The blare of talk radio and 24/7 cable news reminds us that political communication is like the nuclear arms race of the Cold War. Each side feels the need to create weapons (talking points) and worries that unilaterally disarming (being candid) will be a damning sign of weakness. Instead of giving peace (intellectual policy discussion) a chance, the Bush Administration has decided that going on the offensive (full-fledged spinning) is the best approach to fighting the media wars.
Maybe I’m being too creative, but this is the allegory that came to my mind while listening to Bryan Keefer and Dan Senor at a debate sponsored by the Donald & Paul Smith Family Foundation and moderated by Harvey Shapiro of Institutional Investor.
Keefer operates the websites Spinsanity and Campaign Desk. He blames the media for its inability to hold politicians accountable. While I sympathize with his arguments, I strongly disagree that spin is the media’s fault. I tend to agree with the Bush Administration’s operating assumption that the media is just another interest group; I don’t hold the media to a higher standard than any other entity in society.
Senor was the former Chief Spokesperson for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. I generally agreed with him when he wasn’t busy defending the Bush campaign. Senor thinks that level of discourse in politics hasn’t devolved and is similar to the tone of previous years. He defended the use of slogans as an honest way to communicate messages to the public.