The portrayal of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s current #WhenWeAllVote tour as some kind of civic, non-partisan voter education drive, in news coverage by media outlets like Univision, is about as deceptive and dishonest as it can be.
It reminds us of 2016, when coverage of “get out the vote” (GOTV) efforts at Univision was a plain and simple code, which always only translated to “get out the vote for Hillary.”
And yet, in advance of the upcoming mid-term election, this is precisely the kind of deception Univision is peddling once again, by dishonestly casting the former First Lady’s campaign as a “fight against political discouragement and apathy” and even more ludicrously as a “message of encouragement in favor of participating in the elections” instead of the clearly and pointedly Democrat GOTV drive it really is:
CAROLINA SARASSA, NEWS ANCHOR, UNIVISION: And we continue talking about the midterm elections this coming November and this time it’s former First Lady Michelle Obama who came to Nevada to wage her own fight against political discouragement and apathy. Her message was quite clear: "Vote to prevent others from deciding for you."
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Believe me I am frustrated too. I am sick of all the chaos, and the nastiness of our politics. It’s exhausting and frankly, it’s depressing. So I understand wanting to shut it all out and just go on and try to live your life, take care of your family in peace. But here’s the problem: while some folks are frustrated and tuned out and stay at home on Election Day, trust me other folks are showing up. Democracy continues with or without you.
SARASSA: Hoping to continue with her message of encouragement in favor of participating in the elections, it is expected that Michelle Obama's next destination will be the state of Florida.
The content and objective of Obama’s speeches, along with the whole #WhenWeAllVote campaign appartus, could not be more targeted to drumming up mid-term election votes for Democrats. When the news media covers her and others involved in the Democrat-aligned campaign, it should be honestly identified as such, instead of as some kind of high-minded civic exercise that it is most definitely not.
Below is the transcript of the entire above-referenced segment, as aired during the September 24, 2018 edition of Despierta América on Univision.
CAROLINA SARASSA, NEWS ANCHOR, UNIVISION: And we continue talking about the midterm elections this coming November and this time it’s former First Lady Michelle Obama who came to Nevada to wage her own fight against political discouragement and apathy. Her message was quite clear: "Vote to prevent others from deciding for you."
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Believe me I am frustrated too. I am sick of all the chaos, and the nastiness of our politics. It’s exhausting and frankly, it’s depressing. So I understand wanting to shut it all out and just go on and try to live your life, take care of your family in peace. But here’s the problem: while some folks are frustrated and tuned out and stay at home on Election Day, trust me other folks are showing up. Democracy continues with or without you.
SARASSA: Hoping to continue with her message of encouragement in favor of participating in the elections, it is expected that Michelle Obama's next destination will be the state of Florida.
