Let’s say there’s a story that’s creating a bit of buzz within local political circles, that no local journalist is willing to report. You know, like the somewhat sensitive if well-founded concerns that there might be something wrong with Rep. Dave Reichert’s brain. So how do you move this local political story into the local traditional press?
Step 1.) Local blogger pounds story (in this case, over on the higher profile Slog.)
Step 2.) National blogger picks up story, adding credibility and exposure.
Step 3.) D.C.-based publication picks up on story, giving it that spiffy journalismish look and feel.
Step 4.) Local newspaper, scooped in their own backyard by a Beltway rag, finally follows up, delivering story to their large, local audience.
That’s what I call the “Virtuous News Cycle,” variations of which I’m constantly playing to various degrees of success on issues I find important, but nobody else does. And while you may think it manipulative, or insist that this particular line of inquiry was inappropriate or irresponsible, regardless of the larger media’s ultimate response, think about this:
Reichert’s post-brain-trauma mental capacity, or lack thereof, is either news, or it’s not news. Which means, it was either worthy of a Seattle Times article weeks ago, when I first hit the story, or it is not worthy of reporting even now, after their hand has finally been forced. I didn’t make this news; I just made other journalists pay attention to it.
And that’s what effective blogging is all about.
It sure worked for Pam Geller
You left out the part about the candidate accusing his opponent of pushing the story without offering evidence of same. Stay classy Dave.
Can’t the story become worthy of reporting now in the context of internet rumors/reporting about it even if it wasn’t a story without that? The story The Times ran isn’t just “brain is OK says doctor” but “brain is OK despite opposition blogging/rumors to the contrary”. What made it news is the reaction to your post by Inslee primarily and other liberal bloggers secondarily. Without that, most people would not assume there is any news in saying a procedure performed months ago worked. And to say or even imply it didn’t work requires a whole lot more evidence than you provided in the journalistic world (rather than the blogosphere).
His brain is not okay. Blood kills brain tissue, neurons and ganglia; it is why there is a blood brain barrier for gosh sakes. That he has dead brain tissue in his head is a matter he, above everyone else, needs to take seriously. He further exacerbated the damage by delaying the time between the injury and the treatment, several days worth of waiting. This isn’t an oops, but i am better now sort of damage.
Dead brain cells generally expand with time, especially with aging. He may say he is back to normal, but that means he is back to a normal that can be expected for someone who has had a TBI.
I’m not satisfied with this explanation and I hope Goldy isn’t either.
The letter — not shown in it’s entirety — is reported to be from Congress’s attending physician. Was he Reichert’s personal physician? What does he base his opinion on? Does the letter even say what basis he has for his opinion? It may be nothing more than the Representative’s self-reported medical history.
If Reichert or the Seattle Times wants to clear up this story, they need to give us something more convincing than excerpts from the opinion of a Congressional physician who, for all we know, has never examined Reichert or his medical records.
Keep demanding his medical records.
Unless Reichert can produce the ORIGINAL medical records, we must assume that he has brain damage — and was probably born in Austria.
No presidential run for this Hun.
A.Reporter @3,
I did not report that Reichert was brain-damaged. I reported that Reichert’s brain trauma was much more serious than he originally let on, that injuries like this do generally cause permanent impairment (cognitive or otherwise) particularly in people his age, and that he was barely campaigning or giving any interviews. All of these are facts.
I also reported that there had been broad speculation that these facts might be related, while suggesting that such speculation is in fact reasonable considering the circumstances.
Reichert could have ended the speculation by agreeing to debate and/or releasing his medical records. He’s done neither.
hl @ 6
Not only was he likely born in Austria, but, as far as I know, he has never renounced his Austrian citizenship. Yet, somehow, he sits in our Congress. Something is wrong with this picture.
I think this tactic, of releasing info via bloggers, which then eventually gets taken up by the traditional media, was originally started during the Clinton administration by Republicans. They used it repeatedly to flog rumors and innuendo, so that they could eventually get a mainstream newscaster to ask Clinton “Some say…..”
I don’t see any reason why we can’t use the same tactic to bring up legitimate questions about the abilities of Republicans to discharge their duties if voted into office (or re-elected). It’s not as if it came from left field, there was some basis for the questions, especially after the Republican-friendly Times editorial board cited his strange inability to answer basic questions as their reason for not endorsing him during the primary battle.
Of course, if we didn’t have bloggers like Goldie, the Republicans might still be touting Brownie’s expertise in emergency prepardness and offering him up as a candidate in this year’s elections.
So when does Goldy post images of Reichert’s Austrian birth certificate, and evidence that Reichert is secretly a Catholic (despite all the masquerading as a Lutheran all these years)?
I am not sure how Reichert’s health should be an issue. I would be more concerned at a presidential candidate having these kinds of health problems, perhaps also a governor or sheriff.
But for a legislator, not so much. If Reichert has some lasting disability, I don’t think it is going to affect his voting record or party affiliation that much at all. It might even make people MORE willing to vote for him, out of sympathy.
Nobody suggested that Ted Kennedy should resign, even though he had a malignant brain tumor that severely limited his work in the Senate for the 15 months before his death.
“Nobody suggested that Ted Kennedy should resign, even though he had a malignant brain tumor that severely limited his work in the Senate for the 15 months before his death.”
Dear Dicky,
I googled “Ted Kennedy should resign + brain tumor” and got “about 8 million hits”. I was trying to control for the usual demands for the Senator’s immediate death due to Chappaquiddick and the usual run-of-the-mill wingnut hate over his long career.
So I can only conclude your claim is not only false, but mendaciously so, you lazy fuck.
re 10: If Reichert’s actually been a Catholic all along, he should probably be forced to subsist on a Diet of Worms.
Is there any way a Southern Baptist could get that joke. Probably no. They’re too busy conjuring up images of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with dinosaurs — kind of like Bedrock, but with Southern accents.
Why isn’t the MSM picking up on this story about Reichert’s Austrian citizenship? We are certainly well aware of the MSM’s rightwing bias, but, for fuck’s sake, ignoring a Congressman’s lack of American citizenship just because he’s a Republican is really over the top.
re 13: I suggest that we all staple six or so Iron Crosses to our Mariners caps and march around pioneer square with poorly spelled signs of protest.
15
“Dav Richert is a Ostrian.”
dilusional
Private Sector Hiring in Sept. Falls 39,000…
POLL: Working-class whites shun Dems…
Middle Class Slams Brakes on Spending…
Food Stamp Recipients at Record 41.8 Million Americans…
GOLDMAN SACHS: Economy ‘fairly bad’ or ‘very bad’ over next 6 months…
New Yorkers’ Income Falls for 1st Time in 70 Years…
And you think people in this country are going to rush to the polls and vote for your trickle up poverty.
Ain’t gonna happen
Dumbfuck at 16
Ah, yes, and all those statistics can be blamed on the Democrats. People like you must be reminded daily to wipe after you shit rather than before.
His brain’s *not* OK. Main indicator – he’s 60 years old, and he’s still a Republican. Even kittens open their eyes after a few days.
This is the guy that has openly admitted that he only votes “the way they tell him to”, and that his pro-environment votes (Blue Skies, Cap and Trade, etc.) were merely an expedient vote to gain bogus ‘green’ credentials. The (R) leadership ‘allowed’ him to break ranks to cast ‘independent’ votes in a few measures where his vote wasn’t going to make a bit of difference just so he could pretend that he has an independent streak and is pro-environment. That goes over well with WA voters, except when exposed as the cynical hypocrite that he is.
He’s played the game, and even managed to win the endorsement of WA League of Conservation Voters.
‘Rubber Stamp’ Reichert just might have fooled enough of the people, enough of the time, to keep his office. Unless, of course, we do everything we can to GOTV this year.
re 19: Yeah! Dave’s an Austrian, alright.
‘Put another shrimp on the barby!!’
We don’t want no Hun representing us in congress.
In March 2004, when Barack Obama was a candidate for the U.S. Senate in the Illinois Democratic primary, he excoriated President George W. Bush for creating a “jobless recovery.” The month he said that, 334,000 new jobs were created—none of them temporary Census ones—and unemployment was 5.8%.
So hows Obama Doing on the JOB recovery eh?
@21 Id (a very simple-minded soul)
During the Bush Presidency (not cherry-picking a single month of a recovery like you did) less jobs were generated over 8 years than in any Presidency in the last 50 years.
Once again, you try to use statistics and facts and fail to understand what they mean. In fact, you fail to understand the extent of the Bush recession – which was the worst economic recession since the great depression. Economically, things would have been much worse if not for the TARP bailout and the stimulus package – according to people who are called economists – and not according to your simple-minded, third grade level analysis.
Please learn to read and think before you write. I can only laugh at how ignorant and shallow you truly are.
Here’s the real cycle, Goldy:
Step 1: Vicious, historically irresponsible and blindly partisan blogger sees opportunity to attack a Republican candidate, and, as is his norm, does so without even picking up a telephone.
Step 2: Partisan national blogger, who might not be so vicious and irresponsible on his own, sees his own opportunity by linking to Seattle-based blogger. Again, no telephones are touched.
Step 3: National political blog, staffed by former legacy-media journalists who would never stoop so low as to market in such base gossip on their own, link to said partisan blog.
Step 4: Stodgy old local newspaper, seeing that vicious gossip is spreading nationally without so much as a modicum of reporting, assigns reporter to try to get to the truth. She picks up a telephone, asks for medical records, gets them, and reports the facts.
Goldy, I guess you’re a freakin’ journalistic hero.