What the NPR fight is really about
The Republican-led House passed legislation this afternoon to defund National Public Radio, a move, they argued was necessitated by a growing federal debt and the need to begin trimming somewhere.
“Half the American people have never even heard of, much less even listened to, NPR,” said California Rep. David Dreier (R) during the floor debate on the matter.
The bill is, almost certainly, doomed in the Democratic-controlled Senate who is unlikely to even take it up. The White House is also on record in strong opposition to it.
From a policy perspective then the bill is almost certainly a loser. But, in politics , every fight — particularly a high profile one like this — amounts to an opportunity. And both sides are already hard at work trying to take advantage of the NPR kerfuffle. Republicans are using it to placate their wayward base while Democrats are trying to raise money from — you guessed it! — their base from the controversy.
A look at polling on NPR reveals a deep partisan chasm with the base of the Democratic party largely supportive of it and the base of the Republican party, well, not.
In a Quinnipiac University poll conducted last month, 49 percent of people opposed defunding NPR while 40 percent favored eliminating any federal dollars being directed to it. Fully 62 percent of Democrats opposed stripping NPR of federal dollars while just 33 percent of Republicans opposed the cuts — a 29-point difference.
A Pew poll released last fall testing the believability of various media outlets also highlighted the partisan disparity on NPR. Nearly four in ten self-identified Democrats said they believe ”all or most” of NPR’s reporting while just 16 percent of Republicans said the same.
The Republican base has long detested NPR, believing it to be a liberal-aligned media outlet that is being funded (in part) by the government. Trying to get rid of it then — particularly in the wake of the controversy that led to the resignation of the organization’s president — kills two birds with one stone. It sends a very clear signal to the GOP political base that the establishment is on its side while simultanerously keeping a campaign promise to shrink the size of government.
Democrats, too, welcome the NPR fight politically as it gives them a chance to stand with their own base — casting Republicans as extremists interested in pushing their political agenda at all costs — not to mention raise money.
“Speaker Boehner and House Republicans have gone way too far,” wrote Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) in a fundraising email sent out yesterday. “First, they tried to restrict access to reproductive health care. Then, they proposed catastrophic cuts to teachers, nurses, and researchers. Now the Republicans want to control the news.”
In politics, there are plenty of lose-lose propositions for the two parties. (As we wrote this morning, the slow-walking of the budget debate is one of them.) But, the fight over NPR’s funding mechanism is a rare occasion where both sides may wind up on the winning side.
For Republicans, the fight energizes their base and unites the straying tea party element of the GOP behind the establishment. For Democrats, the debate is a fundraising boon not to mention a way to rally their somewhat listless base in advance of the 2012 election.
By | 06:30 PM ET, 03/17/2011
“Half the American people have never even heard of, much less even listened to, NPR,” said California Rep. David Dreier (R) during the floor debate on the matter.
The bill is, almost certainly, doomed in the Democratic-controlled Senate who is unlikely to even take it up. The White House is also on record in strong opposition to it.
From a policy perspective then the bill is almost certainly a loser. But, in politics , every fight — particularly a high profile one like this — amounts to an opportunity. And both sides are already hard at work trying to take advantage of the NPR kerfuffle. Republicans are using it to placate their wayward base while Democrats are trying to raise money from — you guessed it! — their base from the controversy.
A look at polling on NPR reveals a deep partisan chasm with the base of the Democratic party largely supportive of it and the base of the Republican party, well, not.
In a Quinnipiac University poll conducted last month, 49 percent of people opposed defunding NPR while 40 percent favored eliminating any federal dollars being directed to it. Fully 62 percent of Democrats opposed stripping NPR of federal dollars while just 33 percent of Republicans opposed the cuts — a 29-point difference.
A Pew poll released last fall testing the believability of various media outlets also highlighted the partisan disparity on NPR. Nearly four in ten self-identified Democrats said they believe ”all or most” of NPR’s reporting while just 16 percent of Republicans said the same.
The Republican base has long detested NPR, believing it to be a liberal-aligned media outlet that is being funded (in part) by the government. Trying to get rid of it then — particularly in the wake of the controversy that led to the resignation of the organization’s president — kills two birds with one stone. It sends a very clear signal to the GOP political base that the establishment is on its side while simultanerously keeping a campaign promise to shrink the size of government.
Democrats, too, welcome the NPR fight politically as it gives them a chance to stand with their own base — casting Republicans as extremists interested in pushing their political agenda at all costs — not to mention raise money.
“Speaker Boehner and House Republicans have gone way too far,” wrote Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) in a fundraising email sent out yesterday. “First, they tried to restrict access to reproductive health care. Then, they proposed catastrophic cuts to teachers, nurses, and researchers. Now the Republicans want to control the news.”
In politics, there are plenty of lose-lose propositions for the two parties. (As we wrote this morning, the slow-walking of the budget debate is one of them.) But, the fight over NPR’s funding mechanism is a rare occasion where both sides may wind up on the winning side.
For Republicans, the fight energizes their base and unites the straying tea party element of the GOP behind the establishment. For Democrats, the debate is a fundraising boon not to mention a way to rally their somewhat listless base in advance of the 2012 election.
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