The Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of tax-exemption applications from tea party and other conservative groups has driven the news cycle in Washington this week. The congressional hearings and resignations have already begun and the word “scandal” is again at the front of the Beltway lexicon. … Amid the headlines, we […] Read more »
Covering facts versus the ‘narrative’
The dilemma for journalists this week: How should you cover a series of proto-scandals with seemingly little in common? … Many are covering the new “narrative” of Obama’s administration, which is reflective of the way that political and media elites coordinate on interpretations of events as scandalous. As I argue […] Read more »
Americans’ Attention to IRS, Benghazi Stories Below Average
Slim majorities of Americans are very or somewhat closely following the situations involving the Internal Revenue Service (54%) and the congressional hearings on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and its aftermath (53%) — comparatively low based on historical measures of other news stories over the last […] Read more »
Another Change Election?
It’s not as if Democrats aren’t already looking at a tough election in 2014. They have lots of red state Senate seats to defend and few obvious GOP targets in the House. They have to prepare for the likelihood of a rough and messy implementation of the health care law […] Read more »
How the White House Scandals Could Hurt Republicans, Too
Scandals large and small are a remarkably common, if unwelcome, house guest for second-term presidents. But President Obama may not prove to be the only one hurt by the eruption of controversies around the Benghazi attack, the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups, and the Justice Department’s seizure of […] Read more »
Republicans Should Go Easy on Obama, At Least in Public
… Although an administration under siege is never a pretty sight, it’s more the rule than the exception during second presidential terms. It is a time when the novelty of a new president has fully worn off and the public becomes increasingly open to change. These second-term problems have become […] Read more »