Did Media Really Band Together To Protect The Chevy Malibu?

That's the charge leveled by the Truth About Cars:

Jack Baruth surveys the literature and concludes: “The media really didn’t want to let anybody know that the new Malibu sucks.”

The Truth About Cars previously featured an ahead-of-the-curve review -- "The Malibu sucks" -- and now, only after initial reviewer spinning, is the truth breaking out that the Malibu sucks.

How bad is media bias? Well, political considerations even distort car reviews.

We know they distort movie reviews, but at least movies are communicative, and as such related, in a way, to political campaigning (as Leni Reifenstahl could tell you).

But even product reviews -- car reviews -- are infected with Obama boosterism.

When I was a kid, I thought the tale of the Emperor's New Clothes was funny, but stupid. That would never happen, I thought. That's what made it funny. It was so dumb. People were acting in such unbelievable ways.

But it's actually spot-on, isn't it?

Also At Kaus: Romney Should Go on Offense Against Obama's Welfare Backsliding. Will he though?

I doubt it. He will probably shy away from the inevitable "racist! Code word! Dog whistle!" pushback.

The Obama Department of Agriculture has pulled the radio”novelas” that urged Spanish-speakers to wise up and get on the dole. (“In one of these, an individual tries to convince a friend to enroll in food stamps even though that friend declares: ‘I don’t need anyone’s help. My husband earns enough to take care of us,” says GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions, describing the novelas. “The first individual replies back: ‘When are you going to learn?’”)

Why is the USDA’s retreat significant? Because it shows the administration is sensitive, in an election year, to being perceived as dismissive of the work ethic. Like a prize fighter who winces when you hit him in a sore spot, the Obamaites have revealed their weakness. If the Republicans’ have any strategic sense they will now hit that sore spot again by making a big fuss about the Health and Human Service regulations that renege on the work requirements imposed on welfare recipients by the 1996 welfare reform law (and its successors). If Romney, Boehner and McConnell can’t frame these regs as part (along with the food stamp push) of Obama’s cavalier disregard for the value of work–in embarrassing contradiction to the image he portrayed in 2008–they should really retire to Austria with Denise Rich. …

I suppose it does fold in neatly enough with Romney's "government-centered society" argument. Who knows, maybe he'll show a little bit of steel.

posted by Ace at 03:36 PM

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