My wife asked me this morning how Republicans were reacting to the showstopping first night of the Democratic National Convention, so I put on my hip waders and set out on a journey to climb BS Mountain visit FoxNews.com.
It’s a fascinating look at how conservative media interprets the world for its audience. An objective perception of the night would go something like: The email leaks shook things up early, then Bernie Or Bust made a lot of noise, but Sarah Silverman told them they were being ridiculous & everyone laughed, setting the stage for Cory Booker, Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to hit home run after home run, leaving the crowd on its feet, energized and unified. Even the cynical political reporters at Washington Post had to admit it was awesome.
But Fox had spent all day and all night hyping the email leak (which was NOT AT ALL a favor to Donald Trump from Vladimir Putin) as a devastating defeat from which Dems could not possibly recover. It had a choice: Move on from the email leaks like everyone else, or double down?
This is Fox’s strategy to convince its audience that everything is always going the GOP’s way: If reality is filled with bad news, create an alternate reality filled with good news. If it looks like Democrats have moved on from the scandal you’re pushing, it’s only because they’re so desperate to ignore it! See, we made Trump’s picture bigger than Sanders and Warren combined! Clearly we are winning!
It’s an emotional coping mechanism adapted as a political strategy. My ex-girlfriend may look completely in love with her new boyfriend, but it’s all just a cover! I assure you she still wishes she was with me!
Creating its own reality has helped the conservative movement avoid reality for a decade now. Obama’s a secret Muslim, so he didn’t really win! We unskewed the polls so Romney isn’t really losing! We gerrymandered the House so our massive popular vote losses don’t really count! Climate science is a hoax! Hillary should be in prison, so when she wins, that won’t count either!
But avoiding self-reflection has now convinced Republican voters it’s OK to pick a nominee with so little appeal beyond the GOP base that it’s unclear if he can even get a bounce from his own convention.
Tonight on Fox: Will the second night of the DNC be even more disastrous? Or will Bill O’Reilly make more odd references to how the Republican National Convention was nearly all-white? STAY TUNED!
…that nothing unites a fractured party like knocking down the other nominee.
…are both former GOP operatives that provide analysis for MSNBC. Last night both of them basically said that compared to the Dems speaking line up, the GOP could not even come close. They also largely praised the speeches themselves.
this morning. The news coverage, not an editorial, said that Bernie “pleaded” with his supporters to support Clinton.
Fox News rots your brain. Watching it exclusively is self-cannibalizing your mind.
Brit Hume is saying right now that Clinton won’t talk about his philandering. My guess is that Clinton won’t talk about not beating Hillary either.