Riehl World View
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Sarah Palin seems to be spoiling for a fight with the media in her latest Facebook posting. There are going to be people, assuming political consultants are people, that are going to call this foolish. They’ll rely on conventional, read old, wisdom that says you don’t pick fights with people who buy ink by the barrel. But does that alleged wisdom still apply?
Reagan didn’t fight with the media. The usual descriptor for what he did is, he went over the media’s head directly to the American people. Is Sarah Palin really doing anything different, except for having Facebook, blogs and a great many other New Media resources today to which Reagan didn’t have access? Just imagine how even more effective his communication strategy would have been if he had?
Because of media advances made in the last several years, Sarah Palin doesn’t have to go over the media’s head. She can go right through them. It appears to me that’s precisely what she intends to do. Don’t be surprised if it works, even as the media and some old-line politicos point how what a bad idea it is. If those folks had truly good ideas, most of the country wouldn’t be so upset with them right now. But that’s just another thing old media and large portions of the political class seem to be missing.
Amazingly, but not surprisingly, the AP somehow nabbed a copy of the book before it was released. They’re now erroneously reporting on the book’s contents and are repeating many of the same things they spewed during the campaign and afterwards. We’ve heard 11 writers are engaged in this opposition research, er, “fact checking” research! Imagine that – 11 AP reporters dedicating time and resources to tearing up the book, instead of using the time and resources to “fact check” what’s going on with Sheik Mohammed’s trial, Pelosi’s health care takeover costs, Hasan’s associations, etc. Amazing.
