By PHK
Demonstrations, not just fundraisers, show political will, too
I hadn’t planned to post today because after a three day seminar on Iraq from the 4000 BC Ubaids to the current mess, I thought I’d better play catch-up – laundry, grocery shopping, that kind of mundane but essential stuff. But before I fetch the groceries, I did a little Internet research because I was so struck by the different coverage of W’s visit to Albuquerque yesterday in the WaPo, the New York Times and AP with what was published on the front page of the Albuquerque Journal.
Aside from the same photo op of W with our erstwhile pro-Iraq invasion, anti-internationalist Heather Wilson and the report of the $375,000 the Bush fundraiser netted at the Hyatt Regency for her in-trouble re-election effort, you’d think the reporters had been to different events for different people in different cities. Reminds me of “Rashomon,” that 1950s tale of a single murder seen from totally different perspectives.
Why? Because only the Journal – New Mexico’s conservative, privately owned newspaper - reported that there were 200 anti-Bush, anti-Iraq occupation, anti-Heather demonstrators outside the fundraiser here versus 300 wealthy Republicans inside. The former were dressed in faded pink denim. Many were women from Code Pink and most held anti-Iraq war banners. (I couldn’t find the picture in the web edition – wonder why.)
The latter were presumably well-dressed, well coiffed, well washed. They paid, according to AP, $1,000 per coiffed head to attend the fundraiser for Wilson and $5,000 to get their photos taken with W. Looks like photos with W were not exactly best sellers here. If my calculations are right only 15 took up the offer. But as far as the WaPo, the NY Times, AP and even the usually liberal, privately owned Santa Fe New Mexican, what was worth reporting occurred only inside the Hyatt Regency, Albuquerque’s most luxurious hotel, not across the street on the city’s downtown plaza.
Yes, MSM reporters did contact the opposition, e.g. the Madrid campaign where Heather’s challenger, Patsy pointed out that our wonderful lapdog Congressperson has a record of voting 88 percent of the time for W’s policies. This while the Republicans are busily painting Heather as her “own woman” and Patsy as a “cut and run” Democrat.
Heather an independent?
My eye. I don’t think so. And I’m glad to see the Madrid people counter this piece of pure balderdash. Yes, Patsy thinks the US military needs to get out of Iraq, that our troops on the ground there have become a part of the problem, not the solution, and that the draw-down needs to happen sooner rather than later so fewer New Mexicans are dying early and unnaturally in that desert on the Tigris and Euphrates versus living a longer more productive life in this desert on the Rio Grande. A position I largely support.
W's Albuquerque tea party
But back to the MSM coverage - or more accurately - biased coverage of W’s brief touchdown in Albuquerque yesterday afternoon – perhaps before he headed off to ride his bicycle in Crawford over the weekend. Yes, it’s important to know that W remains a formidable fundraiser for Republican candidates and be told the amounts he has raised and is expected to raise on their behalf this mid-term election season.
But shouldn’t the American public also be told of opposition on the streets and in the plaza? Doesn’t the opposition have a voice worth reporting, too? Isn’t this also part of the story? As veteran political analyst and University of Virginia professor Larry Sabbato and independent political analyst Stuart Rothenberg indicate, the Albuquerque race is too close to call and it will be “ground zero in the fight for the House.”
This analysis, according to AP, which reported Madrid’s views far better than the other media. But wouldn’t reporting of the anti-W demonstration in Albuquerque yesterday also help put the fluid electoral situation on the ground here in a little more perspective? Further, the fact that W spent less than a total of two hours in New Mexico and made no public appearance – might also tell you something about his real popularity here.
When I teach comparative politics, I teach students that there are different ways to attempt to influence the political process, that demonstrations and petitions are forms of political action and expression even in countries which do not have democratic governments. As voters, budding political analysts and perhaps even activists these forms of political protest need to be factored into the mix.
W’s $800,000 Seattle coffee-break
It then occurred to me that maybe the MSM reports on W’s Seattle morning coffee-break weren’t as all inclusive as they should have been so I decided to search the webpage of the main Seattle paper, the Seattle Post Intelligencer to see how it had covered the story. Bingo. What happened in Seattle – according to the Intelligencer – also differed from W’s fundraising, photo-op experience there as reported by MSM.
Here’s the gist: In Seattle, W appeared as poster-boy with hat-in-hand to large donors on behalf of the endangered Republican Congressional incumbent Dave Reichert who is being challenged by Democratic newcomer and former Microsoft manager Darcy Burner in the only competitive race. While at the airport, W was also photographed with a military family who have three sons serving in Iraq or Afghanistan and talked to a mother whose son had been killed in Iraq.
But were there also demonstrations in Seattle that the stalwart representatives of the MSM failed to report? Or if so how were they reported? What was the ratio between those “in the wealthy inner circle” and those outside? How much money did W raise? How much did it cost, for instance for one of W’s Seattle faithful to be photographed with W? Were there more takers than in New Mexico?
The answers
The Seattle Intelligencer reported at least one anti-W, anti-war demonstration of about 100 people that greeted W’s motorcade on its way in from the airfield to the fundraising reception. It also alluded to others joining the demonstrators - but no estimates were reported. Regardless, pretty small compared to what Seattle can turn out, but even so the ratio between the people in the streets and the high stakes donors inside was 1 to 4. The ratio was closer - 2-3 in New Mexico.
W's Seattle event was attended by about 400 donors. It was held in the private $10.3 million mansion of Microsoft corporate vice president Peter Neupert. This event at $1,000 a head raised about $800,000 for the Reichert campaign – and proved once again the affluence of Seattle versus the relative poverty of Albuquerque. Why were the amounts so different? Well, $100,000 more came from the 400 Washingtonians than was raised from the 300 faithful in New Mexico. But then W’s photo with the faithful went for half the price here on the Rio Grande than in Microsoft, Boeing and Starbucks super-rich Seattle. So if I’ve got my figures right, 35 super rich Washingtonians paid the price for the privilege – versus only 15 New Mexicans who got the deal for half.
But here we go again, some of the same MSM coverage shortcomings that CKR tells me are discussed in Lapdogs. For that matter, this reminds me of the post I wrote last September about the lack of MSM coverage of a major anti-war, anti-W event on the Mall. And in DC all a few reporters had to do was take a short ride on the Metro on a lovely fall day.