(no subject)
If you thought the right-wing was already coming unglued, you're going to be utterly shocked by their conduct over the home stretch. They're utterly desperate now, and there's nothing more dangerous than a political party in desperation. We'll probably be seeing more campaign workers getting attacked, more blatantly bullshit robocalls, more transparent McCarthyism. In the wake of Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama (watch it, then watch this interview he did afterward), the right-wing has already started pushing the "Powell only endosred Obama because they're both black" meme. As polling shows that the last debate improved Obama's image not only among liberals and independents but also, amazingly, among conservatives, they're only going to get more desperate.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Luntz pointed out, correctly I think, that in today's political climate, the last thing most voters want to hear is partisan attacks. Sure, they'll energise the base, but the majority of people want to hear about issues, want to hear reassurances that everything will be okay. In times of trouble, people want more help from the government, not less. Which makes McCain's attacks on Obama as a "socialist" particularly quaint, especially seeing as his party has just effected the biggest nationalisation in our government's history.
I don't think attacks like these are going to stick. Most people are going to see the attacks on Powell for what they are - out-and-out racism. While this will certainly appeal to the base, the base isn't as large as it was four years ago.
However, Greg Palast reports that ten million voters have been purged from the voting rolls. Palast has done reporting on electoral fraud by the GOP in the 2000 and 2004 elections, clearly demonstrating a systematic disenfranchisement of voters that hasn't been reported in the mainstream media, which Palast feels resulted in fraudulent results in both elections (and he presents subsantial amounts of evidence to back up his point). Josh Marshall has more.
The single biggest possible to the GOP would be to hand them a decisive loss even with the inevitable tampering they're trying to enact. Kos has it absoltutely right; crush their spirits. Go out, volunteer for the campaign, donate money, do everything you can to close out the home stretch. It's time to take this country back.
ETA: Apparently the second Powell video doesn't work in Firefox; I had to load it in Explorer. Sorry about that.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Luntz pointed out, correctly I think, that in today's political climate, the last thing most voters want to hear is partisan attacks. Sure, they'll energise the base, but the majority of people want to hear about issues, want to hear reassurances that everything will be okay. In times of trouble, people want more help from the government, not less. Which makes McCain's attacks on Obama as a "socialist" particularly quaint, especially seeing as his party has just effected the biggest nationalisation in our government's history.
I don't think attacks like these are going to stick. Most people are going to see the attacks on Powell for what they are - out-and-out racism. While this will certainly appeal to the base, the base isn't as large as it was four years ago.
However, Greg Palast reports that ten million voters have been purged from the voting rolls. Palast has done reporting on electoral fraud by the GOP in the 2000 and 2004 elections, clearly demonstrating a systematic disenfranchisement of voters that hasn't been reported in the mainstream media, which Palast feels resulted in fraudulent results in both elections (and he presents subsantial amounts of evidence to back up his point). Josh Marshall has more.
The single biggest possible to the GOP would be to hand them a decisive loss even with the inevitable tampering they're trying to enact. Kos has it absoltutely right; crush their spirits. Go out, volunteer for the campaign, donate money, do everything you can to close out the home stretch. It's time to take this country back.
ETA: Apparently the second Powell video doesn't work in Firefox; I had to load it in Explorer. Sorry about that.