Local: Peoria media leaves the best line on the cutting room floor, and the national press ignores the whole thing (UPDATE 2x: Daily Kos picks it up, link to Schock’s original words added)
This was the best line out of Jim McConoughey’s press conference about Aaron Schock’s proposal to ignore the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and sell nuclear weapons to Taiwan:
“This is not a Ronald Reagan idea. This is a Dr. Strangelove idea.”
It’s a great line. It’s the line reporters are looking for when they attend this things. It’s short, to the point, contains a pop-culture reference and it stings.
This line did not appear in the Journal Star. PJS reporter Karen McDonald was at the McConoughey press conference held at the candidates HQ in Campustown. But the article that appeared in this morning’s Journal Star carried a Springfield fateline and was written by GateHouse News Service reporter Adriana Colindres. A decent article, but it was missing the most-excellent “Dr. Strangelove” line. Maybe McConoughey didn’t say it there, maybe not.
So why did the stretched-thin Journal Star send two reporters (McDonald and some other reporter I don’t know) to a press conference and didn’t use any of them in it’s report? No idea. Perhaps she was gathering info for next week’s Word on the Street. Maybe McDonald didn’t have time to write up the press conference story and do justice to the fuzzy-wuzzy principal-the-the-day piece that did appear in today’s Journal Star.
It also did not appear in the HOINews report. It did appear in the Bloomington Pantagraph. There was no report at all on the 1470WMBD, WEEK or WMBD 31 Websites. WCBU doesn’t typically post links to individual news events it covers, and I wasn’t able to catch Jonathan Ahl’s report on the presser. I’m listening to WCBU live as I write this, hoping to catch the news. Nothing at 10 a.m.
I did a Google News search and did not see ANY coverage outside the Peoria area. This is astonishing to me. What we have here is a candidate for the one and only Congress of the United States proposing that the United States abandon the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and send nuclear weapons to Taiwan, and there’s NO coverage outside his district? I was under the impression that Aaron Schock was an up-and-comer, and that this race would get national attention. I guess the conventional wisdom was wrong. Or maybe the AP is too busy making sure it has all the details of the latest news from Britney Spears. I mean, who the Hell cares about the proliferation of nuclear weapons, or Congress for that matter, when you have celebrities to cover?
UPDATE: Schock is trying to backtrack a bit now, saying he doesn’t really want to sell nuclear arms to Taiwan. But here is his entire statement in PDF format, via the State Journal-Register, where he proposed that “if [China's leaders] don’t change their position, we will sell Pershing nuclear missiles to Taiwan for their defense.” And his campaign manager — the controversial Steve Shearer — described Schock’s position as ““not just something that he pulled out of his pocket … It’s a deeply thought-out policy.â€
UPDATE 2: Daily Kos picked up the story. Hat tip to commenter Vinron. I guess it’s a real story now.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
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Schock made Daily Kos this morning. He is so done.
How did Willy Nilly describe the media’s behavior toward Schock? Oh yeah, ‘Handjobs’ Somebody always seems to love those in power. Good looking G.O.P. boys get free passes in the Peoria market.
I didn’t use it and I will defend my choice not to:
If we use such lines, then talking to people who are running for public office decends even further away from statements of substance into pithy quotes they think will make the news.
Yes, it is a great line. But tell me, what do you want to hear from someone that wants to represent you in Congress, a cool line, or something that at least gets closer to substantial information on their views, opinions, knowledge level, or integrity (or lackthereof in all cases.)
It’s bad enough candidates for office hire writers instead of telling us things directly. Let’s not reward that behavior by repeating the sound bite they want us to repeat.
Isnt’ it YOU that criticizes the MSM for too often being nothing but stenographers? How is taking the bait and repeating the cheeky line anything but that?
Gee, that line of Jim’s is ALMOST as good as his line regarding his maturity being related to being around when the Cuban Missile Crisis happened, and Aaron just being a glimmer in his momma’s eyes.
Problem is, Jim was only 1 year old when the Cuban Missile Crisis went down. Heck, no WONDER he’s so much more mature than Aaron… he was already breaking down that scenario whilst poopin’ his diaper.
Bill likes the cheeky lines when it goes against someone he opposes. Imagine if it was his ally?
Jonathan: In a way, I agree. But you have to admit it was a good line, and using it woudn’t have prevented you from doing the extra work BEYOND stenography. I guess I’m writing about it because the instant I heard it, I doubted that the JS would use it. And I was right. Only the people involved at the JS know if this was for the lofty reason you so declined.
Prego Man has a point, Billy. McConoughey’s response was shallow and opportunistic. I wasn’t impressed.
Think about it. the Chinese military is threatening the hell out of Taiwan (more than 100 million people), with Chi-Com nukes. Arming Taiwan so that the Chinese would balance the ChiCom aggressiveness with MAD (mutually assured destruction).
That Schock has “well thought out the policy” is a no-brainer because this is a classic, and historically proven way of balancing powers / detante.
Yeah, the “I was alive during the Cuban Missle Crisis” line probably wasn’t a good idea in restrospect, considering reporters can, on occasion, do math. It’s all part of the effort to portray Schock as too young for the job of course.
Opportunistic? Ummm … yeah. Cover politics much? Politics in the age of the 24/7 news cycle is all about being able to respond quickly to the opportunities created by your opponents’ mistakes.
I have no allies in this race, Anonymous. I have an opinion that I have formed about Aaron Schock, and it comes from my havintg observed him in action.
News flash!!!
All Pershing missiles were destroyed in accords with the US- Russian agreement in the early 1990’s. There are no more missiles of that type. Patriot 3 is the new ABM platform to be used to counter China and her 1000 missles pointed towards Taiwan. I would sell them as many as needed to counter the yellow hords of communism.
I think one would be enough to end the disagreement over Taiwan, PC. As soon as Taiwan buys the first one, the conflict would be over as China would immediately invade. However, your position is somewhat terrifying…so well done if that’s what you were shooting for.
By the way, I asked that question on another post since I was pretty sure we had destroyed them…so thanks for the news flash. Maybe now you could help out Schock since he wanted to sell a missile system that was destroyed when he was 10 years old.
Leave to Kaos to pick up something said by a minor Republican and spin it into a uber-anti-Republican canard.
Taiwan already has patriot missiles on their shores that we sold them in 2001.
Patriot missiles are comparable to mid-range nuclear missiles how exactly? Please clarify…that seems like quite a jump. To think that China would react in the same way over defensive missile systems and offensive nuclear missile systems is slightly absurd.