COMM 386: Kurtz describes debate spin; Couric a winner

Howard Kurtz, media critic for The Washington Post, got away from the Beltway last week for the presidential debate at the University of Mississippi. The lede to his on-the-scene report, which gives quite a bit of atmosphere and describes how the post-debate spin operation works:

OXFORD, Miss. -- David Axelrod was surrounded by a pack of camera-toting, mike-wielding, pushing-and-shoving media types, one of whom asked whether his man Barack Obama had been "too nice" in the just-completed debate with John McCain.

"I don't think he was too nice. ... There were clear differences. ... He made a very strong case, absolutely," the onetime newspaperman said in his meandering style.

Twenty feet away, McCain operative Steve Schmidt was robotically hammering home a single number.

"Senator Obama was right tonight when he said John McCain was right 11 times. ... It was a home run for Senator McCain. ... The person who is losing the debate, the person who is on defense, is the person who says his opponent is right 11 times," the shaved-head strategist declared.

And so on ...

By the way, have I specifically assigned you to read Kurtz every day from now till the election? If not, I'm assigning him now. His blend of analysis and reporting is heavy on the latter, without which the former wouldn't be worth reading, and he's indispensable for keeping up with what's going on.

Couric 'wins' kudos. CBS anchor Katie Couric's handling of her interviews with Sarah Palin has drawn mostly good reviews. This after a year of second-guessing her performance as anchor and speculation she's on the way out after the election. Says Kurtz, "It may have been a turning point for Couric, who was persistent without being overbearing, in shedding early doubts about her ability to be a commanding presence in the CBS anchor chair."

Palin, of course, has hardly been winning kudos (as Kurtz notes). Even conservative pundits are piling up on her, leaving this old courthouse and county elections reporter to wonder if the spin on her performance in this week's debate is being set up to profit from what President Bush once described, in another context, as the "soft bigotry of low expectations." I'll bet 50 cents (a rather large amount of money for a classroom teacher) she "wins" the debate.