In the hub-ub about RNC Chief Priebus and their “either remove this Clinton related programming” to CNN and NBC “or we won’t debate on your networks”…

… which… hm… the Democrats withdrew from Fox News, for obvious enough reasons.  And there is a very good need to just dump a whole lot of debates…

In a so-called autopsy report from March, the RNC specifically lamented the media’s role in its 2012 election losses. As Slate’s Dave Weigel pointed out, one of the prescriptions in that report was for the GOP to “create a system that results in a more rational number of debates.”

On Bloomberg TV, Priebus acknowledged that concern, calling the last primary season “a 23-debate traveling circus.”

“The last thing I want to do is add more debates that will promote agencies and companies that are going out of their way to make sure that they’re promoting Hillary Clinton,” he said.

Priebus also dismissed a question on whether the RNC would oppose a Fox News documentary on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a favorite to seek the GOP nomination in 2016, saying the conservative network had announced no such plans.

It is a hypothetical that does need answering, though.  Things get interesting here…

During a Tuesday interview on Fox News Radio’s “Kilmeade and Friends,” Priebus rejected guest host Leslie Gold’s characterization that Republicans were “freaked out” about films that could just as well be critical of Clinton as they could be fawning or flattering in their portrayal.

“It just doesn’t matter,” he responded. “In today’s world, cult personality, cultural votes, which is what presidential elections are — it doesn’t matter.”

“Let’s imagine that it’s critical or even-handed … When you build up a name, when you start a small wave far from the shore, it builds and builds and builds,” Priebus added. “And if Hillary Clinton is running for president, her candidacy will build and build itself. It really makes no difference.”

He then goes on to shove up the “Liberal Media” line anyway, suggesting he doesn’t believe they’ll give an “even handed” or even “unflattering” portrayal of Hillary Clinton.

But go ahead and take him at his word.    This goes back to a famous incident on a CBS News coverage, critical of the Reagan Administration — showing “rhetoric versus reality”.  And the Reagan Administration thanking them for the coverage.  Because… “nobody heard what they said”, and all that came across was a mass of pleasing visuals, which reinforced Reagan’s rhetoric.

So the Reince Priebus may have a point.
But…

But then… um… what was the point of the conservative group “Citizen’s United” broadcasting a Hillary Clinton biopic to the 2008 elections?
Or Swift Boat Veterans for Truth doing a biopic on Kerry in 2004?
I suppose they’ll recycle the Hillary Clinton video and get the requisite network affiliates in key swing states to air it — just blur the Hillary Clinton image about.

I suppose a neutral showing of Hillary Clinton would reinforce some kind of Hillary Clinton pleasing narrative — as a “Very Important Figure” — towering over the Republican’s lot of Rand Pauls and whoever else they got…  OR?

A miniseries is likely to bring back that culture-war-and-tabloid optic of HRC the brave martyr or the sinister harridan, the ultimate marital survivor or Red Queen. Maybe that would be good for a presidential campaign—depending on how the writers and directors handle her “story”—but I wouldn’t just assume that to be the case. It is pretty clear she doesn’t really need the attention. So perhaps she should consider making it known she’s not any crazier about the project than is Priebus.

Not that that would persuade the Republicans or Priebus of anything… even in the “Against anything they’re for” theory of partisan ground-fighting.  I also want to note the washington monthly commenter pointing to how the 1984 movie “The Right Stuff” really helped John Glenn’s presidential aspirations.

I do have the one thought that… um… a long form broadcast covering the biography of major political figures… is much more desirable and useful to fill time … than the thin coverage of politics that is the hallmark of 24 hour cable news networks.

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