Salon News | The Teflon governor meets the national media


Arts & Entertainment Books Comics Health & Body Media Mothers Who Think News People Politics2000 Technology - Free Software Travel & Food Columnists Current Wire Stories Click here to read the latest stories from the wires. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Also Today For a full list of today's Salon News stories, go to the News home page. - - - - - - - - - - - - Search Salon Advanced Search \| Help - - - - - - - - - - - - Recently in Salon News Let them eat stock options The Democrats and Republicans have shamelessly abandoned the poor. By Arianna Huffington [09/16/99] Regrets, he has a few In his best sugar-toned, pedagogic style, Kenneth Starr defends his tattered reputation in front of a tony L.A. audience. By Vivienne Walt [09/16/99] Shays' rebellion takes the House One determined Republican overcomes his own leadership's opposition to pass a bipartisan campaign finance reform bill -- again. By Jake Tapper [09/15/99] The Amazon.com primary Was Buchanan trying to seduce readers, not just voters, with his latest TV splash? By Anthony York [09/15/99] The Buchanan triangle Most analysts think a run by Buchanan under the Reform Party banner would hurt Bush more than Gore. It's time to think again. By Micah L.Sifry [09/15/99] Complete archives for News - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -		The Teflon governor meets the national media Bush is glib, none-too-smart and quick to anger, but reporters have yet to tell the truth about him. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Jerry Politex Sept. 16, 1999 \| Three months with George W. Bush on the campaign trail has been time enough for the national media to learn what Texas reporters have known for years: He's a policy lightweight who enjoys schmoozing but has a hair-trigger temper when pressed and never forgets a slight. Further, he thinks of himself as a hands-off CEO and leaves both the ideas and the details to someone else. Hence, he contradicts himself and "misspeaks himself," sending reporters on a scavenger hunt for clarification, bouncing back and forth between Bush and his various spinners until he and his camp can come up with a story that they can recite as one. Why, then, do national reporters generally keep silent? You'll have to ask them, but some answers come to mind when you look at how Bush treated Texas reporters during his five years as governor. First, while Texas reporters, columnists and editorial writers appear to represent a wide political spectrum, the major newspapers themselves run from moderate to conservative, keeping something of a lid on what citizens read. Secondly, one Texas reporter has written that some of his colleagues have eyes for the job of press spokesman in a Bush White House, so they wouldn't want to make too many waves. It also helps that Bush spends time in his off-hours making casual, social calls to reporters, talking about sports and family, helping them along with the myth that they're all Bush buddies. Karen Hughes, his main spinner, is another huge factor. She's not above tongue-lashing reporters in public when their stories don't jibe with her vision of things, and she tends to reward those who stay in line. And Texas reporters are accustomed to having someone, usually Hughes, standing near Bush during press conferences to correct him, feed him information, or pull him away when things are not going well. As Austin writer Robert Bryce has written, "Hughes, 43, can sometimes be seen mouthing the words to Bush's speeches as he delivers them." None of these methods of keeping reporters in line, particularly the last one, will work as well on the national level at this point. So we're back to the original question: When will the national media get tired of George's Bush-league grasp of big issues and media tactics and call him on it? Next page \| East Timorians?


Search..Archives..Contact Us..Table Talk..Ad Info..Investors