George Herbert Walker Bush (1989- 1993)
The press took full advantage
of the controversies surrounding the election of 1988. Having established
the rules of the game, the press was bound to them. The Bush campaign
had staged appearances, complete with a sound bite that usually attacked
Dukakis. The press concentrated on these attacks, making them the
center of the election coverage. Dukakis was slow to respond to Bush’s
attacks and refused to go negative. Journalists portrayed him as
weak. Dukakis wanted to run on economic issues and his experience
in Massachusetts. He looked to the press for assistance and insisted
on sticking to his plan, even when the tides changed. After the election,
Dukakis realized his mistakes. He stated, “I said in my acceptance
speech in Atlanta that the 1988 campaign was not about ideology but about
competence. . . I was wrong. It was about phraseology. It was
about 10 second sound bites. And made-for-TV backdrops. And
going negative.” The press accused Bush of being deceptive and mean-spirited,
but they were caught up in the game themselves. The negativity of
the campaign turned the voters off. In a survey following the election,
the American public awarded the press a grade of C- for its reporting
and Bush received a C+ for his behavior.
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Bush v. Dukakas 1988 |
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