Angle Seeks Detente with Media
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on March 22nd, 2011 4:31 am by HL
Angle Seeks Detente with Media
Sharron Angle (R) opened her Nevada congressional campaign by doing the unexpected — she actually took questions from reporters, the Reno Gazette Journal reports.
“The tea party favorite, who has referred to the media as the ‘lame stream’ media, held a question and answer session with Nevada journalists Monday for nearly an hour. She took all questions, including those about the perception that she ran from reporters in her campaign against U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, how she thinks she can win after three unsuccessful attempts at federal office and why she thinks she can come back after such a devastating loss in 2010.”
Pawlenty’s Challenges
On the heels of Tim Pawlenty’s announcement that he is forming a presidential exploratory committee, the New York Times examines five key challenges that the former Minnesota governor must overcome in order for him to have a viable shot at victory. They are money, visibility, message, fiscal discipline, and tactics.
Seriously Now
John Dickerson writes about politicians’ love of calling for “seriousness” during difficult debates:
“This call for seriousness is often itself not a serious charge. What most of the criticisms actually mean is ‘My opponent doesn’t believe something I’d like him to.’ The outbreak of such talk comes at just the moment that more precise language would be helpful. The debate over short- and long-term budget deficits is about priorities. You can’t start that debate, or work through it effectively, if the words used to convey the relative importance of things are all gummed up.”
New Congress Increasingly Unpopular
A Pew Research poll finds disapproval of the new Congress increasing among the American public. Key findings:
- About half of Americans think the debate over spending and deficits has been “generally rude and disrespectful,” including 48% of Republicans and Democrats as well as 57% of independents.
- The percentage of Americans who feel that the Republicans are better at handing the deficit dropped from 35% after the election to 21% currently.
- The percentage of Americans who feel President Barack Obama is better at handing the deficit has also dropped from 24% to 20%.
- About 75% of Tea Party supporters back the GOP budget plans after the election, that figure has dropped to 52%.
