Recently I was reminded of the presidential campaign of 2004 in which George W. Bush ran against Sen. John Kerry for president. Early in the campaign season there was a brief period during which it seemed every journalist was asking President Bush some form of the question, “Why won’t you say that you were wrong about Iraq?”
I thought this rather odd at the time. Then I heard an explanation that I still find is the only explanation that makes sense. These members of the media wanted a soundbite, or a video, that could be used against Bush closer to Election Day.
Fortunately for Bush, he knew what was going on and did not give them what they wanted. After a week or two, the journalists shifted their questioning of the uncooperative Bush.
Opinion columnist Cal Thomas provided an example of this at the time. Reporting on a press conference of April 13, 2004, he stated, “Four times, by my count, reporters tried to get the president to admit he had done something wrong. What they really wanted was a huge headline: ‘President admits fault for 9/11’ or, even better (from their perspective), ‘President admits mistakes in Iraq War.’”
Thomas also noted the shift in questioning, “Frustrated by their inability to pry such words from the president, reporter Don Gonyea from National Public Radio tried another tactic. Rather than asking a question, Gonyea made an accusation. He charged Bush with being a failure as a communicator because he uses the “same phrases” a lot and his speeches.”
What triggered this memory was the recent “Political Face-off” segment of the Buckmaster Show on KVOI in which Democrat Aaron Rottenstein and Republican Bruce Ash were arguing.
A caller brought up the subject of Rep. Martha McSally, a Republican. Rottenstein hammered Ash with, “When is she going to meet with us in public?” This is the present day version of, “Why won’t you say that you were wrong about Iraq?”
Rottenstein was not the first to ask this question and the notion had already spread widely among the voters in McSally’s Congressional District 2. The Democrats were prepared for either eventuality. If McSally held a town hall, they could both try to force some sort of gaffe and pack the meeting with McSally haters to portray her as some wretched individual — a sort of streetfighter version of the tactic used on Bush. The Democrats also knew that if she declined she could be criticized for not reaching out to the people. Either way, it’s a win for them.
McSally actually did hold a town hall on Feb. 23 in Sahuarita, moderated by Dan Shearer of the Green Valley News. The videos I saw showed a hall packed with McSally haters who would not let her get past the first sentence of an answer before shouting her down, with another group outside waving placards, shouting and pounding on the door. The videos also showed reasonable people asking questions.
No one can say to what degree the crowd was organized, and it appeared that McSally gave away about as much as Bush did. By the way, I don’t fault the Democrats for employing these sorts of tactics, I just wish that Republicans were half as good at it.
Based on these events, it is clear to me that the hectoring of McSally is a campaign tactic, not some grass-roots concern for the people.
