I don’t pretend to be a political activist or more knowledgeable then those that are. I am a mere mortal who happens to be a woman (so don’t accuse me of gender bias when discussing Palin), a Hillary fan (and Palin is not Hillary!), a former nurse, a marketer for health services within the leading group of senior housing and health, a mother, a grandmother, a daughter. And not since Al Gore lost his winning presidential election have I been so interested in the presidential campaign and election. I look to experts to provide me facts and figures and report them and refer to them in this blog.

The economy ranks high among voters, even higher than healthcare. But the truth is, among the boomers and above, we should all be concerned about the rising cost of health care, Medicare, and insurance coverage.  We should not be forgotten and we need to keep our voices heard. We need to vote en masse and we need to be informed.

Health Hombre, a subscription based ezine that reports on updates in health care, today addressed the political blogosphere and those that are reporting on health issues and the candidates. I will review those and post interesting ones here. One other blog that I am in awe of is PressThink.  I don’t see many posts (unfortunately) but a few days ago, they posted a blog from Jay Rosen, NYU journalism. You have to read this factually reported blog. It is eye opening as to why and how McCain lobbyists who are his strategic advisors are manipulating the Palin selection and campaign., from a media perspective. Fascinating! Here are just a few of his comments:

Journalists watching all this keep saying to themselves: wait until she gets out on the campaign trail. Wait until she sits for those interviews with experienced reporters and faces a real press conference.
* Strategy: double down on defiance by never letting her answer questions, except from friendly media figures who have joined your narrative; like Cheney with Fox. No meet the press at all. No interviews of Palin with the DC media elite— at all. De-legitimate the ask. Break with all “access” expectations. Use surrogates and spokesmen, let them get mauled, then whip up resentment at their mistreatment. Answer questions at town halls and call that adequate enough.

Meanwhile, the investigation of her performance in Alaska puts more and more pressure on the Palin appointment as things come out that would ordinarily disqualify a candidate from consideration or cast doubt on her truthfulness in a grave way.

* Strategy: Comes from Bush, the younger. When realities uncovered are directly in conflict with prior claims, consider the option of keeping the claims and breaking with reality. Done the right way, it’s a demonstration of strength. It dismays and weakens the press. And it can be great theatre.
Posted by Jay Rosen at September 3, 2008 12:22 AM

Thanks Jay! Informative and enlightening.

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