Karl Rove's "Blame the Media First" Strategy

In a commencement speech yesterday at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, presidential adviser Karl Rove essentially attacked the integrity of the entire mainstream news media. Rove argued that journalists criticize politicians because "they want to draw attention away from the corrosive role their coverage has played focusing attention on process and not substance." This is the latest example of a concerted election year strategy by Rove to challenge the integrity and legitimacy of news journalism. Earlier this year, the strategy appeared in force with the strident and overheated condemnations of The New York Times following the Times's revelations about NSA eavesdropping and surveillance.

So what's up with this "Blame the Media First" Strategy? I thought the Democrats were the opposition, not the media. However, on a deeper strategic level, it makes sense. In some ways, the Democrats themselves have become a bit irrelevant in this current election cycle. The election has become about how badly Americans perceive the state of things these days. And where do we get our notions about how bad things are? The news media. Therefore, if Karl Rove and his surrogates can convince us that journalists are "corrosive," dishonest, and unconcerned about national security, perhaps we'll start doubting--or at least not take as seriously-- the bad news that we've been hearing everyday for quite some time. At that point, the campaign then comes down to political ads and "gotcha" politics--the arenas in which a political mastermind like Rove thrives. It's actually sort of brilliant--desperate, but brilliant.

On the other hand, the national news media HATES having its legitimacy challenged, because journalists know if they lose that (or at least the perception of legitimacy), they lose everything. So it could be a season of rough media coverage for those candidates who follow Rove's lead.