Campaign Style News Coverage

In a world of 24-hour news, and blogs, Rove got it right. Tom DeLay got it wrong.

As the Yellow Line previously reported, in a message e-mailed to supporters in his suburban Houston district that was provided to The Washington Post, DeLay blamed reports of misconduct on:

Democrats, liberal groups and the "legion of Democrat-friendly press" who were trying to undermine Republican control of Congress. "It is abundantly clear that their fundamental strategy revolves around attacking me and working to tear down Republican leadership," he said.

Presidential advisor Karl Rove, speaking at a forum at Washington College earlier this week, said, according to the Associated Press:

the media have started to apply the horse race style of campaign coverage to daily reporting on government, leading to adversarial reporting that can obscure the truth just to create conflict.

Rove countered the general notion among conservatives that mainstream media outlets skew liberal. He said the press corps is "less liberal than it is oppositional" and admitted to being a listener of National Public Radio.

Tom DeLay’s problems are of his own creation. Blaming the media is not the solution.