Communications And Mailing Lists
There's a bit of a kerfluffle right now being led by the left wing blogs about an interview at a fairly obscure magazine, Texas Monthly, with Dan Bartlett, fomer counselor to President Bush. The ruckus, such as it is, is about this quote:
-What about the blogs?
We had to set up a whole new apparatus to deal with the challenges they pose. Are they real journalists? The Washington Post, for example, has journalists who are now bloggers. Do you treat them as bloggers? Do they get credentials?
-Let’s think of it as a practical matter. If one of those journalists-turned-bloggers, Chris Cillizza, e-mails you to say he needs an interview, and at the same time one of the Post’s print reporters—say, Dan Balz—e-mails you and says he needs an interview, and you can do only one . . .
Balz.
-Because the print edition of the Post has more of an impact?
Because Balz is on multiple platforms. He’s booked more easily on television. He’s read by more people. He influences people a bit more. Now, the question might not be as much Chris versus Dan as maybe, “Is it Dan Balz or one of the guys at [the conservative blog] Power Line?”
-Yeah, or what if [conservative blogger] Hugh Hewitt called?
That’s when you start going, “Hmm . . .” Because they do reach people who are influential.
-Well, they reach the president’s base.
That’s what I mean by influential. I mean, talk about a direct IV into the vein of your support. It’s a very efficient way to communicate. They regurgitate exactly and put up on their blogs what you said to them. It is something that we’ve cultivated and have really tried to put quite a bit of focus on.
I think Ed Morrisey hits this one quite well:
As far as regurgitation and efficiencies of communication, we all wish Bartlett would have succeeded as well as he apparently thinks he did. Most of us have begged for more interaction at the White House, and have received little more than e-mails with speech transcripts. On one occasion, when the White House wanted to make its case on executive privilege, they held a blogger conference call, which I live-blogged here. There may have been one more, but at the moment I don't recall it.
The only other contacts that I've ever received from the White House communication team have come when they disagreed with me. For a while, they would submit on-the-record responses to posts I had written to rebut some criticism. On a few occasions, their staffer would comment on a post, and on two occasions I posted their rebuttals to the main page and then rebutted the rebuttals. That's hardly regurgitation.
Kevin Drum, meanwhile, gloats about it:
What makes this especially precious is that it comes right before Bartlett argues that the Bush White House didn't really treat Fox News any better than any other news outlet. So the right-wing blogosphere now has a new motto: Even more credulous and slavish than Fox News. It's a proud moment for them.
Now, for the record, I have never - not once - been contacted by the White House communications people. But I would be forced to ask Kevin Drum if he was ever a member of Kos' Townhouse mailing list. Not that I expect an answer. One would just like to know.
Blogosphere, Politics | Gaius Wednesday, 5 December , 2007
By daveinboca, Thursday, 6 December , 2007 @ 1:20 am
Sadly, the entire Bush operation’s outreach to its own base mirrors its inability to explain itself in Reaganesque or even Clintonesque clarity & concision.
GWB operates as though he has a base vocabulary of about 5000 words, and his limited range of communication skills really sets the tone for an administration which often acts as though they are a deer in the headlights.
The press conference on Iran & the NIE shows he cannot in clear and simple terms communicate with the American people, preferring to try to woo the hostile press or to state principles. Give the people red meat to either chew on or reject. But the mealy-mouthed shrugs and smirks just don’t convey much besides frustration. And if George could just rouse up the conservative troops like an articulate cheerleader, rather than claiming to be a quarterback [I'm the decider..."]
GWB is no Tom Brady, and he certainly isn’t a two-fer like Reagan.