

    @debit: We have it on occasion. Thinking on a breakfast burrito this morning, avocado, roast pork, eggs, and whatever else comes to mind.

  45. 45.

    dance around in your bones

    September 22, 2012 at 11:09 am

    Gene Wilder was so great. So was Young Frankenstein – I’m sorry, I meant Fronkensteen.

  46. 46.

    dance around in your bones

    September 22, 2012 at 11:19 am

    @raven:

    I had go-go boots, AND I danced The Jerk. Good times.

  47. 47.

    different-church-lady

    September 22, 2012 at 11:20 am

    Jeez, talk about overthinking things. They dropped the “redistribution” meme because they thought it was a good tit-for-tat.

    The thing that’s killing Romney’s campaign is they really believe all this weak tea is actually 75mm shells.

  48. 48.

    ruemara

    September 22, 2012 at 12:08 pm

    I know some will be annoyed at me for saying this, but the same outrage machine exists on the left, just with less power, fewer players and a soupçon more facts.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Political Action

Postcard Writing Information

Recent Comments

  • HumboldtBlue on Late Night Open Thread: Rude Mechanicals (Sep 27, 2023 @ 4:14am)
  • Baud on Late Night Open Thread: Rude Mechanicals (Sep 27, 2023 @ 4:07am)
  • sab on Late Night Open Thread: Rude Mechanicals (Sep 27, 2023 @ 3:58am)
  • NotMax on Late Night Open Thread: Rude Mechanicals (Sep 27, 2023 @ 3:38am)
  • NotMax on Late Night Open Thread: Rude Mechanicals (Sep 27, 2023 @ 3:28am)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
What Has Biden Done for You Lately?

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Cole & Friends Learn Español

Introductory Post
Cole & Friends Learn Español

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!