Only The Tea Party Game Matters

That's the distinct impression I'm getting from the collection of NY Times articles on GOP governors that Steve M. flagged down yesterday, that the better your Republican governor is at playing the political game, the better they are.

This weekend, The New York Times has run three stories about Republican governors -- John Kasich of Ohio, Rick Perry of Texas, and Nikki Haley of South Carolina -- and they all seem to be written according to a formula. The formula says that it doesn't matter very much what the public thinks of a governor, or at least it doesn't matter what non-right-wing members of the public think; it also doesn't matter much what the likely consequences of the governor's actions are. All that matters is how well the governor did in dealings with the rest of the political class. Just win, baby! Then you're a great governor!

So yes, no mention of Kasich's lousy numbers (or the fact his one-party rule is about to outlaw all abortions), no mention of Perry's problems with the budget (but Nikki Haley sure takes a couple shots in her article for not being conservative enough.)  And you only have to go back to last Tuesday for the Rick Scott article that says despite his 29% approval rating, he doesn't really give a damn about what the people think, nor should he.

Steve's right however that Kasich and Perry are portrayed as good ol' boys who know how to play their state's respective political games, while Haley is seen as an uptight "schoolmarm" (and Scott is "tone-deaf".)  All that matters to the Times apparently is how you handle schmoozing the political elite.  Kasich, former Senator and Wall Street lobbyist, gets excellent marks.  Perry, working on his third-term, certainly knows how to do it.  But neophytes Haley and Scott are portrayed as ham-fisted, ignorant, and difficult.  They are...but so are Kasich and Perry.

Kasich and Perry are given glowing reviews.  Haley and Scott are not...and all of it seems to be written from a Tea Party perspective.  Haley raises "questions about transparency" while Scott "failed to get an Arizona-style immigration bill passed."  Perry on the other hand completed "a fairly long conservative wish-list" and Kasich is "a get-things-done governor".

So apparently the key to getting good press in the Times?  Being a Tea Party governor who sucks up to the political elite.  You do that, you're golden.