He’s fallen and he can’t get up……call the GOP for help

So a young aspiring writer composes a film proposal and presents it to one of the Hollywood studios. In Hollywood parlance, this is called a treatment summary.

Here’s his opening description…..

Without legislation in place by Tuesday, the (US) Treasury would not be able to pay all its bills, raising the threat of a default that administration officials say could inflict catastrophic damage on the economy.

Reaching towards the penultimate moments…….

Without legislation in place by Tuesday, the Treasury would not be able to pay all its bills, raising the threat of a default that administration officials say could inflict catastrophic damage on the economy.

And the resolve….

Ending a perilous stalemate, (the young, dashing and principled US) President Obama and congressional leaders announced historic agreement on emergency legislation to avert the nation’s first-ever financial default. The dramatic resolution lifted a cloud that had threatened the still-fragile economic recovery and rattled global markets.

Pretty nicely written, complete with a host of penetrating adjectives, opinions, hyperbole and suspense. Could make the basis for a good fictional suspense thriller - only if you are a CSPAN junkie of course. So, no chance of it ever being produced as a major motion picture. But Al Gore could always produce a documentary and add a few more histrionics and inaccuracies.

You have probably guessed already, this was not a proposal to a Hollywood studio. But you may not know that it was taken verbatim from the official AP account of yet another “historic”, “unprecedented” and “unparalleled” action emanating from a Federal government overseen by an increasingly unstable Presidency.

I can accept the AP and its over-the-top reporting even though it runs afoul of any semblance of professional journalistic ethics - it’s nothing new. Or I could give them credit for trying to be accurate but unwilling to learn simple facts - the US would not have faced default on Tuesday as tax dollars would still be coming in and debt COULD be paid with those funds.

Try as I might, I simply cannot believe the latter. After all, it’s not the first time the AP has played with the facts or mis-reported stories; anyone remember the array of edited photos showing Israel bombing civilian targets in Gaza or Lebanon?????

The AP aside, however, what’s most bothersome to me is that the GOP leadership and most of its elected officials seem to have bought into the latter category and actually fell into the trap set for them by President Obama - make a deal or face default and a shutdown social security checks and military pay. Couldn’t let that happen could we?

I know the specter of the Clinton/Gingrich budget battles and government shutdown still hangs over a GOP Congress nearly 20 years later and at many levels I can see why; I do subscribe to Dick Morris’ belief that when your Party does not control the White House (not to mention the Senate), you are at a severe disadvantage on the media front.

But could it have been so difficult to produce a series of ads explaining how President Obama, Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid were fanning the flames of fear by claiming a default was in the offing? Would it have been so politically disadvantageous to scold the President in a press conference for setting about using a wedge issue or even better that he did not even understand the simple fact that we had the power to avoid default? Or how about calling for Geithner’s resignation for threatening to stop military pay or social security checks from going out?

By now, everyone knows that the President is not good when he has been nicked politically. He is no Bill Clinton when it comes to elevating above the Congressional rhetoric be it fact or fiction. Calling him out on creating yet another faux-crisis would have helped further erode any confidence that remains in his leadership abilities.

Instead, our side shrunk from the frontal attack and let the false assumption percolate and become the story line - the AP article proves that.

Yes, the President has fallen down and to paraphrase the infamous Life-Call commercial, perhaps he will not be able to get up. But if the GOP continues to allow these debates to be framed by someone willing to “compromise the facts”, we will face a catastrophic “compromise” in 2012 - takeover the US Senate, yes……win the White House, no.