Mere Rhetoric: MR's Senate and House Coverage - (3) LA Times Spins Its Humiliating Impotence As Great Victory

It's not that LA Times journalism failed to accurately report or significantly influence California politics. It's that they were so successful that they forced Schwarzenegger to retreat and apologize. Obviously.

Somewhere in Los Angeles right now, Mickey Kaus might be dreaming. But even the sweetest of sweet dreams must pale in comparison to how he'll feel when he reads the LA Times pre-mortem ofGov. Schwarzenegger's impending face-crush of Angelides:

No use waiting for the victor to be crowned to assess his dazzling triumph — or the victim to expire before conducting a post-mortem. California's one-sided contest for governor was decided weeks ago... We've just witnessed a brilliant comeback by a governor who, only a year ago, seemed to have one foot in the political grave. Rebellious voters emphatically rejected his "reform" initiatives at a special election that wasted $54 million of tax money. Back then, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was viewed unfavorably by a majority of voters and trailed Treasurer Phil Angelides by six percentage points in a hypothetical election matchup, the Field Poll found. By last week, the governor had rebounded to be favorably regarded by most voters and was leading Angelides by 16 points.

How'd this come to pass? Start with the magic words rarely spoken by a politician: I'm sorry

Now, a more objective political analyst employed by a more successful newspaper might at least entertain the possibility that declarations of Schwarzenegger's political death were premature the whole time. For instance, isn't it at least something suspicious that the people reporting Schwarzenegger's demise were writing above the fold for the LAT, while the people trying to bring about Schwarzenegger's demise were writing below the fold... for the LAT? It's just that when you're running a campaign you're not almost the most objective judge of its relative strength or weakness (cf. the Democratic base).

But instead, the LA Times is concluding that they forced Schwarzenegger to concede and apologize. Let's read that again: Gov. Schwarzenegger was forced to "I'm sorry". How good an explanation is that? Let's examine the very next paragraph:

Schwarzenegger didn't actually use those words, far as I can tell. But the words he did use, coupled with his body language, conveyed the message that he was seeking forgiveness and redemption. Americans love that — something President Bush still doesn't understand

In other words, the LA Times knows that it wasn't at all wrong or biased in declaring that the rest of California agreed with them, because their examination of Gov. Schwarzenegger's body language told them so.

Seriously, does Ron Brownstein even come into the office any more? Or does he just write from home, because he's afraid that the intellectual vacuum of LAT HQ will literally suck the smart out of him?

Previously: Shameless, Textbook Example of Anti-Israel Bias: The LA Times Reports on Hezbollah Cluster Bombs Fired At Israel, The LA Times Tells Us About Jews, I Wish I Had An LA Times Subscription, So I Could Cancel It