The Schiavo Story & The Right Wing Machine

Sam Parry writes:

The media frenzy surrounding the Terri Schiavo case is new evidence of the American Right’s ability to dominate national news cycles, a power that has become possibly the most intimidating force in modern U.S. politics. In the Schiavo case, however, the Right has discovered that even its impressive message machinery sometimes can push the envelope too far.

In the Schiavo tragedy, leaders of the Christian Right and the Republican Party marketed themselves as the defenders of life and painted their liberal adversaries as intellectual elitists lacking compassion for a defenseless woman. Conservative leaders also hoped to rally their base around the need for more conservative judges who would defend the so-called “culture of life.”

With stunning bravado, the Right played on the Schiavo story’s appeal as a round-the-clock cable TV drama: a life-or-death countdown; grieving parents; a husband who could be made into the heavy; supposedly insensitive judges; Republican leaders rushing to the rescue, including both Jeb and George W. Bush.

But then the results of early opinion polls rolled in. Those samplings of public opinion suggested that – at least this time – the religious Right, congressional Republicans and the Bushes may have overreached, looking more ghoulish than godly. The conservatives may have underestimated the risk of exploiting a crisis that touches on the personal experiences of too many Americans.

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So, it’s still too soon to tell whether perceived Republican reversals on the Schiavo case will represent a turning point or simply a lost skirmish in the course of a long and victorious war. Terri Schiavo’s death on March 31 could generate more public sympathy for the Republican position.

Also by pushing the political limits in the Schiavo case, the conservatives may have gained some fresh tactical understanding of how they can refine their P.R. strategies and better apply their media power. There’s the potential, too, for more fund-raising and for identifying recruits.

When Schiavo’s parents sold a list of their financial backers to a conservative direct-mail firm, the company, Response Unlimited, highlighted the value of soliciting people who “are passionate about the way they value human life, adamantly oppose euthanasia and are pro-life in every sense of the word!” [NYT, March 29, 2005]

Once the political posturing of the Schiavo case fades from memory, it’s possible the Republicans will have solidified their political image among red-state voters as the morally superior defenders of a “culture of life.”

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It is how the conservatives force attention on their issues – and limit the focus on less favorable issues – that is the key to understanding what’s happened to American politics.

The coverage of the Schiavo tragedy is just the latest example of how conservatives have established a permanent media infrastructure that lets them push a button to start a public furor over virtually any issue of their choosing.