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April
11, 2002 8:30 a.m. |
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his
week conservatives suffered a heartbreaking setback and the media scored
a stupendous victory. Both of these things happened when Scott Armey,
son of the retiring conservative icon Dick Armey, lost his bid to replace
his father as a congressman from Texas. That seat will now be held by
a fairly liberal Republican by the name of Michael Burgess, a gynecologist
by trade.
What is interesting about this race is how Scott Armey lost. It turns out that this race is a fairly accurate peek into the future of what campaigns will look like when issue advertising is banned and the mainstream media is given almost monopoly power in using its megaphone to editorialize and smear candidates.
Let's set the stage. Scott Armey had a commanding lead in this race. He was well liked by voters. He had a substantial money advantage. He had high name recognition. He had Club for Growth support (full disclosure) and help from conservative groups. This is also a very conservative Texas and Scott had a proven conservative record as county supervisor. In sum, Scott Armey fit the district ideologically like a glove — just as his dad does. Or so it seemed.
How in the world did he lose?
The answer: a furious and quite savage last-minute media blitz by the Dallas Morning News intended to torpedo the Armey candidacy. It wasn't the DMN's editorial endorsement that hurt Armey. Does anyone read or care about newspaper endorsements?
The Dallas Morning News simply ambushed Armey. One story lambasted Armey for allegedly giving county contracts to his friends when he was on the board of supervisors. (Armey unabashedly denies the truth of the story.) A few days later another story reported that Armey caused a car crash ten years ago and that he didn't have insurance. The story alleges that Armey showed a lack of regret for the accident. They portray him as a heartless soul, who was unapologetic to the person who was injured. (Scott, by the way, denies this and he paid all injury and hospital bills.)
Even Richard Nixon didn't get this kind of shabby and one-sided treatment from the press during the last days of Watergate.
These innuendoes couldn't have been better timed if James Carville had planted them. They were devastating because they reinforced lingering doubts that voters had about Scott Armey — i.e., that he wasn't suited for the job, that he was too immature, and that he was merely an opportunist riding on the coat tails of his famous father.
Incidentally, these stories had the same impact as the George W. Bush revelation on election eve about the drunk-driving arrest that nearly cost W. the election. In this case, Armey's numbers sank like a rock and caused his stunning defeat. Does anyone believe that these "revelations" were not known until a few days before the election? It's one thing for an opponent to drop bombs like this on the eve of the election. But the "impartial" media?
Armey was never able to adequately respond to these "Are you still beating your wife?" stories because they were packed inside the last week or so. He did run some ads defending himself, but the damage had already been done.
Get used to this. Under John McCain's campaign-finance reform, CNN, the Dallas Morning News, the New York Times, etc., will have near monopoly power over election propaganda within 30-60 days of the election. Outside groups will be blackballed from criticizing or praising a candidate. Only the disinterested media will be permitted to do that. He who controls the message, largely controls the election.
Starting next year, there will be almost no way to counter attack against media propaganda that masquerades as news. Get used to newspapers and network news serving as judge, jury and executioner in election campaigns. We have John McCain to thank for that.
The irony is that this law was meant to limit the evil forces of money by special-interest groups who try to buy elections. Yes…those evil well-funded special-interest groups like, hmm, the Dallas Morning News.
— Stephen Moore is president of the Club for Growth.