A revealing look at how news gets made

'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'

George Orwell, 1984

An interesting piece by Tony Lee over at Breitbart:

Media and Permanent Political Class Attempt to Rewrite 2008 Election

POLITICO reported on a memo, "Shield Steve Schmidt From McCain Blame," put together in the waning days of the 2008 presidential campaign by associates of Schmidt to absolve him of campaign mismanagement. The memo lays out a strategy to shape conventional wisdom by targeting mainstream journalists and Republican talking heads and to blitz the media landscape with friendly talking points that would make it seem like even Ronald Reagan could not have won in 2008.

The obvious purpose was to absolve the professional operatives of all blame, allowing them to get hired again and sell their “snake oil” magic to the next politician. The quid pro quo was simple: we give you exclusive “gossip” and minutiae and you get exclusive reporting and access.

It's nice to that the professionals around McCain had their priorities in order.

Kind of funny that when it was crunch time, the only person still trying to win the election for McCain was Sarah Palin. The campaign professionals were already in CYA mode.

Lee makes a telling point here:

If the mainstream media is not stupid, then it deliberately plays along with false narratives, knowing they are being spun, because reporters need scoops and access in the future from the permanent class of political operatives.

Related:

Playing nice is not a strategy (at least not a winning strategy)

Moran's bogus history lessons are part and parcel of the "permanent campaign" mode that now defines our politics. That mode goes beyond starting the next election cycle as soon as the last vote is cast. It also has a retrospective component as partisans try to re-write the history of past campaigns to gain useful talking points or to neuter issues that hurt their party.

Thus, Willie Horton becomes evidence of Republican racism instead of the liberalism of Michael Dukakis. The Swift Boat Veterans become partisan liars even when they present unchallenged facts about John Kerry. John McCain lost because of Sarah Palin.