September 14, 2007

Not so fast, Senator...

I posted Senator Salazar’s response to my letter yesterday. I was pleased that he had indeed come out against the MoveOn.org advertisement and said "Well done." The letter references media reports:

As noted in media reports, I believe the ad was inappropriate and sent the wrong message ("Salazar assails MoveOn over Petraeus attack ad", Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, 9/13/07).

I almost made a joke about being surprised that I had missed that in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, but I'm not really that amused. The paper's website lists its circulation as:
Daily Circulation: 30,707
Sunday Circulation: 33,733

I think the Senator is being very clever indeed. He can respond to his right wingnut constituency, that "the ad was inappropriate and sent the wrong message" and he can cite the media report. At the same time, he can be certain that most people have only the slightest possibility of encountering his brave moment.

I thought I would test this by doing a Yahoo Search for "Senator Salazar MoveOn Ad." ThreeSources comes up three times in the top ten (this might make four!) I'm glad to be known as the guy who owns this story, but it becomes clear that nobody else is paying attention.

Is my Senator having it both ways?

UPDATE: Gary Harmon of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel emails Professor Glenn Reynolds, who linked to tihs post:

Prof. Reynolds: Here I sit, damned with faint praise re Salazar’s Sis Souljah? Did you have to mention the size of the readership? Now I feel like the freshman on the first day in the locker room with the seniors. Again.

Actually, we won’t apologize for the size of our readership. It’s actually growing and not many can say that in this business. What is interesting is that the comments were made in a phone conference involving almost all Colorado media, including the big dailies and AP.

That it made it to our paper might explain why we’re growing and, well, they’re not.


I certainly didn't mean it as a slight to the paper. If the larger dailies passed on the story, it negates my point, but it still works out well for Senator Salazar. Nice scoop, Gary. You get the "well done."

Politics Posted by John Kranz at September 14, 2007 3:45 PM

All well and good, but what if he went to the NYTimes and they said he would have to pay retail for the privilege of refuting them?

Screwed, he would be.

Posted by: Paul A'Barge at September 14, 2007 4:26 PM

He just wanted to make sure that Norman Hsu knows where he stands.

Posted by: johngalt at September 14, 2007 4:26 PM

As a Colorado resident, I would say this action is completely in character for Ken Salazar. He is a very calculating man. This isn't the first time he has done this type of thing, and it won't be the last. So far, he has pulled off these incidents unscathed. I predict the Colorado media won't call him on it, he is known in local media circles as the Teflon Hispanic.

Posted by: Steve-o at September 14, 2007 5:38 PM

What Steve-o said. Being from Colorado I thought "Why am I not surprised?"

Of course there is an undertone of sliminess to the whole thing but that too is no surprise.

P.

Posted by: Portia at September 14, 2007 6:43 PM

I'm not at all surprised the Denver Post didn't print anything: No doubt they agree with the ad and they are only an AP reprinting vehicle anyway.

(We get it at work so I occasionally, and masochistically, read it.)

Posted by: mrsizer at September 15, 2007 2:15 PM | What do you think? [5]