This week, as the Republicans have enjoyed nearly double the cable news airtime as the Democrats, I’m reminded of a theory I wrote about on the Huffington Post last Summer, comparing the cable news treatment of the parties to a science experiment:
In scientific terms, the left has been tagged by the corporate media as the “experimental group” while the right is the “control group.” The Republicans are the Awesome Republicans no matter what. They’re constant. They set the tone of the debate. The corporate media accepts their terms, their rules and their frames as a given and the Democrats are expected to jump and dash and explain themselves based upon those givens, irrespective of how ludicrous they happen to be. [...]
And the experiment goes on and on with the Democrats (or liberals or progressives) poked and dissected and injected with false arguments, specious claims and disproved quotes (see Dana Milbank’s recent column) often manufactured by the right and invariably parroted by the corporate media.
With the recovery bill debate, it’s been the White House and the Democrats who are hectored and badgered into making concessions and reaching out to the Republicans. And when the Republicans turn their backs and vote unanimously against the bill, naturally it’s the Democrats who failed.
