Bachmann and the Press

From an interview with the Daily Beast:

“The media is what the media is,” she says. “It’s part of the territory. A person has to accept that there are difficult questions and unfair questions and it is a part of this process and it is what it is.”

First, to give credit where credit is due:  good for her.  This is, in my opinion, the appropriate way to think about the press in one is candidate.

Second, I am mildly surprised at the response insofar as playing the victim of the media typically plays well in GOP circles, and certainly Bachmann could make a case that she has been criticized quite a bit by a host of players (e.g., Chris Matthews, George Stephanopoulos, Chris Wallace, etc.).

Third, Sarah Palin needs to take some notes here.  Indeed, one of the things that disturbed me early on with Palin was her inability to deal with the press and her defensiveness with the press in general (which continues to this day).  For example see my posts from the 2008 campaign:

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, US Politics, , , , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Chad S says:

    ……what exactly was an unfair question? Asking her to correct her JQ Adams comment?

  2. @Chad S: I really do not know which question she is referring to. I simply assume that everyone who is ever asked questions assumes that some questions are unfair.

  3. legion says:

    Maybe she’s just front-loading for when she starts to get questions about her husband’s “gays are barbarians that need reeducating” comments.

    Speaking of which, ten bucks says that guy’s got a cabana boy on the side. I smell projection.