Job loss distortions continue (9/7)
By Brendan Nyhan
Democrats continue to spin the number of jobs lost under President Bush.
John Kerry's campaign and the Democratic Party have frequently attacked the White House by taking the total number of net private sector jobs lost under Bush and presenting the figure as if it represents the total net job loss for his presidency. The actual figure for net job loss since January 2001 including both the private and public sectors is 913,000 jobs according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Sept. 4, which revised the figure down from 1.1 million in August. However, Democrats have repeatedly cited private sector job losses instead, which declined from approximately 1.8 million to 1.6 million when the new data were released, without noting the important qualifier.
For instance, before the announcement of the new data, Kerry's running mate, John Edwards, referred on August 31 to "1.8 million jobs gone." His campaign manager, Mary Beth Cahill, made a similar statement in advance of President Bush's convention speech on Sept. 2, saying, "The last four years have been an abject failure: almost 2 million lost jobs, 5 million more without health care coverage, health care and energy costs going through the roof and a mess in Iraq that has cost America over $200 billion."
The talking point was exaggerated still further by Congressman Frank Pallone, D-NJ, on CNN August 31. Pallone claimed that "if you look at it over the last four years, the number of jobs that have been lost is over two million jobs" and later added that "We lost over two million jobs in that four-year period."
Since the new figures came out, Kerry has cited the 1.6 million figure at least twice without clarification. In his radio address Saturday, Kerry claimed that "Over the past three years, we've lost 1.6 million jobs in the United States." And he repeated it in a statement released today.
These are part of a long pattern of Democratic trickery with net job loss figures that we have documented on our website and in our book. The media need to clarify the facts each and every time Kerry or his supporters make one of these deceptive claims.
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Related links:
-Kerry pushes an old myth and a new one (Brendan Nyhan and Bryan Keefer, 4/15/04)
-Chapter 10 of All the President's Spin on campaign 2004
9/7/2004 11:45:43 AM EST |
Outrageous rhetoric from a trio of liberals (9/7)
By Brendan Nyhan
Several liberals have recently indulged in inflammatory and unsubstantiated attacks on the right, comparing the Bush administration to Nazi Germany, associating the Republican Party with a racist fringe candidate, and alleging without evidence that Bush advisor Karl Rove is masterminding attacks on John Kerry's Vietnam war record.
Rep. Major Owens, D-NY, reportedly claimed Bush was leading America into a "snakepit of fascism" and stated that "We are going in the same direction as Nazi Germany in terms of we have a ruthless group of people who make bold decisions. They spit on democracy."
In an August 25 email to supporters (45K PDF), MoveOn.org's Eli Pariser attacked Republicans, writing that, "[A]t the same time that Republicans claim they represent all of America, they're fielding candidates who have some pretty outrageous and radical views. Republican congressional candidate and eugenics supporter James Hart, for example, recently explained his campaign strategy to reporters: 'Every person who opens the door - as long as they're white - I'll say, "I'm James Hart. I'm running for Congress."' We can't afford to let people like James Hart run our country."
What Pariser left out, however, is that Hart, who won the nomination in Tennessee's 8th district only because no other Republican filed as a candidate, has been disowned by the Tennessee state GOP as well as the national party. The state party's executive committee went so far as to call his views "abhorrent and outrageous." Conflating Hart with other Republican candidates is outrageous.
Finally, in one of the most irresponsible suggestions that the White House and the 527 group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are coordinating their efforts, Kerry surrogate Max Cleland claimed in a statement released by the campaign that criticism of Kerry's testimony about the Vietnam war by Bush advisor Karl Rove proved that he was behind the actions of the Swift Boat Veterans group. "Karl Rove was behind it all," Cleland said (our emphasis), adding "it's part of his smear campaign to tarnish the records and service of Vietnam veterans, and now he's doing it again."
In the heat of the campaign, reasonable debate is again falling by the wayside.
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Related links:
-Spinning swift boat vets as Bush surrogates (Ben Fritz, 9/1/04)
9/7/2004 11:22:37 AM EST |
An excerpt from the media chapter of All the President's Spin:
Bush’s White House has broken new ground in its press relations strategy, exploiting the weaknesses and failings of the political media more systematically than any of its predecessors. The administration combines tight message discipline and image management – Reagan’s trademarks – with the artful use of half- or partial truths and elaborate news management – Clinton’s specialties – in a combination that is near-lethal for the press.
These techniques are effective precisely because they prey on four key weaknesses of contemporary journalism. First and foremost, reporters are constrained by the norm of objectivity, which frequently causes them to avoid evaluating the truth of politicians’ statements. In addition, because reporters are dependent upon the White House for news, the administration can shape the coverage it receives by restricting the flow of information to the press. The media are also vulnerable to political pressure and reprisal, which the Bush White House has aggressively dished out against critical journalists. Finally, the press’ unending pursuit of scandal and entertaining news often blinds it to serious issues of public policy.
By aggressively deploying its communications strategy against a media establishment wary of giving credence to charges of liberal bias and fearful of challenging a self-described “war president” after Sept. 11, Bush has successfully dissembled about public policy on a far more consistent basis than his predecessors. Do President Bush’s tax cuts primarily benefit the wealthy or the middle class? Was there clear evidence that Iraq was attempting to produce nuclear weapons or was connected to al Qaeda? What role have tax cuts played in the recent growth of federal budget deficits? There are answers to all of these questions, but the media are frequently reluctant to point out the misinformation in Bush’s statements about such controversial policy issues. By using every advantage it can muster against the media, the Bush administration has dedicated itself to transforming the press from a watchdog to a mouthpiece for its spin. (Read the whole excerpt.)
An interview with the authors:
Alternet: Why did you decide write this book, given that there are so many other book bashing Bush out there already?
Brendan Nyhan: We felt like the books out there on Bush don't really do justice to what has gone on over the last four years. Bush is the leader in the arms race of political spin. But no one was adequately explaining how he was getting away with it or focusing on how the media has let him get away with it.
Alternet: Did you feel that the other books were not tough enough on him or is it that they were too shrill in accusing him of lying?
Bryan Keefer: There are a lot of Bush-bashing books out there – for example, David Corn's book is called The Lies of George W. Bush. But the administration is in fact very good at not lying, saying things that have a kernel of truth but when taken as a whole are very misleading. (Read the whole interview.)
9/7/2004 09:36:30 AM EST |
By Brendan Nyhan and Ben Fritz
From the distortion of John Kerry's decision to volunteer for swift boat duty in Vietnam to his promotion of a supposed plan to cut the federal budget deficit in half, the Democratic convention offered more than its share of spin to viewers. Last week, it was the Republicans' turn, and the GOP deployed a wide array of specific, factually misleading attacks against their opponent. (Read the whole column.)
Update (9/9): A version of this column appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer today.
9/7/2004 07:56:04 AM EST |
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