Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 29, 1995 TAG: 9503300013
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAL THOMAS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There is a pattern here that can be compared to certain methods of food preparation. Sometimes meat is cooked for a while, and then a thermometer is inserted to see if it is done. If not, the cooking continues until the ``doneness'' level matches the requirements of the cook.
In politics, the meat is the people. The cook is the press. And the device used to determine ``doneness'' is the opinion poll.
Democrats, especially liberal ones, almost never have their claims challenged. Their views are printed and broadcast virtually free of any reportorial corrections. But when Republicans, especially conservative ones, make claims about welfare, taxing or deficit spending, their remarks are almost always challenged, not on the facts but because of the speaker's ``cruelty'' or ``harshness'' or ``friendship with the rich.'' The result is to perpetuate the stereotype that government-run programs, administered by liberal Democrats, are the only way the deprived can survive.
The networks and major newspapers turned up the heat after the new Congress was sworn in. They focused on Speaker Gingrich's ``ethical problems'' (more politically stupid than unethical) over a book contract. They allowed charges about the school-lunch program and Social Security to go unchallenged. When an ethical concern is raised about a Clinton administration official, such as Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, the public gets a sympathetic spin from Dan Rather: ``New legal trouble tonight for a widely respected member of President Clinton's Cabinet.'' Then ABC parades a seemingly endless number of supposed ``victims'' of proposed budget cuts.
Republican efforts to protect the taxpayers' pocket by requiring a three-fifths vote for any tax increases were met with anything but fair reporting: Newsweek called Republicans backing the measure ``the `Shiites' of the House.'' Reporter Tom Rosenstiel used harsh words to describe some Republicans, including ``bombastic,'' ``fiercely ideological and unyielding,'' ``radicals,'' ``renegades'' and ``zealots.''
Time magazine would not be outdone, saying ``a zealous crop of House freshmen wants to yank the agenda rightward'' and referring to them as ``shock troops [who are] hard to the right and unbeholden to the new order.'' The unbeholden part ought to be a plus.
After weeks of this, the probe is inserted in the form of opinion polls. The public is found ambivalent or opposed to ``starving'' children (who isn't?), though both Republican and Democrat proposals for the school-lunch program would spend more, not less. The latest Los Angeles Times poll found Americans giving qualified approval to the new Republican Congress, though they remain dubious about plans for sweeping tax cuts.
The Times poll found confidence in Congress down from January with only 13 percent of those surveyed expressing approval. Thanks to the real voice of America - talk radio (which Hillary Rodham Clinton wrongly believes is telling people what to think, rather than reflecting what people already think) - the old way of swaying public opinion doesn't have the power it once did. The Times poll found that while 14 percent believe the GOP House majority has gone too far in cutting back government, 46 percent said Congress hasn't gone far enough.
The big media will continue broadcasting ``despicable demagoguery'' - their own and that of some members of Congress. Republicans should rebut every charge, but not bend. More Americans are realizing that many of the social programs born in the 1930s have outlived their usefulness. It's time to end some and change others.
If Republicans lead and don't falter, the polls will catch up. If they get cold feet, the voters will take their revenge next year at the polling place.
- Los Angeles Times Syndicate
by CNB