It's an interesting strategy. Sarah Palin is traveling across the country with her family by bus, seeing sights, speaking to people here and there, and not informing the media of her every move. CBS has rated this almost as disastrous a campaign blunder as killing someone. But is it?
First of all, despite the almost certain fact that she will be, Sarah Palin is still not an official candidate for anything. She is just another private citizen traveling by bus with her family. She has no obligation whatsoever to inform the media of her movements. Also, has the American news media gotten so lazy that they cannot track a bus across the United States?
What obligation does Palin have to the media? None. They cut her no breaks during and after her campaign. They single her out for insult and abuse above and beyond what many other candidates generally face. Like black conservatives, females who run for office as Republicans sometimes are seen as some sort of traitors. And, by all means, it is a sin for a female conservative to be the least bit physically attractive.
Interestingly enough, this could be a strategem. Sarah Palin visiting Gettysburg is not a national news story. Media outrage that she did not check with them every time she sipped at a Coke or went to the bathroom has become one. Palin has gotten coverage when she did not overtly seek it. And most Americans sympathize with people who do not want cameras following them everywhere.
Sarah Palin and her team are showing some serious savvy when it comes to media relations. It helps a lot that the media itself is so predictable. And she knows that she is in the drivers seat when it comes to them.
"I don’t think I owe anything to the mainstream media," Palin said on Fox. "I think that it would be a mistake for me to become some kind of conventional politician and doing things the way it’s always been done with the media, in terms of relationships with them.”
Good for you!
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