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Herm Edwards Isn't the Only One With Clock Management Issues

Perhaps because of the socioeconomic status of its leaders, the Republican party seems well out of touch with the internal calendar of the United States of America.

The ancient Washington cliche says that one is supposed to release bad news when people are least likely to be paying attention, this is, late on Friday afternoon, or, as in the case of commuting Scooter Libby's sentence, in the middle of the main holiday of the summer.

This strikes me as exactly backwards. The WORST way to bury news is to put it in a place where there isn't any other news to hide it. The newspaper industry has done thousands of surveys to find out why people don't read the paper, and the lead answer in all of them is "we're too busy." The exigencies of normal life take up too much time.

Holidays equal free time. Not much is going on in public or private life. Ergo, any news you make will receive more attention than it would otherwise. Nature may abhor a vacuum, but not nearly as much as the producers at cable news networks do. As an added bonus to those poor folks, the Libby decision costs nothing to cover. Round up the usual talking heads!

In addition, Americans prize their free time. Politicians who use it up by creating news are resented, and rightly so. People have their faults, but by and large, they're not stupid. They know when someone is counting on their sloth and apathy. Pisses 'em off.

I have evidence to support this theory. No Republican decision of recent times was as roundly unpopular as the move to impeach Bill Clinton. I firmly believe the timing of this move was as much responsible for that as its dubious merits as policy. One of the strongest unwritten rules of US public life is not to make any news from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. That's when people are busiest. They have no time to consider their responsibilities as citizens, and no patience for any news except shoppers at the mall and the occasional house fire caused by defective Christmas lights. The GOP thought Americans would be too distracted to care. They were wrong.

The Republicans ignored that rule, and suffered accordingly. The Libby commutation would have been controversial at any time. It will be MORE discussed, and hence more controversial, because of when it was issued. People will be at parades, picnics, and fireworks shows in the next two days, not at their desks or factories. And a great many members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, will be at the very same events.

I almost feel sorry for the poor bastards.

posted by Michael Gee @ 11:20 AM