Progressives effecting media narrative of candidates but not media view of policy.

This is an interesting observation. dday writing at Digby's Hullabaloo point out how the media narrative on the Republician candidates has become pretty much the same narrative that progressives have been pushing since the various candidates for nomination began campaigning. Here's the transcript that he published as his example:

BLITZER: It wasn't exactly a shocker today, Jack, that Fred Thompson announced he's dropping out of this race. But let's take a look at the political fallout.

Among the Republicans, who gains, who loses?

CAFFERTY: Well, if he hadn't announced it, I'm not sure anybody would have noticed.

(LAUGHTER)

CAFFERTY: I mean I -- you know, it's like he hasn't -- he's only been here what -- you know, he wasn't that interested in campaigning. I think he would have liked it if somebody would have said you can be president. But he didn't want to work to get the job. And I'm not sure it means a heck of a lot for anybody. Somebody said that he might be trying to position himself to be vice president. He'll deny that.

BORGER: ...So watch for Mitt Romney, who is also running as a social conservative, to go after those six or seven Thompson voters that are out there.

(LAUGHTER)

BORGER: And he'll try -- he'll try and get them.

TOOBIN: You know, Wolf, you have to go all the way back to Rudolph Giuliani to find a campaign that has been singularly as unsuccessful as Fred Thompson's has been.

(LAUGHTER)

BORGER: That far back?

TOOBIN: You know, I just don't think it will have any impact at all, his departure...

BLITZER: Well, it could have a...

TOOBIN: ...just as his arrival didn't.

BORGER: You know...

BLITZER: It could have an impact in new episodes of "Law and Order," though.

BORGER: It could. It could. But, you know, this was such an interesting candidacy. It was created by the Republican establishment in Washington, who felt that they needed a new horse. They needed someone else. So they created this. They took a guy who was television. They said let's turn him into a presidential candidate. He will clearly appeal to the American public. And it totally flopped [...]

TOOBIN: That was the ultimate problem.

CAFFERTY: Take a look at all the other ideas the Republican establishment in Washington has had for the last seven years.

(LAUGHTER)

CAFFERTY: It's no surprise to me the Fred Thompson thing didn't go anywhere.

BLITZER: I can't tell you how many people in that Republican establishment -- especially here in Washington, the beltway, you know, the Republican lobbyists...

BORGER: Right.

BLITZER: ...the so-called elite, when they were even thinking of getting him in, they said this is the new Ronald Reagan. He's an actor.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

BLITZER: He's media-genic. He's powerful. And he's really going to turn things around.

(CROSSTALK) CAFFERTY: If you want to look at the definition of irrelevant, look up the Republican establishment in Washington, D.C.

BORGER: Right.

CAFFERTY: That's irrelevant.

(LAUGHTER)

TOOBIN: Fred Thompson definitely was the tallest candidate.

BORGER: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

BORGER: But, you know, it's so...

CAFFERTY: And the baldest.

BORGER: ...it's so arrogant, though, you know, to think that you can be anointed in Washington and you're pretty good on television and you look pretty good and you -- and you have great name recognition because you're in "Law and Order," and, gee, I can then become president.

And I think they talked him into it. And I think they said to him, you know, you don't have to work that hard.

(LAUGHTER)

BORGER: You can actually just get this job, get in late, let the public take a look at you. You're different. You're going to win. It didn't work out that way.

CAFFERTY: He bought that part about not having to work very hard. He liked that part.

(LAUGHTER)

CAFFERTY: You can sit in the trailer until it's time for your close-up, Fred.

(LAUGHTER)

[dday's comment on the transcript.] It has the usual Village cattiness, but these are themes that progressives pushed from the moment Thompson entered the race. He's lazy, he's an actor who wants to play the role of the President, he was pushed upon people by the establishment. And this is true across the line: Romney's an insincere flip-flopper, Rudy's a homicidal maniac, Huckabee's a Jesus freak, McCain wants to bomb the whole world (this narrative took hold until McCain dropped off the map and we stopped pressuring him), etc.

Now, we're aided by a really terrible slate of candidates. But it's clear that progressives have shot these narratives into the media bloodstream. Initially, Thompson was the guy you could smell the Aqua Velva on, and Romney was a guy who has shoulders on which you can land a 747. I really think the movement is maturing and deserves a lot of credit.

dday then goes on to point out that this is only the media narrative, and not a set of policy arguments. Progressive policy arguments have not yet taken root in the media, so they are still reported as "extremist." (My word, not dday's.)

I suspect that this is a function of two factors. First, the Progressive Movement is very new, and still finding its way. There are not yet a lot of media-accepted spokespersons the media can quickly call on for "the other side of the issue." That is purely a matter of time and getting the right names onto TV Producer's and reporter's Rolodexes. Second, and probably more significant, the Republican candidates are clearly a poor bunch who demand explanation, and there is no entrenched explanation that has to be overcome. Since each of the candidates is working hard to establish an image nationally, it is relatively easy to point to the candidate himself and supply a reasonable but alternative image.

Most of the planks on the Progressive agenda do not have clear faces like the Republican candidates do. What is the "face" of a broken healthcare system? It is difficult to point to a clear image, so the no longer accurate entrenched existing ideas about the "greatest health care system in the world" is much more difficult to overcome. The facts no longer support that entrenched idea, but the insurance companies have a vested interest in maintaining it and they spend a lot of money on both advertising and lobbying to do exactly that.

It's no surprise, then, that the newly recreated progressive movement has made a lot less progress on getting the media to accept progressive policies as mainstream than they have in getting the media to accept the Progressive narratives on the Republican candidates for President. Both are true, both are really mainstream, but the media investment in the older policy prescriptions is a lot more entrenched deeper than are the images of the current crop of Republican candidates for nomination as President.

That would account for the slower adoption by the media of progressive prescriptions. It shouldn't take too long to bring the media into line, though. A majority of the American public is already there, and the media is caught between a large and growing portion of their public on the one side and the progressive movement on the other, while the reality of the economy is clearly closer to that described by the Progressives than that described by the conservatives. The media will be forced into line. It's just going to take more time and effort.