Memo to Republican presidential hopefuls: Forget Iowa (for now, anyway). Find a way to embarrass President Obama on national television, maybe at the National Prayer Breakfast, throw in some right-wing shibboleths like the “war on Christmas” and “death panels” and voila! Not only can you get all the face time on Fox News you could hope for, you might even get an hour-long special on Hannity called, “Saving America” complete with focus group and cheering Q&A segments designed to promote your candidacy. Political experience optional. Minority ethnicity probably helpful.
If you don’t know who neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson is, you have not paid much attention to Fox News lately. Otherwise, you can’t miss him. To call him this year’s IT guy would be so five days ago. As of Friday (2/15/13), when the “Saving America” special first aired, Carson had been elevated from internet video sensation/President Obama embarrasser to official Fox News Republican savior.
As the right wing slobbers over Carson and daydreams that God will “grab him by the collar” and push him into politics, I can’t help but think he’s the "moderate" Fox's 2016 version of Donald Trump. Good-bye birth certificate, hello medical savings accounts and personal responsibility. Even Juan Williams is calling Carson “my hero.”
It’s hard to encapsulate the Carson love-fest on Hannity Friday night. But I think the video below of the Frank Luntz focus group is a good place to start. It just so happens that Luntz “recently convened” a group of Los Angeles “swing voters” to offer their thoughts on Carson’s potential candidacy.
Luntz sounded almost awestruck as he announced that Carson “has really struck a chord with a lot of Americans.” I noticed that Luntz never said the political makeup of those “swing voters” with him. In the past, he has slyly and deceptively tried to pass off Republican-heavy groups as reflective of the electorate. But I digress.
“Before we go to (the group) let’s go to a clip that dialed particularly well,” Luntz began, referring to his method of having his groups record their reactions. “On the deficit and debt, man does this guy score well!” Luntz gushed. After playing the clip, he asked the group to tell him in “one word” what was so powerful.
“Is this the kind of guy that you want to see in politics?” Luntz later "asked." Then, although we didn’t see how many people nodded, Luntz quickly went to two people and asked, “Why yes?” If anyone disagreed, we never heard about it.
“What is it about him that cut across partisan lines?” Luntz suggested asked. Most of the rest of the discussion was similarly designed to elicit positive responses.
Notice that Luntz never mentioned the word “qualifications.” For all his admirable credentials, Dr. Carson has none in politics or public policy.
Luntz closed with, “Sean, there aren’t many people right now who have the language to connect to the American people… but there’s something about the doctor’s message and delivery that really does connect across partisan lines. Very impressive.”
“Sounds like Frank may have found some – well, Carson campaign volunteers,” Hannity said.
But if the focus group voters are destined to be future campaign workers, the studio “audience” members are Carson’s current groupies. Check out their fawning “questions” if you have the stomach for it.
But there’s more to this than just Fox’s sudden beatification of Carson, and that is Carson’s seemingly willing partnership with Fox. Carson is a very impressive man whatever you think of his politics. As David Zurawik wrote in a terrific column in the Baltimore Sun about this astounding show:
What I wonder is how far Dr. Carson is going to run with this political football. I have interviewed him, and I know his history and career well. I have tremendous admiration for him. I am surprised to see him looking so comfortable within the smarmy embrace of Sean Hannity.
…I am not a brain surgeon, but I have been studying and writing for decades about how seductive, blinding and culturally dangerous the bright lights of prime-time TV can be.
Unlike Donald Trump, there is nothing that smacks of hucksterism in Carson. I question how much of Fox News he really watches. Somehow, I have a hard time picturing him as a Hannity or No Spin Zone habitué. Whether this is a political hookup or a marriage remains to be seen. Regardless, the outcome is sure to be worth watching.