The R-r-r-r-rest of the Story (Red Emma)

WHILE DIPPING MY MADELEINE into a mug of linden flower tea on Sunday morning, I read Gregory Rodriguez’s op-ed, A letter-perfect political story in the OC, in the LA Times. Mr. Rodriguez works with the New America Foundation, a “non-partisan think tank” (read: a startlingly benign think tank) supported by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur, god bless ‘em. 

     They are dead, but their work lives on and, no, they don’t actually drive tanks. They give away those “genius” awards. Interestingly, right-wing AM radio cornball Paul “The Rest of the Story” Harvey was once on their board of directors, when he was not shilling for True Value Hardware. Hey, John and Cate and Paul, how ‘bout some support for Dissent? Hello, America! Page two! 

     Anyway, over at NAF, they embrace words like “compromise,” “reform,” and “non-partisan” toward describing their work, and offer programs that show “that Democrats and Republicans can bridge their differences to improve the system,” a clause which begs for so much more assholery than even Red Emma can summon just now. Good grief. Page three! 

     Need more? The big, new thinkers at NAF are all about “Relying on a venture capital approach,” where “the Foundation invests in outstanding individuals and policy solutions that transcend the conventional political spectrum.” I love transcendence. So does Rodriquez, who transcends the obvious. He begins his thought-piece with the telling and perhaps honest confession that he doesn’t know.

“I don’t know what was more disturbing, the lame attempt to suppress immigrant voter turnout in California's 47th Congressional District or the breathless reporting and hyper-indignation that followed it.”

Okay, so here comes another critique of the political status quo and the media, its co-conspirator. “Disturbing” News Flash for some perhaps, but readers of Dissent and of the Situationists, Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, Frank Zappa, George Lakoff, the good people at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, and your aunt Suzy’s blog will understand the symbiotic relationship between corporate media and mainstream political parties and the “social construction of reality,” right? Transcendence, indeed. It seems Gregory Rodriguez had read, watched, and listened to all the absurd theater from the GOP and Dems alike, including displays of who could be more outraged and shocked and distance themselves from Tan Nguyen, concluding that the Donald Segretti-esque dirty trick wasn’t nearly as relevant as was the media opera which followed, where “plenty of politicos on both sides of the aisle got to prove their benevolence, the media got to show off their high-minded indignation, and nothing, absolutely nothing, was done to alter the political status quo. A perfect story.”

 

     A little too perfect methinked to meself. So Red Emma dipped his cookie in the tea and, instead of resting any longer on his couch, leapt up and emailed Rodriguez, who clearly needs to leap up off of his, asking him to please reconsider. 

     The trick was relevant, it turns out. Where there was smoke, there was Fuentes. That was Sunday. It’s been two days, and G.R., who must occasionally get email, hasn’t responded to my careful, polite observation that he perhaps missed The Point, which I share with you, below. 

     Stand by for…news! 

     Mr. Rodriguez:

I offer two objections to your LA Times analysis today. 

First: indeed, the story, as you frame it, might be a “perfect” example of the media and pundit Spectacle variety, where analysts (as yourself) talk about the shallowness of commercial media and lousy politics, apparently toward reminding everybody of how lost we are. But the part you missed, the real story, is potentially interesting, engaging and difficult. Instead of offering the same tired fatalism, why not do some investigative reporting? Nguyen will be forgotten, but should not be, and you could fix that. 

Doing a little bit of investigation here would deliver to you a story which activists, not journalists, know about and have done their best to document. When we try to get local media to do the work they should be doing, we get the “editor won’t let me” refrain. 

Here’s the story, Mr. R. Check out Dissent the Blog, maintained by faculty and staff of our local South Orange County Community College District (Al Tello’s wife?). Briefly, the woman who was Nguyen’s Campaign Manager, Emilee Tello, is married to the president of one the district’s college foundations, Al Tello (Irvine Valley College Foundation). That person was hired by Thomas Fuentes, former GOP county leader and current SOCCCD member, who took $15,000 as Nguyen’s consultant, which means basically a shakedown so that this “loser” and “rakish” candidate could run against Sanchez. 

Whoever wins, Fuentes gets his piece of the action. This is the same Thomas Fuentes who famously hired poll “guards” to intimidate Latinos. He voted to cancel a study abroad program to Spain after the Spanish government left Iraq. And so on. He represents what they call the Old Guard Republicans here in “conservative” Orange County. 

So, no, the story does not exactly fit the needs of all parties (sic) involved. Only the easy version. 

Second: Yes, Nguyen did not have a chance against Sanchez. But do you imagine that the goofy letters don’t reverberate, and play a larger role, doing their intimidating best vis-a-vis other races, notably the State Senate race between Supervisor Lou Correa and Assemblyperson Lynn Daucher? No possible “ethnic disenfranchisement” outside one small district? C’mon. 

“Nothing, absolutely nothing was done to alter the political status quo” because of the desire of so many journalists to collaborate with the corporate media and mainstream politicos to accept the easy story. You are right. Now please consider following up on this story yourself. 

Yes, “Journalists…determine whether to cover it and from what angle.” How ‘bout it? Give us an angle that challenges the too-easy “letter-perfect” version. 

Thanks. —RE

Andrew Tonkovich