Forums

[sgtclub]

I think Ty (or was it AG) made the "herd" point a few months back:

Why the change of heart? The obvious answer is that five major polls show Kerry slipping. But a larger dynamic is that journalists are a herd species. The media move in large packs, capable of suddenly switching directions due to the spooking of just a few critters up at the front. Individuals of the species may be susceptible to traits such as courage and integrity, but as a group they are power-worshippers. Nothing to them is more powerful than popularity - and nothing more popular than power. When you gain it, the press tends to go soft on you, regardless of the merits. When you lose it, they tend to pounce.

Now, of course, the press still by and large hates George Bush. But, as blogger Ann Althouse notes, "The media are looking ahead and imagining how the history of the 2004 presidential campaign will read, and how their performance will measure up." The answer: not well. They puffed up Howard Dean right up to the moment he popped. They allowed John Kerry to discard his 20-year voting record as a mere triviality and to make his Vietnam record his central qualification for the presidency. John Edwards - he's so pretty - was immediately accepted as a brilliant, bold and qualified choice by the same media that ridiculed Dan Quayle from the start for being too inexperienced, despite the fact that Quayle's political resume at the time makes Edwards' look like it was written in crayon.