Heroic Mother. Elisabeth Bumiller and Richard Stevenson spend some time on A22 today purring and rubbing up against returning Bush advisor Karen Hughes, and Lizzy Boo actually outdoes herself in the humor department.

Ms. Hughes is stepping up her engagement with the president's re-election campaign just as she is beginning a six-week tour for a new book, "Ten Minutes From Normal," an autobiography that friends say paints a predictably glowing portrait of her longtime boss, the president of the United States.

To the relief of Bush aides who acknowledge that the White House has been on the political defensive since January, the memoir hits bookstores Tuesday, the week after a book by Richard A. Clarke that blasted the administration with the charge that Mr. Bush ignored warnings about the Sept. 11 attacks.

"A Trusted Bush Aide to Return, but Not to Washington"

Seriously—that one made me laugh out loud. Thank God for Karen Hughes's memoir, poised to sweep in like the cavalry and take the country by storm! Yeah, that'll turn down the heat on that whole they-weren't-paying-attention-before-9/11 flap.

I also found occasion for a wry smile in the next graf.

But advisers to the president say that Ms. Hughes's impending return to a more full-time role has stirred some unease within a campaign that has been wholly the province of Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's chief political adviser.

Some unease ... yes ... I think that counts as droll understatement.

This, on the other hand, is just kind of surreal and disorienting:

Unlike Mr. Rove, who has become a lightning rod for criticism of the administration's aggressive political operation, Ms. Hughes is the smiling, media-savvy White House representative whose book now wraps her — and, by implication, the president — in the heroism of motherhood. Its theme is clear by the identifying lines under her name on the book's front jacket: "Counselor to the President. Wife and Mother. The woman who left the White House to put family first, and moved back home to Texas."

OK, lightning rod (phallus) vs. motherhood—I get it, Karl's yin to Karen's yang. But a book wrapping Hughes in "the heroism of motherhood"? And doing the same for Dubya? Just what the hell is "the heroism of motherhood" anyway? And how does it magically get conferred on Bush—why is he wearing Karen's shawl? Do we have to add "Heroic Mother" now to his list of titles? I'm sorry, I'm just not sure I can go that far ...

By the way, with typical hagiographic fervor, Bumiller and Stevenson manage to contradict themselves without apparent awareness: Hughes's "heroism," we're given to understand from the way the graf above reads, is her fleeing the White House coop to "put family first." Equally approvingly, the writers note how constant an advisor to Dear Leader Hughes has been since retreating back to Texas, speaking to Bush "regularly," having "a major hand in drafting his most important speeches," and making contact with Rove, Dan Bartlett, and Bush campaign officials "up to several times a day." Thank God for the selfless, family-centered heroism of mothers like Karen Hughes!

posted by michael  5:42:34 PM  
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Displacement. In my last post I admitted, for fairness's sake, that it was basically a judgement call whether or not you decided to play John Kerry's stiff remarks about Condi and the rest of the Bush stonewalling crew as an A1 item.

But maybe not so much, not when this is the kind of thing the editors do consider worth fronting:

The casting of reality shows, once an intuitive, on-the-fly endeavor, has become much more of a science, with its own growing set of protocols and rituals. Several producers have hired psychologists to help them with the vetting process. And to avoid the unscripted scandals that could run afoul of the decency standards of an increasingly agitated public and the Federal Communications Commission, both producers and networks are investing more time and money into systematically investigating their contestants' backgrounds.

David Carr, "Casting Reality TV, No Longer a Hunch, Becomes a Science"

Now, there's nothing especially wrong with the article, though I personally find an account of the trials of a reality-TV casting director ("Casting for TV's new way of telling stories requires stamina") just a bit of a yawner. But what the hell is this lifestyle crap doing eating up A1 inches? Does the Times really value its front-page real estate that cheaply?

posted by michael  5:02:43 PM  
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When Democrats attack ... ... they don't make the front page of the New York Times.

Hard as it is to remember the pre-Richard Clarke news regime, cast your mind back to two weeks ago. Remember all the fuss A1 made about BushCo having a campaign strategy? Twice in four days we got big, above-the-fold stories about how the Rovians had always-already been prepared to take John Kerry down: said stories appearing at the same moment as David Halbfinger offered up (I'll take my cue for punning from him) a veritable blizzard of campaign memos (well, two, but that was two more than enough) in which Sen. Kerry's ski vacation read as something close to an admission of political and moral degeneracy.

Today, Jodi Wilgoren reports some strong words from Sen. Kerry, and reports it pretty much straight:

Joining a debate that has dominated Washington for days, Senator John Kerry on Saturday accused the Bush administration of "character assassination" against critics and said that the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, should publicly testify under oath about the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Every time somebody comes up and says something that this White House doesn't like," Mr. Kerry said, "they don't answer the questions about it or show you the truth about it, they go into character-assassination mode." ...

Mr. Kerry also accused the Bush administration of stonewalling the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.

"If Condoleezza Rice can find time to do `60 Minutes' on television before the American people, she ought to find 60 minutes to speak to the commission under oath," Mr. Kerry said, referring to Ms. Rice's scheduled interview on CBS Sunday night. "We're talking about the security of our country."

"Kerry Accuses Bush Camp of Intolerance for Criticism"

Hmmm—the presumptive Democratic nominee, whose supposed weakness in the face of the Rocket-Man Army was such a hot topic in the Times two weeks ago, unleashes a blast at Bush on the issue of the moment, inserting himself into the debate for the first time. Sound significant? Sure, says the Times—it's A22 significant. Hey, give 'em a break, that's two whole pages before the obits!

In case you think this is me playing gotcha with a single (and, I admit, debateable) news-judgement call: please take note of yesterday's campaign-trail article ("Economy Is the Star of the Campaign Trail"), co-authored by Wilgoren (on the Kerry side) and Robert Pear (on the Bush side). The opener:

The presidential race turned squarely to the economy on Friday, as Senator John Kerry courted this hard-hit state with a promise of new jobs, while President Bush promoted his tax cuts as an engine for growth.

After several weeks of advertisements by the Bush campaign portraying Mr. Kerry as a tax-and-spend liberal, the Massachusetts senator used his first major policy address of the general election battle to position himself as a moderate New Democrat on fiscal policy. He proposed an overhaul of corporate taxes that would provide a a 5 percent reduction in the corporate tax rate for most companies. ...

For Mr. Kerry, it was a critical moment of self-definition on the economy, which many political strategists see as the top issue in the unfolding campaign. He plans to outline a variety of economic proposals in a spring offensive under the new banner "Jobs First."

"First major policy address of the general election battle" ... Kerry planning "to outline a variety of economic proposals in a spring offensive" (emphasis on heretofore Bush-only war metaphor added) ... Yeah, that's just A12, bottom-of-the-page stuff.

Let's recap: Bush guys say they have a strategy and Bush surrogates about to execute it, and it hits the top of A1 twice in four days. Kerry guys say they have a strategy, Kerry himself delivers a speech to begin executing it: bottom of an inner page. Kerry follows up next day with sharp criticism of Bush administration on national security: bottom of an inner page. Now, I'm on record as endorsing Jay Rosen's hatred of the campaign-strategy story form. But, Jeebus, if you're going to do it, isn't a little parity in order?

posted by michael  4:23:36 PM  
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