Here’s the headline The NY Times had on their digital front page originally:
Jan. 6 Hearings Give Democrats a Chance to Recast Midterm Message
There was sufficient uproar in comments that they changed it on the front page to: Democrats see televised hearings as way to highlight Jan 6 revelations.
They are still keeping the original headline when people click through, along with “With their majority at stake, Democrats plan to use the six high-profile hearings to refocus voters’ attention on Republicans’ role in the attack.”
(Here’s a link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/us/politics/jan-6-hearings-tv-democrats.html)
WASHINGTON — Seventeen months after a mob of Donald J. Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol with false claims of a stolen election, House Democrats plan to use a landmark set of investigative hearings beginning this week to try to refocus voters’ attention on Jan. 6, aiming to tie Republicans directly to an unprecedented plot to undermine democracy itself.
With their control of Congress hanging in the balance, Democrats plan to use made-for-television moments and a carefully choreographed rollout of revelations over the course of six hearings to remind the public of the magnitude of Mr. Trump’s effort to overturn the election, and to persuade voters that the coming midterm elections are a chance to hold Republicans accountable for it.
It is an uphill battle at a time when polls show that voters’ attention is focused elsewhere, including on inflation, rising coronavirus cases and record-high gas prices. But Democrats argue the hearings will give them a platform for making a broader case about why they deserve to stay in power.
emphasis added
Leave it to The NY Times to make this just another horse race story.
The comments, last time I checked, were split between outrage over the framing, disgust with Democrats because the real problem is inflation and crime not peaceful demonstrators, and questions about whatever happened to Merrick Garland?
Imagine if the Times ran something like “NATO sees Russian invasion of Ukraine as opportunity to boost support for Alliance.”
Seriously, if the Democrats were looking to just the politics of this, they’d be holding a lot more than 6 hearings to keep short attention span media and voters focused on the fact that Republicans are openly trying kill democracy in this country. They damn well better deliver on the 6 hearings they have scheduled — and following up with high level indictments is a necessity.
If not now, when?
Tuesday, Jun 7, 2022 · 8:12:24 PM +00:00 · xaxnar
Update: What Digby says, looking at The NY Times:
...This has me as worried as anything. The media is setting up a narrative of “nobody cares about this old news” by asking every Democrat who appeared on the TV “will anyone tune in? Isn’t inflation more of a concern right now?” They insist on casting this as a partisan game instead of a genuine fight for democracy. It is a partisan fight, but that’s because one party has gone rogue and is trying to usurp our democratic system in order to maintain power.
emphasis added
It’s not debatable that the Democrats won the last election. They were not the ones who attempted a coup to overturn the results. They invited the Republicans to participate in a bipartisan commission investigation into what happened and they refused. And then they insisted on putting partisan firebrands on the House committee in order to turn it into a sideshow and the Speaker said no.
It’s clear she made the right decision. Look at what they are doing in advance of the hearings this week:
That’s not Louis Gohmert or Marjorie Taylor Greene. It’s Marco Rubio, once considered the Great Latino Hope of the GOP, running for re-election by being the Trumpy smart ass he once condemned. They have all become juvenile bullies, just like Trump and they have zero respect for the constitution or our democracy.