(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Why are the Republicans Obsessed with Covid-19 Politics? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-03 Democracy dies in darkness It’s a good, worthy story, the country has basically moved on from pandemic restrictions and mentality yet the GOP and their ranting liars in the House have set up all kinds of political machinations to frantically keep the story alive in present politics. Why is that? Coincidentally on Tuesday, February 1st two American journalism shops tried to report the phenomenon, Salon and the Washington Post, and an examination of both approaches merits study in how the truth does or does not play out in American journalism. I suppose I have a rather notorious reputation at the Washington Post after ruthlessly beating up an associate editor at Thanksgiving for gaslighting Washington Post election 2022 coverage, they blew it again, their very own journalist Wemple precisely wrote the truth and the Post trotted out some pathetic soul in smarmy corporate-speak and told us the sky is green, we were just great. I’m not obsessed with critiquing the Washington Post, I certainly don’t get off on it, and my subscription and previous writing demonstrates enough faith in that shop to merit time and attention. Typically for beltway reporting the Post clanked it on this story, god DC political reporting is so often lousy, but the mission here is to deliver the truth so the little people have a chance, not spearing the Washington Post again. Who wrote this story, Washington Post? Was it Abutaleb, Roubein, or Arnsdorf? Are you telling me they huddled together and passed around a laptop for various paragraphs? As a little person seeking truth I need a personal author byline so I have a history of who I’m reading but here I have three, it’s a prescription for the muddled confusion that follows, oh yeah Sotomayor helped out too, god. Somebody wrote it, say so, then list the three contributors. Both stories totally miss the lead but in different ways. In American journalism the lead is a holy pillar of craft accomplishment, in that first sentence or paragraph the story and its merits must plainly shine out. The Post expends two crucial first paragraphs clearly stating the phenomenon but then completely blows it with this is shaping up as a significant part of Party’s message. No, AbutalebRoubeinArnsdorfSotomayor, the Republicans are obsessed with Covid-19 politics and are going to spend the next two years ranting and lying about it when everybody else has moved on. Amanda Marcotte of Salon uses a personal anecdote to bring in the story, not the usual approach but it works. I would prefer the traditional wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am of an American journalism lead but, okay. Both stories then delve into specific tactics and specifics, but Marcotte does a manifestly better job at plainly asking why? Why are the Republicans behaving this way? Because it was an enormously powerful lever to motivate their base voters into action against Democrats and liberalism. Beltway journalism failure: For many Republicans, covid restrictions epitomize their fear of government intrusion into private life. Studies have shown that shutdowns in March and April of 2020 saved tens of thousands of lives and prevented even more covid hospitalizations. But even some Democrats have argued that schools remained closed far longer than they needed to and after there was evidence that children did not get infected at the same rates or with nearly the same severity as adults. Authoritarian Republicans are just fine with ripping away crucially important reproductive rights, intrusion into private life is bullshit and a plain miss of the truth. Then a sentence out of nowhere that shutdowns saved lives (well, yes?), but then another desperate jab that some Democrats criticized school closures. So? What a mess, what does this paragraph say? Beats me. For the record, shutdowns and school closures were enormously powerful government actions where it’s extremely difficult to accurately measure the costs and benefits, red and blue states alike implemented them, but there is no doubt Republicans zealously lied and manipulated the politics to their great benefit, they have performed much better in 2020 and 2022 than they should have. Yes the Republican leadership desperately needs to keep their base engaged, but it’s also hard to let go of something that works. Marcotte at Salon does a much better job at conveying the truth of how creepy and callously lying the Republicans are about all this. My last observation is that the why of Republican behavior falls a little short. Desperate base engagement with covid-19 politics means the Republicans have nothing, they build nothing for the little people, have no environmental vision and are just a bunch of dangerous Putin authoritarians, frantically trying to distract the truth of what they are. Thank you, Amanda Marcotte, for demonstrating your ability and status again as one of the top 20 American journalists in the United States. To my friends at the Washington Post, when, dudes? When will you ever get your political reporting together? 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