The Power of Repetition

This post by Ezra Klein hits on something that really bothered me during the primary season, and eventually caused me to stop watching political news shows momentarily. A good surrogate would not be doing his or her job if they didn't stick to the campaign line and repeatedly push their version of the facts. It's what they do. They are there to create the narrative most favorable to them. However, it seems to me that the job of a journalist/reporter is to challenge their assertions when not rooted in fact, and not to simply provide an outlet for the spin of the campaigns. This frustrated me to no end throughout the primaries, as Chris Matthews was the only one I saw who would repeatedly push the surrogates on their talking points, but even he relented after a point. Klein has it right, repetition is key. It doesn't mean anything if in the first minute of the interview Matthews tells you your full of it, but acquiesces thereafter to the lies. Once it stops getting questioned, it starts to become fact, no matter how untrue it is.