Message, message, (defining the) message
Howdy y'awlz. Haven't posted in a while -- nothing dramatic, just been busy. I'll do a coupla real updates soon, but 1st...
Such a strange political day yesterday. I mean, for starters I actually voted for a Republican! Albeit a former Republican who's also a former Democrat and somehow was on both the GOP and Ind. ballots in NYC yesterday. (For the record, I pulled the Ind. ballot.) Bloomberg's not been nearly as bad as I'd thought he'd be, and poor schlub Bill Thompson just Couldn't. Get. Nuthin. Goin. He's less popular in this town than A.J. Burnett. :-p In the end, I just didn't buy that Bill had any mojo for the job.
Even though Bill's been comptroller for a while, no one here seems to know jack shit about him. And he was clueless on how to (a) have a political personality, (b) translate it into a compelling message for his candidacy, or (c) even remotely project that (non) message. So of course in the absence of Bill defining himself, Moneybags Mike did it for him. I mean, watching TV around here lately has been a joke. I maybe saw 1 Thompson ad for every 20 Bloomberg ones. And each Thompson slot was DIRECTLY followed by a Bloomie one, which LED OFF refuting the very point the prior Thompson slot had just ended with! Scary good marketing, with scary good resources to back it up.
Message message message. And so it is with the alleged ZOMG-Obama's-really-running-scared-now! bullshit we hear coming from GOP quarters across the land. So they picked up a gov race in newly purple (but still heavily redneck) Virginia, and Haley Barbour's RGA deftly implemented a plan to attack Ind. Chris Daggett in NJ and bleed away votes from Corzine. Congrats GOP! On winning two regional contests. Contests that conventional wisdom agreed months ago would ultimately be referenda on regional issues and candidates. But you wouldn't know that to scan today's headlines!
Meanwhile Democrats nabbed the one contest that truly WAS a national bellwether, actually DOES add to Dem Congressional majorities, and actually DOES affect the healthcare debate: NY-23. In fact, NY-23 is also a bellwether for how the GOP is doing re-defining their image in the wake of 2 disastrous national cycles. The result: laughably chaotic infighting, won by the nutbag base, which in turn (drumroll please) predictably sank them in the general. Oh, and they lost another national congressional seat in California too, but that's hardly a blip on today's radar.
What does this mean? Two things which roughly offset each other: Republicans still haven't learned that social nutbag'ism doesn't win them general elections anymore ... and Democrats still haven't learned to DEFINE our message nationally, even when we win. Joe Sixpack should've woken up today to a blare of "GOP minority shrinks even more as party stabs itself in the back!" Instead he heard about a president hobbled by 2 gov races that have little actual relevance in DC.
And of course, he also heard about the shameful, dispicable victory of hate over love in Maine. Of petty territorialism triumphing over the US Constitution, wrapped in the veneer of Jesus. Of basic human equality -- which should never be subject to a vote anyway -- squashed by fear and ignorance.
Message trumps common sense. Even outrageous lies can be sold if packaged correctly. The GOP knows this, embraces this, thrives on this. Why else would Joe "You lie!" Wilson write a moronic healthcare amendment requiring members of Congress to enroll in a public option that only exists to help those too poor to buy any other form of care?
Dems have truth on our side. We just sometimes forget to explain the obvious.
Yanks in 6!!!
Such a strange political day yesterday. I mean, for starters I actually voted for a Republican! Albeit a former Republican who's also a former Democrat and somehow was on both the GOP and Ind. ballots in NYC yesterday. (For the record, I pulled the Ind. ballot.) Bloomberg's not been nearly as bad as I'd thought he'd be, and poor schlub Bill Thompson just Couldn't. Get. Nuthin. Goin. He's less popular in this town than A.J. Burnett. :-p In the end, I just didn't buy that Bill had any mojo for the job.
Even though Bill's been comptroller for a while, no one here seems to know jack shit about him. And he was clueless on how to (a) have a political personality, (b) translate it into a compelling message for his candidacy, or (c) even remotely project that (non) message. So of course in the absence of Bill defining himself, Moneybags Mike did it for him. I mean, watching TV around here lately has been a joke. I maybe saw 1 Thompson ad for every 20 Bloomberg ones. And each Thompson slot was DIRECTLY followed by a Bloomie one, which LED OFF refuting the very point the prior Thompson slot had just ended with! Scary good marketing, with scary good resources to back it up.
Message message message. And so it is with the alleged ZOMG-Obama's-really-running-scared-now! bullshit we hear coming from GOP quarters across the land. So they picked up a gov race in newly purple (but still heavily redneck) Virginia, and Haley Barbour's RGA deftly implemented a plan to attack Ind. Chris Daggett in NJ and bleed away votes from Corzine. Congrats GOP! On winning two regional contests. Contests that conventional wisdom agreed months ago would ultimately be referenda on regional issues and candidates. But you wouldn't know that to scan today's headlines!
Meanwhile Democrats nabbed the one contest that truly WAS a national bellwether, actually DOES add to Dem Congressional majorities, and actually DOES affect the healthcare debate: NY-23. In fact, NY-23 is also a bellwether for how the GOP is doing re-defining their image in the wake of 2 disastrous national cycles. The result: laughably chaotic infighting, won by the nutbag base, which in turn (drumroll please) predictably sank them in the general. Oh, and they lost another national congressional seat in California too, but that's hardly a blip on today's radar.
What does this mean? Two things which roughly offset each other: Republicans still haven't learned that social nutbag'ism doesn't win them general elections anymore ... and Democrats still haven't learned to DEFINE our message nationally, even when we win. Joe Sixpack should've woken up today to a blare of "GOP minority shrinks even more as party stabs itself in the back!" Instead he heard about a president hobbled by 2 gov races that have little actual relevance in DC.
And of course, he also heard about the shameful, dispicable victory of hate over love in Maine. Of petty territorialism triumphing over the US Constitution, wrapped in the veneer of Jesus. Of basic human equality -- which should never be subject to a vote anyway -- squashed by fear and ignorance.
Message trumps common sense. Even outrageous lies can be sold if packaged correctly. The GOP knows this, embraces this, thrives on this. Why else would Joe "You lie!" Wilson write a moronic healthcare amendment requiring members of Congress to enroll in a public option that only exists to help those too poor to buy any other form of care?
Dems have truth on our side. We just sometimes forget to explain the obvious.
Yanks in 6!!!