The GOP's Distraction Meme: The 'Real' Scandal Is Always Another One

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gop-distraction-meme


The GOP's Distraction Meme: The 'Real' Scandal Is Always Another One
Caitlin MacNeal – June 13, 2014, 6:00 AM EDT


For conservatives, all roads seem to lead to Benghazi, but they have encountered a few distractions along the way.

Earlier in June, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) suggested that President Obama ignited a new controversy by negotiating for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in order to detract from the real VA scandal.

This tactic is not new for the right. Conservatives constantly cry "distraction" when the media covers an issue unrelated to their scandal du jour.

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New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait said it was newsworthy in June 2013 that conservatives failed to cry "distraction" after a speech Obama gave on climate change. He noted that the charges stop only when conservatives have given up on trying to keep a controversy alive.

"The existence of a presidential 'scandal' can be inferred when the opposition party — and both parties do this — attempts to tie the scandal to anything the president does or does not do," he wrote. "That is to say, basically everything Obama has done since the dawn of the Obama scandal era about seven weeks ago. If the president can give a major speech without either the opposition or the new media accusing him of attempting to distract from the scandal, then the scandal is over."

Before Chait wrote about the quick lull in presidential controversies (before the GOP drew its Obamacare scandal target) conservatives had a laundry list of scandals they were harping on. Anything could be a distraction from the IRS scandal, the Department of Justice collection of journalists' phone records, and of course, Benghazi.

As long as conservatives are trying to keep Obama’s scandals alive, the “distraction” cries will continue. As long as they don't get distracted.