[Dear readers,
My wife Anja and I got in a big car accident this weekend and I broke my collarbone (the only major injury to come out of an accident in which had a blow-out and flew off the highway, then rolled a couple of times – we were very lucky.), so I’ll be out of it for most of the week. But before that happened, I was collecting some new stuff – here’s what I’ve got for now. It’s probably dated by now, and a mess, but what the heck. As you read, please note the dulcet percoset lilt to my fury.]
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Palin Flailin’
Did you watch the interview? Charlie Gibson was on the verge of exploding at having to treat a mediocre pageant contestant as if she were a legitimate candidate for arguably the second most powerful job in the world. (I’m sorry, I wish she were a man, so I could make the same parallel without it sounding sexist, but that’s what she sounded like, as others have noted as well, a pageant contestant, which, in fact she was, one without much upstairs who knew she wasn’t going to do at all well in the elocution portion just trying to make it through to the bathing suits, repeating her set of barely-remembered patriotic lines regardless of the question.)
There was almost no softball question that was soft enough for her not to look like an Alaskan wolf caught in the headlights of the copter that’s bearing down on it so that same Sarah Palin can shoot it dead. But it just doesn’t matter. As I drove to Albany and back to visit my mom on Friday (before the fateful Saturday) and scanned the AM radio, I heard Hannity (and other righties) gritting his teeth (you really could hear how hard it was for him) and saying she did a great job, but, of course, not playing any clips – there wasn’t even a sound byte they could use. But, again, it just doesn’t matter. Reagan, Quayle, GWB, even GHWB were so very often absolutely incompetent speakers and IT JUST DIDN’T MATTER.
Fear, hate, love, and money, these are the elements that sell. And they have to be put very very simply. Paul Begala, a bright and interesting person, but one who, as Barack likes to say "just doesn’t get it," also on the radio Friday, said that women will return to the Dem fold once they are told that their taxes on health care will be raised. Bullshit. What the hell is a tax on healthcare? That’s like two degrees two far removed from the message that needs to be sent: "We will give you money." TAX CUTS FOR “WORKING PEOPLE” or better yet NO NEW TAXES. Or maybe, WE WILL RAISE TAXES ON PEOPLE WHO MAKE OVER $500,000 and LOWER EVERYONE ELSE’S. Messages like these and only these will work.
Simplify, patronize, pander, condescend, win. Winwinwinwinwin!!!!! I just heard Bush advisor Nancy Pfotenhauer on MSNBC (McCain does seem to surround himself with good lookin’ white women. – not a bad idea, unless you’re Barck Obama, that is – remember what happened to Harold Ford?) And what did she say, repeatedly, through her glossy, glossy lips? That Barack Obama was going to raise taxes. Doesn’t matter if it’s true. It resonates, it’s simple. Obama will raise your taxes.
(Reader Sheila, aka Mom, notes that body language clearly suggests that Cindy M. is clearly not at all happy with the VP pick, and that Johnny is very careful with his hugs and kisses these days. Let’s watch and see.)
The only thing Palin did right during her interview was say the term “Muslim extremist” over and over and over again. Simplicity, emotional/fear appeal, repetition.
The non-ignorant will be insulted, but will still pull the lever, the choice not to is just no choice at all.
Or, to put it simply, with a bow to James Carville:
It’s the stupid, stupid!
Ed Schultz is someone I despise, but he gets it. He’s an Air America jock who’s the Rush of the middle-left. He is utterly disingenuous blowhard who co-opts “Git ‘er done” and other redneck phrases all for the sake of selling the product. But I’ve come to realize that if I hate him, he’s probably just what we need. He’s a generalizing, boarish, oafish, fratboy dickhead, but he’s also a populist, a Brett Favre fan, a man’s man, and he wins hearts. Forget minds, we need to win hearts, guts. Schultz gets this. Go team!
Rachel Maddow seems to be getting it too. She’s definitely painting with much broader strokes, hitting major points over and over, lately, but maybe that’s also in part because she’s now on TV and not radio.
Our country has been stupidified. We need to win first, educate second.
All of you readers out there: You know a Republican. You know a racist Democrat who might just not vote at all rather than vote for Barack. You know someone ignorant who wants a reason to vote for the comforting suburban mom instead of the scary black man, and for what they think is “safety” for “our country” (never mind the rest of the planet, the civilian dead we don’t even count in Iraq.). Speak to them kindly in terms they’ll understand. Sell them the damn product. Play them the Palin interview for them, or send them the url, and ask them to imagine her finger on the nuke button. Although, I don’t know, I find Bush just as stupid and scary, and they voted for him, twice.
The only person I’ve seen in my lifetime who I think really reaches both high and low (ignorant and not) is Bill Clinton. Go to Youtube and watch his convention speech. He can do wonky and homespun in one paragraph, seamlessly, really try to tell people something they don’t know, not just feed them what they want to hear, although he does that too.
Or watch Biden’s convention speech. I was completely anti-Biden (thought he was a pathetic, cynical choice) until that speech. Until I became a cynic. And now I see that he’s perfect. He’s a comforting, white, middle-aged Irish guy with blue-collar stories about being blue collar and middle-aged and Irish and white and all that good stuff, and he tells those stories well well. He’s even got a huge, life-changing personal tragedy!
Finally, today, I read something on the Obama site about how to get the campaign back to the issues, which is pretty much what Paul Begala was saying. I say it’s just not gonna happen, and it’s not the right approach, if we want to win. And we want to win. It’s the only thing. Fuck (am I allowed to swear on this blog?) this idealistic crap. Maybe we can come back to it in a generation or two.
As I look back at this post a few hours later, I realize what’s missing, what point I’m not quite making, what advice I’m trying to give about this election, and especially about Sarah Palin, that isn’t coming out right, and I think I’ve got it. It’s that we can’t fight her lack of intelligence or education; we can’t fight her lies about taxes, about the Bridge to Nowhere, about so many other things.
What we can do is say “Watch this interview. Actually watch it. Do you believe this person will keep you safe from harm? More than Barack Obama and Joe Biden?” Are you so afraid of this black man? Do you really think he’s a Muslim, and an extremist one at that? So much so that you’ll let them put your life in the hands of someone who clearly has no idea, none, what she’s doing? And then play them the clips again. And again. And say, “Do you think Sarah Palin will keep you safe?” again. And again.
(Okay, that last paragraph is completely redundant. I keep it in as an example of what needs to be done, and because I’m feeling a bit queasy right now and just want to get this done with.)
Forget the minds – let’s win those hearts and guts!
