Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Media's BSO Perry Starts At 29% In Rassmussen, Next To Do The Poll Dive Whilst Palin Watches & Waits?

UPPDATE; AlaskaDispatch's "Palin Watch" article mirrors the concept below

The media's latest Bright Shiny Object, the non-Romney who would galvanize the GOP faithful, and destroy President Obama, is off to a wonderful start-29% and the lead in the latest Rasmussen poll.

That poll did not include Palin, and there is no doubt that Perry's support in it would not be at 29% if she were included (just as Bachmann would not have received the vote level in Iowa that she did if Palin had been a declared candidate).

This follows the previous media BSO's, and what a long line of them there are.Thune/Daniels/Huntsman/Christie (still being pushed)/Pawlenty, and many more-the queue goes off into the distance. Bachmann was, of course, last weeks media star, until Perry declared and the media scrum shifted bodily to him.

Bachmann had her meteoric rise in the polls to 16% and since then has drifted back to around 7%-12% depending on which poll you look at, but it appears the momentum has stopped. And why do these shooting stars rise and fall so quickly? Basically because they are in reality unknown quantities and are media creations.

Once the media starts its digging, or muck raking if you prefer, all sorts of drama comes out,,both personal and public. Once the candidates profile gets lifted then their statements get covered. Then silly, or stupid, or irrational or wrong statements, which would usually pass unnoticed, get blown up for the country to judge the character and capability of the issuer of them.

When this happens, the result is not so good-witness Bachmann's media savaging, and now, Perry is getting the blowtorch treatment, caused, mostly by his own foot in mouth predilections. The man sounds so much like the media despised GW Bush that the more the public hears from him, the quicker his decline will be "Does the country want another Bush clone from Texas" will be blogged incessantly, and the satirists will have a field day with Perry.

This rise and fall and media search for a new BSO, has one root cause and that is the fact that the putative front runner, Romney is so lacking in inspiration and is running such a bland, almost hidden campaign.

The rank and file are riled up and they want leadership (witness the quick death of the bland Pawlenty's campaign), just like the media wants conflict. Romney does not have the capacity to give this Tea Party led desire for radical change the outlet they need. Bachmann and Perry are already, and will further, wilt under the media spotlight, and will be shown to have feet of clay.

Only one prospective candidate has been through the media grinder and is still standing, and that of course is Sarah Palin. Should she declare, the support she gets initially will be genuine base level support, which she can build on-it will most certainly, not be media driven support.

The nomination is a marathon, not a media driven sprint. Palin is eyeing  up the starting line and if she enters the race she will not be governed by the old media script nor the Beltway fossils in her race tactics.


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