The Coming Ugliness

Is anyone else not getting email updates? What happened?

Vietnamnurse, I am quite pleased to see you. Have you talked with BigDice about a possible menage-a-trois?

VN, I haven't been getting email updates for about 3 days now. I filled out one of the forms to report problems, maybe I should try and contact a moderator. good luck.

gus, ahem...who is Bigdice and what in the world are you talking about?

Thanks, glitterbag, I will give them an email.

Democrats do your footwork and don't rush it. The Republic itself is realizing that its very existence might be at stake so those loyal to the nation regardless of political party affiliation will stop at nothing to rid the cancer.

ebrown said...

I wish it was the case that sophisticated and nuanced policy plans/statements might influence this next election in any significant manner or proportion, but I think it's a pipe-dream to hope for that. And it will be disastrous to count on it. The Bush administration did not achieve electoral influence through such means but rather through PR/advertising/consensus-building means more akin to your "meme" (Republicans hate Latinos); through pushing culturally polarizing issues to the fore; through creating a narrative of an imminently dangerous environment which Republicans are suited to confront but Democrats are not (a narrative that piggy-backs upon a half-century of coldwar propaganda and militarization, upon even older notions of American exceptionalism, and upon a whole range of images/ideas which imply Republicans are macho/daddy and Democrats are feminine/mommie), through the creation of a Pravdaesque media system, and through the electoral shenanigans we all know of (eg., suppressing black voters, redistricting, etc, and even possibly the manipulation of electronic counts).

None of which is to deny that sophisticated and nuanced programs/plans are needed (particularly given the deep hole which any new administration will have to climb out of). But this will not be what moves most of the electorate or what establishes Congressional majority.

as a ps...

The notion that Democrats are without plans or strategies is, aside from any correspondence to reality, a black-PR talking point (negative meme) forwarded purposefully by the RNC to discredit the opponent. It's not difficult to comprehend how this notion forwards the "trust me, I'm a strong and steadfast and knowledgeable daddy" but the other party is weak and flighty and feminine and cannot be trusted with important decisions, or trusted to protect us.

Great discussion, and it saddens me to realize how pessimistic I am about the Dems being up to the challenge.

And I don't hold up much hope either for the attention staying power, or intelligence, of the electorate.

sumac, I'm of the same opinion about the "attention staying power, or intelligence, of the electorate." A bummer for all of us - including those that live outside the US.

I agree that propaganda is what will carry the day, whichever way it goes. For many years after Roosevelt made liberals the power to reckon with, conservatives were seen as wackos, no matter what they did or said. The public perception of Democrats has now approached that status in many areas, meaning, Republicans will vote for their own, no matter what. The real question is, will the independents be swayed right or left?

The independents will be swayed by candidates that most reflect their political agenda; it does not matter which party they belong to.

Approximately one third of the electorate votes on the basis of moral/cultural issues, and the Republicans have most of those. Approximately one third of those 9about 12% of the electorate) are end-of timers and assume that whatever the government does is of no consequence as the world is about to end shortly anyways. That means that the Republican have to get approximately 20% of the electorate to win in a presidential election. It has been very successfully using a combination of fear and an appeal to self interest to accomplish that (Thats Carl Rove"s job).

The Congress, particularly the House, is equally problematic for the Democrats. Many people may despise the congress but they are perfectly satisfied with their congressman, (an interesting disconnect there). That plus gerrymandering of districts make most house seats safe for the incumbent and perhaps only 15% of those seat are in play. The Democrats have a very deep hole to climb out of.

Read Kevin Phillips American Theocracy. (2006) He has no use for the current administration but has been very successful in the past in charting general election trends.

Hi Acquiunk, Long time no see; hope all is fine in your part of the woods. Your suggestion, re: American Theocracy" sounds like an interesting read. Will go looking for it on the web.

Hi CI

I don't get to post as often as I used to.

There are independeants guided by political agendas, and many are sure to make good choices. I believe that most, however, are sawyed by the prevailing wind.

Repubs are very good at using simplistic sound-bites that are multi-dimensional in areas targeted. Most voters are swayed by those as it is the path of least resistance in people who are eseentially uninformed anyway.

The "speed boat vets for peace" that attacked Kerry is a good example of character assassination by the right; they'll continue to use this strategy, because they have nothing else to offer.

They'll use it because it works, unfortunately.

You and me my dear! To have an opportunity to turn congress around so that we have Checks and Balances in effect would be a good thing.

You can expect a lot of fear talk and scary things going on so that the Republicans can continue to manipulate a dumbed down, fearful populace. Although I haven't looked into it yet, I see we have another warning from Osama. I'll have to read up on it. I can picture all the dummies peeking out from their Mommies skirts already ... cringing and shaking!!

Anon

Anon