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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWaPo - "Will Romney's debate lies become the story?"
I actually think the answer is no, since the main stream media is generally giving Romney a free pass on his lies and instead praising him for "moving to the middle" even if that means contradicting basic tenets of his campaign just prior to the debate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/will-romneys-lies-be-a-thing/2012/10/04/fc9ba078-0e52-11e2-ba6c-07bd866eb71a_blog.html
The question for the press over the next few days is increasingly clear: Will the big story be about Mitt Romneys debate victory which, in turn, is almost certainly all about style points and Barack Obamas flat performance? Or will it be about Romneys repeated failures to stick to the facts?
The story here is that monolithic information flows can be fairly powerful, albeit limited both by basic partisanship and by those who, for other reasons, have already made up their mind. However, for those who might be still deciding, if everything they hear about the debate is positive for Romney, it certainly could affect their vote.
The most likely alternative story the press could wind up telling is pretty simple: Romney failed to tell the truth last night. Thats the story that the Obama campaign is pushing in their instant ad taken from the debate, which hits Romney on his tax plan; its the story that many of the liberal blogs are running with today, probably because thats what wonky bloggers are apt to do anyway.
Will it be successful? It could. Paul Ryans convention speech wound up being covered mainly for its mendacity, and that became the story. It seems that there are at least as many factually challenged comments from Romneys debate performance as there were in Ryans speech, although it may have lacked any screaming-headline lies. But if you want to know more about the short-term effects of the debate, Id suggest keeping an eye on whether the neutral press starts devoting more time to fact checking Romneys mendacity than it does to Romneys presentation and stylistic victory. If it does, any potential large Romney bounce from the debate could well be undercut.
The story here is that monolithic information flows can be fairly powerful, albeit limited both by basic partisanship and by those who, for other reasons, have already made up their mind. However, for those who might be still deciding, if everything they hear about the debate is positive for Romney, it certainly could affect their vote.
The most likely alternative story the press could wind up telling is pretty simple: Romney failed to tell the truth last night. Thats the story that the Obama campaign is pushing in their instant ad taken from the debate, which hits Romney on his tax plan; its the story that many of the liberal blogs are running with today, probably because thats what wonky bloggers are apt to do anyway.
Will it be successful? It could. Paul Ryans convention speech wound up being covered mainly for its mendacity, and that became the story. It seems that there are at least as many factually challenged comments from Romneys debate performance as there were in Ryans speech, although it may have lacked any screaming-headline lies. But if you want to know more about the short-term effects of the debate, Id suggest keeping an eye on whether the neutral press starts devoting more time to fact checking Romneys mendacity than it does to Romneys presentation and stylistic victory. If it does, any potential large Romney bounce from the debate could well be undercut.
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WaPo - "Will Romney's debate lies become the story?" (Original Post)
TomCADem
Oct 2012
OP
Blue Yorker
(436 posts)1. Great piece by progressive columnist Greg Sargent n/t
writes3000
(4,734 posts)2. Yes, it will. Trial by Biden coming up. He will prosecute his ass.
skeewee08
(1,983 posts)3. Agree... Biden is licking his chops!!!!
AlinPA
(15,071 posts)4. Hell, no. Most of the media and the public are only interested in mannerisms, zingers, smiles,
non-smiles, acting at the podium and the other bullshit like "aggressiveness" and "body language".