Both Myiq2xu and I have focused on the power of narratives as they relate to this election season. We humans are all wired to appreciate a good story. In fact, storytelling is the oldest form of entertainment, and we all do it without thinking, don’t we? We organize the events in our lives into a beginning, middle and end, and then relate them to our circle of friends, family and other loved ones.
A narrative is like a story on steroids. It organizes a person, not events, into a prism through which all of their actions are seen. This year, the “narrative” candidate on the Democratic side was Barack Obama. When people wanted to know what he would do for us as President, he would tell his story. Historic candidacy. Post-racial. Post-partisan. Washington outsider. Against corruption. Uniter, not divider. Sounded great to a lot of people, who never noticed that the narrative did not fit the reality.
Obama’s narrative was powerful enough to get him the Democratic nomination. (Okay, that, and the DNC forced it to happen, but it was still a huge factor.) By itself, McCain’s narrative (did you know he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and is a straight-talking maverick?) might have trumped Obama’s. But the fact is, people are tired of do-nothing government. Thanks to eight years of destruction by Bush, the Republican brand is incredibly weak, yet the Democrats took over in January of 2007 and failed to do the only thing that would stop the war(s) in Iraq and end the gridlock on the economy and the environment: impeach Bush and Cheney. Obviously, Pelosi and Reid aren’t so wonderful either.
So now what? Where do we go from here? Maybe a young, fresh-faced outsider who promises to fight partisan gridlock and lobbying and special interests?
Well, if you want that narrative, why not go with Governor Sarah Palin?
I hope they blame us. That will give us power. With that power we can clean up the Dem party.
You said it, NH! Then instantly, I thought of legendary movie anti-hero Tony Montana in Scarface who in this scene, defines this point even further (language NSFW):
Please oh PLEASE blame us for Obama’s catastrophic loss in November. Get one of those “styrofoam Greek columns” and take a swing at Hillary Clinton supporters who are not falling line with the DNC, simply because we will not support a candidate who engaged in voter fraud and sexism to grab his candidacy. Continue reading →
Let me just say that to me, the path forward is clear: support true, progressive downticket Democrats. You really can’t go wrong if you do that. No matter who ends up in power, both the idiots in charge (Pelosi, Reid)) and the White House would have to deal with a more liberal, more partisan Congress. If you think McCain/Palin are going to strip you of your right to choose, having more Linda Stenders in Congress would be a very good thing for you. If you are onboard for universal heathcare, you will like Ed O’Reilly in the Senate.
Does it ultimately matter who is at the top of the ticket? Well, I’m not going to go as far as Anglachel and tell you that the Republicans this year are evil incarnate. No matter what you think of Republicans, this crop of them are not like the Bushies. I don’t care what Anglachel says, McCain isn’t *that* bad. Yes, we disagree on a lot of things and John McCain is not a moderate. But he will bring some unexpected changes to the executive branch, of that I have no doubt. That’s not an endorsement. But if we let it happen on purpose, we’re not all going to die, die, die! I have no doubt that McCain can handle a crisis, calmly, cooly.
We knew that the Democrats screwed up again and Sarah Palin made us realize just how much material the Republicans have to work with. The sarcasm and ridicule directed last night at our side was well deserved. The progressive blogosphere 1.0 (PB 1.0) has lost all perspective. Jeralyn Merrit at talkleft is spinning furiously to make Palin look bad. Josh Marshall is Palin 24/7. Kos is allowing the lunatics to run the asylum. To them, there is nothing worse than a Republican. (Or is that, nothing worse than a woman vying getting in the way of some man’s ambition? Faux-feminism raises its ugly head) PB1.0 is attempting to dehumanize these people just as the Republicans made an artform of dehumanizing them. But who is the audience for these attacks? Other Obamaphiles? Such efforts would be wasted on them. They’re already onboard. So, one can only assume they are intended for us. But we’ve been watching the generation of propaganda and oppo research from the other side for years now. The reason we held out for Hillary for so long is because we are rather impervious to perception managment and manipulation. What makes PB 1.0 think we’re going to suddenly check our brains at the door and fall for this stuff now?
I know! How about treating us like sentient beings instead of brainless harpies with vaginas. What a novel concept. That way, PB 1.0 could stop writing ridiculous diatribes about Palin that only serve to discredit themselves in our eyes. Instead, they could start writing the post-election circular firing squad diaries they’re all famous for whenever the Democrats lose. No time like the present.
McCain gives his speech tonight and throughout this convention, we have seen a slow build up to winning us over. The memes are clear: Palin is a “breath of fresh air”; McCain is a maverick who goes his own way. We have a glimpse of how they are going to pull us to them in Fred Thompson’s speech. He praised John McCain for his rebelliousness, independence. He’s a regular James Dean. That was aimed at US, guys. Republicans in general don’t like rebels. That’s why we call them conservatives and why McCain had such a devil of a time winning them over. The only reason they’re pushing the rebellion theme is to snag us away from the Dems.
Expect to hear more mockery tonight, maybe even from McCain himself, though he will probably take more of a high road than Palin did. Will the issue of the delegate count come up? How Hillary was screwed by her own party? Hypocrisy from the hypocrits? Be on your guard because it will look very convincing and Republicans are masters at playing on your emotions. But like I said, the Democrats have given them plenty of material to work with.
Don’t make up your mind yet. There’s a lot of sucking up both parties have to do between now and November 4. You’ve got a lot of power. Put it to good use, give the Democrats fits. Work for Ed O’Reilly and put Kerry out of our misery. It’s a great short term goal that will have the DNC scared silly. Bwahahahahahahahhhhhh!
I checked in with my evangelical sources in central PA (Mom and siblings). They like Sarah Palin a lot. Here’s why:
She comes across like a regular person, not a politician
She has a reputation as a reformer.
She’s outdoorsy
She’s young, fresh and appealing
They like the way she is handling Bristol’s situation
She’s a woman.
Yep, put that in your pipe and smoke it lefty blogosphere 1.0. My mom is a strict moralist, which always makes it fun to visit her with the BFF where we sleep in separate rooms. But this business with Bristol doesn’t phase her a bit. Everyone makes mistakes, she says. She thinks the family is handling the situation well and is doing what *she* would have done (I’m not sure that’s entirely reassuring…).
So, there you have it. She’s onboard for McCain. She voted for Hillary in the primary but the Republicans won her back based on the social conservative creds of Sarah. Mission Accomplished, Senator McCain.
Now, let’s sit back and watch the Democrats phreak out. Pass the popcorn.
One more thing: Over at alegrescorner, NewHampster is beginning the weekly Tweety Award for the journalist who “makes our sphincters contract, our toes curl and our weenies tingle. Or they made you gag.” Whoo! There’s an image that’s going to malinger awhile in the grey matter.
Ahh, now come the investigations. Who knew what when? Adam Nagourney of the NYTimes is on it. Apparently, Sarah Palin came right out of the blue. Funny, *we’ve* known she was on the event horizon for several months now. She’s been vetted enough. Did anyone know about Bristol Palin’s situation before yesterday? Probably. It’s hard to keep it a secret at 5 months. Three? Maybe. But five is when things start to pop. But what does Bristol’s situation have to do with being VP? Nada. It’s a private, family matter. ( In contrast, Time is oddly sanguine about the whole Bristol Palin thing. It’s apparently NOT news in Wasilla, Alaska, not that it’s anyone’s business anyway. H/T BernieO)
Troopergate? Probably not a big deal. Not like taking bribes or putting additions on your house with campaign contributions.
No, it looks like Palin’s nomination has caught the Democrats completely off guard. And now they’re looking for some way to neutralize her. Push her off the ticket. I think Anglachel is right. it will just make evangelicals rally behind her:
What too many on the Left see as Palin’s weaknesses will not, repeat, NOT be seen that way by her base. For example, there is an article today in the NYT by Kit Seelye about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy. The headline screams “Palin’s Teen Daughter Is Pregnant; New G.O.P. Tumult,” but the text of the article shows one Republican after another saying some variation on “Stuff like that happens. I wish the family the best.” No tumult at all. Kind of like the Pope approving of Madonna’s song “Papa Don’t Preach.” Also, absolutely do not under any circumstances breathe that Gov. Palin should have to produce medical records related to her reproductive history. Quite aside from that being a HIPAA violation, it is what the Republicans want the power to do, so do not damage your own privacy interests…
To continue to go after Palin as an individual is to put yourself onto Republican turf, engaging in a politics of personal take-down. This is where the Republicans want to fight because it distracts from their policies and practices. Anything you say or do can be turned into a smear – just ask Hillary. This is why both the Clintons in their convention addresses and in their campaign speeches do not bother to talk about the individuals (except to praise them as people), but return over and over to the political acts of the Republican Party that have brought the country to the brink of ruin since 2001.
The Democrats have mistaken winning at all costs for some kind of policy. We didn’t like that $^*) when the Republicans did it and we like it even less now that Democrats are playing that game. Sooner or later, you have to start governing and it becomes increasingly more difficult once you start down the path of personal destruction. It becomes a habit. Just think of all the people they’re going to have to work with if they win. Lots of reps and senators and executive branch people who are going to be mistrustful and backstabbing, a government full of intrigue and spite. Will anything get done?
And what about us? Suddenly stuck in the middle, shunned by our own party, courted cautiously by the other, holding the power of 18 million voices. What is the way for us? It seems clear to me. We do what we’ve always done. We stick to our principles. Don’t sink to the level of the gutter. Hold both parties accountable. Protect our margins in Congress. Don’t reward bad behavior. There is no need to make a decision about who is on top yet. Let the bad guys hang themselves first. Anglachel again:
My grim opinion is that the window of opportunity to repair this rift has passed. The party is now stuck with a divided and angry base. The party must be under no illusion about why this has happened: The DNC and the Obama campaign denigrated and dismissed the preferred candidate of more than half the party, using misogyny and false accusations of racism and giving the CDS-afflicted media carte blanche to act out its worst impulses. When the candidate refused to be intimidated out of the race, the smears were aimed at her supporters. These smears continue to this day. These two lines of attack, one aimed at the voters, the other attributed to them, have inflicted damage that the Obamacan faction will not take responsibility for, let alone move to fix.
It doesn’t really matter how much the Adam Nagourney’s of the world throw themselves behind Obama. *WE* aren’t onboard this year because the Democrats have lost their way.
The Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has announced that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.
Bristol Palin, one of Palin’s five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said.
“We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us,” the Palins’ statement said.
“Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support,” the Palins said.
The Palins asked the news media to respect the young couple’s privacy.
I am very sorry that Bristol Palin’s private life is about to undergo an investigation by people who we once considered to be caring, tolerant people. It’s none of our business. She’s very young and her responsibilities have increased enormously. But next year, there will be one more addition to the Palin household and I’m sure that there will be good times as well as hard times. Let us send her and her family our best wishes for a healthy baby and a prosperous life going forward.
Remember when we began, PUMAs? Remember when we used to frequent the blogs like The Cheeto, The Big Blue, HuffPo and AmericaBlog? Remember how we used to think Air America was actually liberal, instead of a bought-and-paid-for 24-hour orgy of Hillary Hatred?
I know it’s painful to think about now, but remember when you tried to fight back against the raging misogyny at these so-called “progressive” media outlets? What was their excuse again?
“I’m ready to vote for a woman President. Just not THAT woman. This hatred is brought on by Hillary herself. If she were a man she would have gotten the same reaction from me.”
Well, fellow PUMAs, looks like that excuse has gone bye-bye.
Over at the Cheeto (Daily Kos), they are in meltdown mode. (Won’t link to that place.) From “real moms” disputing Governor Palin’s tale of her pregnancy to a “reasoned” analysis of how Alaska is OMG like really small and so that means she OMG like has no experience at all despite her years of being Governor and OMG she is not qualified to be President despite the fact that she is not running for President and OMG McCain is going to die like tomorrow and that means this woman will be President OMG OMG!!!111!!!
To take her at her word — as those who constantly proclaim their devotion ought to do — means joining her behind the new Obama-Biden ticket. Rather than sulking over the slights and stupidities of the primary, she speaks about the disastrous implications of a Republican victory as well as the policies and values she holds in common with Sen. Obama. Do the rejectionists think that her speeches on his behalf are insincere — that when she says she wants him to win, she is being false? Such assumptions are an insult to her.
Still more confounding is the threat by some of her supporters to defect to John McCain. His campaign’s latest commercial features a grinning Clinton supporter who praises his “maverick, independent streak” as well as his “experience and judgment,” and promises that “it’s OK, really” to vote for the Republican. Is this the politics of revenge? Is it the cult of personality? Is it just stubborn idiocy?
Whatever else it may be, it is not OK. No, it is emphatically not OK to mislead Sen. Clinton’s supporters into lining up behind a candidate whose positions are the opposite of hers, whose judgment on many issues is woefully deficient, and whose maverick independence is no more than a memory.
Sen. McCain, too, deserves to be taken at his word — which makes it all the more astonishing that anyone who claims to have voted for Sen. Clinton would consider voting for him. He has declared his firm opposition to reproductive rights and promised to appoint Supreme Court judges who would restrict those rights. He would continue the U.S. occupation of Iraq and may well expand the war to Iran and beyond. He opposes universal health care and denounces Social Security as a “disgrace” that should be privatized. He dropped his principled opposition to the regressive Bush tax cuts and his support of immigration reform to pander to the Republican right.
Speaking of right-wing Republicans, their encouragement of the intransigent Clintonites is a clue for the clueless. The sudden affection lavished on Sen. Clinton by neoconservatives and other assorted wingnuts could hardly be more transparent or insincere — or predictable as soon as Sen. Obama, their erstwhile favorite, secured the Democratic nomination. Pundits who beseeched Democrats to join the Obama campaign as a crusade to destroy the Clintons now demand respect for her. But their insincerity is blatant. They merely want to exploit her most disappointed supporters, whose eagerness to cooperate in that strategy is mystifying.
Private opinions about Sen. Obama and his chances of victory notwithstanding, Sen. Clinton clearly understands that her own political future, her family’s political legacy and the causes she holds dear will all depend on the vigor of her support for the Democratic ticket this fall. And despite persistent hisses of complaint from both the Obama and Clinton camps during the convention week, she knows there is no upside in recalcitrance and no downside in enthusiasm. As a lifelong advocate of racial and gender equality, she should appreciate the historic moment that she and Sen. Obama have the privilege to share on the public stage. None of her supporters should stoop to tarnish it.
You know what Joe? F__K You. F__K you and your vote stealing candidate. Had you done your job as a journalist, you would’ve discovered that Obama stole this convention through caucus fraud, SuperDelegates donations through Nancy Pelosi’s PAC, with the help from the RBC and Fake Role Call meetings. So get your nose out of my uterus. I will support DownTicket Dems even if they were a participant in the Death Of Democracy in the Democratic Party – because they will ensure that McCain and Palin’s power do not go unchecked. And numbers say that in 40 years and 5 Republican presidents with very conservative Supreme Court majorities haven’t turned over Roe v. Wade, so why should they now? Obama stole a campaign and attacked with his rabid cyber-dogs and cultlike supporters in the media. What makes you think he’s going to protect MY rights as a woman after he let misogyny be the main weapon to suppress dissent? Democracy is much more important to me than my uterus, so go do your job instead of deciding what my ladyparts should be doing/thinking.
Rico has his Pink PUMAs and Mountian Lion Martinis – Flo has her catchers mitt, so Smiegels beware! For entertainment tonight, nothing like a good Latin Jazz timbal duet between Tito Puente and Shiela E.
PLUS: Join Matt from “My Two Cents” 11PM ET tonight! Topics: DNC convention, McCain’s stunning VP pick, polls, tactics used to sway Hillary supporters/pumas to Obama through fear and doubt. Special guests will drop by to weigh in!!! http://www.blogtalkradioshow.com/My-Two-Cents
The Confluence 