Bash follows the playbook

Balanced reporting vs. unbalanced reality

CNN’s Dana Bash recently interviewed Rep. Jamie Raskin in the wake of the abortive assassination attempt on Trump. The interview nicely illustrates a major problem with our mainstream media and a major problem with our Democrats. Here’s a key excerpt:

Bash: You have, and as many of your fellow Democrats have used some heated rhetoric against the president. And do you think twice about that when something like this happens?

Raskin: What rhetoric do you have in mind?

Bash: Well, just talking about some of the fact that he is terrible for this country and so on and so forth….”

Raskin responded by saying that he criticizes Trump’s policies, but he doesn’t personalize his criticisms of Trump. I think Raskin is terrific. A former law professor, he has no superior in Congress in calling out the neo-fascism (not his term) of the Trump regime. And I understand that even thoughtful and articulate politicians can’t always be quick on their feet. But his response to Bash was lame. Here’s how I imagine the interview could/should have proceeded:

Raskin: Can you be more specific?

Bash: Well…

Raskin: For example, President Trump has called his political opponents vermin, scum and traitors. Has any prominent Democrat said any of those things about Trump?

Bash: Uh…, not that I …

Raskin: Trump once suggested that General Milley, his chairman of the Joint Chiefs, should be executed for treason. Has any prominent Democrat called for the execution of the President?

Bash: No.

Raskin: I personally believe that Trump is the most dishonest, the most corrupt, and the most dangerous person ever to occupy the White House. Am I not supposed to say such things?

Bash: Uh…

Raskin: So, Dana, do you want to withdraw your question?

Bash: Let’s move on…

Bash was following the playbook of our mainstream media that calls for “balanced” reporting on our two parties, even if reality is highly unbalanced. To acknowledge that the poisonous rhetoric that so widely degrades our politics comes overwhelmingly from the right would be “partisan.” The playbook reflects the fact that Republicans have been “working the refs” for decades, habitually and relentlessly calling out the media for alleged liberal bias. So, in order to demonstrate her objectivity, Bash asks a question that is basically a veiled Republican talking point, toned down.

Raskin, for his part, was just too nice, and that is a Democratic problem—as one Maine Democrat recently put it, playing t-ball while Republicans are playing hardball. Democrats are too respectful of the norms of civility that help keep conflict manageable but that are constantly trashed by their political opponents. One such norm is that you don’t push back too hard on an interviewer—it’s not nice. But Democrats need to start working the refs. I would have loved to see Raskin call out Bash for her implicit, presumably unconscious bias. Next time, maybe he’ll be ready to do so.