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Tim Pawlenty is a great example of the intellectual and analytical bankruptcy of the political press in this country. He was a serious candidate only to them and thus he remained a serious candidate even when the evidence out on the trail and in the debates said otherwise.
Meanwhile Ron Paul on the other hand, who got far less coverage in the media than Pawlenty, still can’t shake the “he can’t win” meme of the media despite 1). Having the fourth largest vote total in Iowa Straw Poll history; 2). Having more votes than both messrs. Romney and Huckabee four years ago; 3). coming within 152 votes of winning first place outright; 4). having improved greatly upon his performance four years ago.
In fact, Roger Simon, The King of Snark himself, basically admitted what everyone knew: Media people will continue to ignore Paul no matter what he does.
Every time Paul accomplishes something the media continues to mover the goalposts. Raise money. Check. Win CPAC they say. Check that. Show that you have voters in Iowa instead of out-of-state fans. Check that too. But that’s still not good enough. If he wins the Iowa Caucuses they’ll saw say Iowa is a small, white caucus state and shouldn’t be first anyway. If he wins New Hampshire Primary they’ll say New Hampshire is a small, white state and shouldn’t go first anyway. Hell, by this token they’ll cover something else during Paul’s inaugural ceremony in January 2013 as well.
Any candidate with Paul’s ability to raise money, have nationwide support and organization would be taken seriously by the media. But instead, because of their own personal or ideological biases (I would say more of the former), they would rather waste newsprint and bandwith on a candidate who, by the time of the Straw Poll was 2% in polls. It makes no logical sense except only in presenting the candidates they deem acceptable to the voting public.
What is the Republican “mainstream? Can they themselves define it? I thought the Republican Party was an American institution filled diverse views. Are they saying the GOP is like the North Korea People’s Assembly in that only certain views will be allowed and anything else is grounds for arrest and reeducation camp? Did it ever occur to them Paul may well be converting the “mainstream”, making arguments and convincing people he’s right. Do conservatives know how to do this anymore or are they too used to preaching to the choir? Going from 1,308 votes four years ago to 4,600 tells me he’s converted a lot of Iowans to his views. How the media cannot be impressed this only deepens the suspicions reporters either a). Don’t like what Paul stands for; b). Don’t like him personally or c). Don’t understand him or what’s trying to say, which only highlights their own lack of smarts and inability for anything outside of two-demensional thinking (Left and or Right).
No matter what the true reason is, it simply highlight the joke political journalism has become. To empty their media organization’s expense account in Ames and then debate whether it means anything or not is the height of institutional arrogance. They should only hope their paychecks don’t bounce later.
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