Newsweek: Criticism Of Rudy's 9/11 Performance Is "Swift-Boating"
August 13, 2007 -- 11:35 AM EST // //
This article in Newsweek about Rudy -- which seems timed to coincide with his assertion that he spent as much or more time at Ground Zero than "most" recovery workers -- raises some key questions about the big news orgs' coverage of the Giuliani campaign:
Uh, Newsweek editors, substantive criticism of Rudy's 9/11 performance is not "swift-boating." This is precisely the line that the Rudy campaign wants you to take. Its argument has been that critics of Rudy's Masterfully Churchillian Performance, in particular the International Association of Firefighters, are thoroughly political and even "partisan." This is amusing, since IAFF's New York locals repeatedly endorsed...Rudy Giuliani for Mayor. To describe this as "swift-boating" -- with its implication that the criticism is political and partisan, not to mention an unfair attack on his actual record -- tells the story exactly the way Rudy wants you to.
Newsweek also says:
Giuliani may well prove a tougher target than John Kerry. Before the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth launched their attack on Kerry's Vietnam record in August 2004, most Americans had only a vague sense of his bio, leaving him susceptible to a counternarrative. But the image of Giuliani as 9/11 hero, as the voice of resolve when all other authority was absent, is deeply ingrained in the American consciousness. The real danger for Giuliani may well be not a campaign focused around his role on his 9/11 performance, but a campaign focused on anything else.But, look, the role of journalists isn't simply to decide whether criticism will be politically effective; it's also about determining whether the criticism is true. After all, these charges being directed at Rudy are, you know, kinda serious. If it weren't for the fact that Rudy had been deified from here to Pluto for his 9/11 performance, he wouldn't be running for President at all. His campaign is already claiming that he is better prepared than the other candidates to handle terrorism. So how about taking a look at the substance of the charges against him?
After all, if big news organizations do what Newsweek did here -- describe the charges as "swift-boating" and say that they're unlikely to work, rather than evaluating the seriousness and substantive significance of the charges themselves -- it's very likely that the criticism won't have an impact. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy. This blog frequently complains that the big news orgs simply refuse to acknowledge their own role in shaping public perceptions of our politicians. This is just more of that same old nonsense.
Relatedly, aside from these failings it's a very good thing that Newsweek ran something on this, and I submit that we'll all look back at Rudy's recovery-worker gaffe and see it as a very significant moment. It was covered by many of the big news orgs, making this the first time that the criticism of his Sacred and Inviolable Performance has punched through to a national audience in any serious way.
Indeed, there are other signs that the pundit establishment is beginning to awaken to the fact that there's actually a narrative out there, a body of facts, that counter-programs Rudy's carefully cultivated 9/11 mythology. That Rudy has aggressively exploited 9/11 -- in ways that are at odds with reality -- is at least starting to sink in with some of the opinion-makers.
Of course, if the big news orgs don't end up reporting seriously on the actual charges against him, it won't end up mattering all that much in the long run, now will it.