Liberals don't really listen to talk radio, and they expose themselves to Fox News usually only on special occasions. I also think they do good and even "important" work. writing talking points for liberal talking heads, so that they can more effectively win their arguments with conservative talking heads, and thus save America.
It was something called "Message Matters," a separate thing, also run by Brock, out of the same office, that is dedicated to.
So the memo instructs the professional progressive "influential" to raise some "key questions," like: "Is this story about a government source blowing the whistle on government misbehavior, or about a source gratuitously exposing ongoing counter-terrorism operations?" And: "How should the Justice Department strike the balance between respecting our free press and investigating damaging leaks that jeopardize counter-terrorism operations?" (These seem more like essay prompts than "issues," actually?) And obviously "raising" these "key issues," even in this "just asking questions!" manner, basically amounts, as Jason Linkins writes, to mounting a defense of the Justice Department that is neither necessary nor justifiable.Įxcept! It wasn't actually "Media Matters" that did this. The rest of us will be back here, grappling, while you engage in your semi-scripted verbal combat, with some guy who has different talking points. "For those interested in pushing back against partisan attacks while the rest of us grapple with the larger questions, here is language to guide you," the memo said.
Like all talking points, these talking points were dumb and full of weird weaselly language and made worse by the fact that each claim was designed to be repeated by people on TV who presumably don't believe what they say or at least don't really care that much. The talking points were distributed to 3,000 "progressive talkers and influentials," according to Media Matters head David Brock. Yesterday, Media Matters, the liberal media watchdog group, sent out to a fairly massive email list a talking points memo defending the Obama Justice Department's obtaining of Associated Press phone logs.