Partisan-fed talking points are an insult to hurting Americans

Back in the day, when I was a Republican — I have been an independent libertarian for well over a decade now — I made appearances on the three major television networks as well as CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.

Sometimes, I was the sole guest invited to give my opinion on the political news of the week.  More often than not, I was there to debate a Democrat regarding those often-hyped issues. No matter the case, I simply showed up at the studio ready to offer my honest opinion — no notes, no talking points, no one telling me what to say.

To be sure, if a Republican White House or various Republican groups noticed that I was going to be a guest on a program, they would often reach out to ask if I wanted “talking points” or a “briefing” on issues. I always politely declined. My thinking then — and now — was that there is something disingenuous and even dishonest about that process. Opinion is based upon real-life experiences and interactions. Parroting cheat-sheet talking points would mislead TV viewers: They’d be fed scripted lines, not my opinion. 

That said, I was always amazed to watch my Democrat counterpart either reading “talking points” just before airtime, or literally taking instructions by phone from a Democratic White House or political organization as we waited to go live.

Both political parties do this every day, and it only adds to the phoniness and divisiveness of the entire process.

Americans are not listening to an expert’s wisdom but rather, as with the “Wizard of Oz,” to a cheap carnival barker behind a curtain manipulating the process and the people who naively put their faith in the “wizard” before them.

That feeling came back to me when I watched a recent YouTube clip of various network news journalists all obediently spitting out the word “dark” to describe the theme of the Republican National Convention.

It’s one thing for Democratic operatives to take talking points from Joe Biden’s campaign or a Biden-supporting political action committee. But it’s quite another for journalists to do the same.  “Embarrassing,” “unprofessional” and “unethical” are the words that come to mind to describe it.

That video and various “dark” headlines from a number of media organizations likely mean that journalists swallowed and regurgitated the talking point — as Democrats hoped. These are major media organizations echoing a canned political talking point, not political hacks. And it’s conduct that might make some reasoned Americans ask, “What’s the difference these days?” 

One of the latest talking points sent out — also presumably by the Biden campaign or its allies — is that the violence and anarchy in the streets of many American cities run by Democrats is happening in “Trump’s America.” Many political operatives and journalists are now parroting the phrase “Trump’s America.”  

Politics is a full-contact sport, littered with “unnecessary roughness” penalties. Some are called; most are missed. But members of the news media are supposed to represent the officials and referees, not the propagandists shilling for one political team or the other. 

Once again, we have advocates for both sides proclaiming that this will be “the election of our lifetimes,” that if we don’t vote the correct way on this one, our nation will be consumed by locusts, pestilence and plagues. Apparently, the “plague” part of the prediction is already here, and the other two are knocking on the door.

If either side even remotely believes the dire warnings they are trying to sell, then all the more reason for American voters to get the full, unvarnished, non-scripted truth from the “experts” and journalists whose words they hear or read.

Non-elite Americans are in a world of hurt when it comes to job security, affordable health care, reliable education for their children, and truly frightening violent crimes. The coronavirus pandemic, with its lockdowns, and now unrest in the streets have increased the already high misery index for those living paycheck-to-paycheck exponentially. Scripted talking points are an insult to their daily struggle.

It’s time to send the fake “wizards” of Oz, with their pre-packaged. pre-approved partisan talking points, back to Kansas. Tens of millions of Americans are searching for the truth. They have built — and power — our country, and they deserve to hear it.

Douglas MacKinnon was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communication at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration. He is the author of: “The Dawn of a Nazi Moon: Book One.”