The Sneeze Guard Election?
Remember how pundits lauded Bush eight years ago as the candidate that "folks" would prefer to invite to a backyard cook-out? Unfortunately, some things then came along that were a bit more complicated than lighting charcoal. Larison nips the updated meme in the bud.
posted by The Cunning Realist at Thursday, June 05, 2008
6 Comments:
It's perfect -- but I"m sure Brooks or Dowd or someone else will find another meme to show how in touch conservatives (and McCain) are with the "heartland" and how un-American liberals (and Obama) are.
John McCain loves Applebees. A well known fact. Well, he doesn't really love it, but he seems like the sort of guy who would love an Applebees salad bar (if one existed) and that's all that matters when i vote.
If the GOP manages to get people to see Obama (the son of an African student raised by a single mom and grandma, who used food stamps) as an elitist, while the son of a US Navy Admiral is a regular joe.... that's some great spin.
If the GOP manages to get people to see Obama (the son of an African student raised by a single mom and grandma, who used food stamps) as an elitist, while the son of a US Navy Admiral is a regular joe.... that's some great spin.
...anonymous above me, why should you doubt that for a millisecond? Eight years ago, they persuaded America that the privileged son of a President and oil magnate who destroyed every business he was ever involved with, was an average everyday down-home guy-you'd-like-to-have-a-beer-with-even- -though-he's-supposedly-a-teetolar-now, but also an economic genius at the same time. Everything about his history and résumé screamed "wastrel" while the campaign simply took it for granted that he was a paragon of Christian virtue and moved on.
I'm sure Karl Rove passed his playbook on to a new generation of GOP spin consultants eager to get hired by the new would-be emperor. It's simply too much to hope for that the GOP spinning skills atrophied over the last four years, (after John Kerry gave them such an easy target).
Thomas, this is anon, you're right of course, and i know it but it still amazes me.
Rove's genius was his ability to take the most outlandish claim and turn it into common knowledge.
Kerry/Bush was fun. Somehow a hockey playing combat vet was the sissy, while the cheerleading (literally when he was in school) draft dodger was the tough guy.
Yes, but the hockey playing combat vet was no longer an enthusiastic proponent of bombing people to solve problems, therefore he was not a tough guy. Not so hard to understand.
Plus, the hockey playing combat vet did the worst job imaginable in defending himself against the Swift Boat morons. I think he figured that it was so bogus that it didn't deserve the dignity of a response. Wrong.......
- Whammer
I believe the real key to Rove's 2004 strategy was the exploitation of xenophobic and especially homophobic Red State Americans. The fodder for the exploitation was placing Defense of Marriage amendments on ballots in something like 20 states. This juiced up the turnout in many battleground states and those incremental thousands of votes were the difference in 2004.
Not that the swiftboating of Kerry didn't play an insignificant part, too.
The Republicans have now played that card and so their secret weapon is no longer available.
I don't think Bush is gonna be a welcome guest at too many barbeques. More than any former President, Bush is really going to need his secret service detail, methinks.
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