Posted on 11/03/2008 8:55:19 AM PST by bailmeout
I’m suspicious any time someone declares that we’re witnessing a “new paradigm”. I've seen two of them in my career. The first was the dot-com boom where we had a new paradigm which defined why companies without any earnings could be justified in trading at astronomical levels. And the second “new paradigm” showed how, because of the sophistication of our credit markets, we no longer needed to worry about issuing mortgages to people who couldn’t afford them. I don't know about you, but I think I'm beginning to see a trend in the 'new paradigm' declaration. And it doesn’t take a genius to recognize that every time someone begins talking about another “new paradigm” it’s usually because they have a stake in making sure you believe in it.
This election cycle we’ve been treated to another event which has been defining the news we get from behind the scenes. All the polls which show Obama leading, are expecting an absolutely unprecedented turnout level for young voters. The most vocal Obama supporters in the media have even gone so far as to define it as (you guessed it) a "New Paradigm". The Washington Post called it a civic reawakening of a new generation.. But as soon as they say something like that, my personal BS alarm goes off.
Jonah Goldberg has been trashing the idea of the ‘youth vote’ for years. Here is a piece of his complaining about the hype when the liberal media declared the ‘new paradigm’ present in the 2004 election as well. Needless to say that never happened. And I think there is lots of reason to believe Jonah over the liberal media again this year.
In the first place, never in the history of our republic has the press been so willing to overlook and underreport the bad news for Democrats or to so exaggerate and hyperventilate about any bad news for Republicans. The press has always been overwhelmingly liberal, but nothing in the past even comes close to this years level of dedication to their chosen candidate. Wholesale voter fraud by Acorn… pass … Illegal phone banks set up by team Obama in the Palestinian West Bank … pass… thousands of obvious campaign contribution irregularities by team Obama … pass … Obama declaring his intention to bankrupt the Coal industry … buried… on and on an on. And yet, Sarah Palin makes a joke about Alaska being close to Russia …no pass … instead its instant trashed as her official policy statement instead of the light bit of chit chat she intended it to be.
All of this contributes to their lack of credibility on any election news. And since they are also saying that we’ve entered the "new paradigm of the civic awareness of youth” all I see is more self justifying delusion. But if you still think the NYTimes is a "middle of the road" news source interested in "just the facts"… (I know … don’t laugh) then there is this little tidbit:
Yesterday Gallup polling released some numbers about the "youth vote". You can read them here but what they basically say is that once again the youth vote has failed to materialize in levels to match the “new paradigm”. Obama has been able to get the kids to come out to see Springsteen, but he can’t seem to get them to the polls. And what you won’t read is that once you remove the “youth vote” numbers from the other general polls, it’s not only a real horse race, but Obama might be in a heap of trouble. In places like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida McCain might pull out a slim victory. And if he does, then we may yet dodge the bullet the press has aimed at all of our heads.
I'm not saying that this means a McCain shoe in, but I think it's a genuine possibilty. It's certainly going to be a lot closer than the press and the pollsters would have you believe. At present the kids are failing to materialize. Let's all hope, for the sake of our country, that the trend holds and we really haven't entered a "new paradigm" after all.
My 19 year old daughter, whom in spite of her politics, I love dearly, gave up her spot in line Friday because “she had plans.” She and 4 of her friends stood in line to vote (for Obama) and didn’t like that it was taking so long. You see, they had plans and couldn’t be bothered with waiting to vote. I’m hoping she and her friends are indicative of the youth vote!
Who are these newbies that sign up in October and then post and reply hundreds of times?
I’ve been a member since 99 and I haven’t seen anything like this. I’m starting to think “seminar” posters.
I can’t wait for the election to get over and FR gets back to normalcy as a nice place to pick up knowledge and have a civil discussion.
montomike
I’m flattered you think so.
Add in “global warming” (snicker) to the paradigm
After all the years of Roe vs Wade and Doe vs Bolton — the only people who are having families with a mother and a father are pro-life Americans.
William Ayers and Obama may want to indoctrinate our kids in gov’ment schools - but our college kids still come for at least laundry services, financial help and THANKSGIVING!!
May God grant that all our kids come home to us once again and enjoy the company of their brothers,sisters and cousins gathered around our Churches and Thanksgiving tables.
http://www.catholicscomehome.org
Old Snakehead himself, James Carville, is saying the youth vote is going to make the difference. But he forgets what he said just a few years ago, “There is a word for candidates who count on the youth vote. Loser”.
Another case of I’ve-been-here-longer-than-you Derangement Syndrome
Get over yourself and your ‘member-since’ date.
Whatever...
Just start looking at all the newbies that have signed up since October 1st and the thousands of posts and replies that they have spewed forth, pretty much all of them dealing with the election and not much else.
You look at the dates and times on the posts and a lot of them almost look like they have a certain shift that they are on.
I have a feeling that once the election is over, we won’t be hearing anything from these people afterwards.
FR has a diverse population and diverse articles. I am sorry that I care about this forum. It’s given me a lot of pleasure and a lot of thought over the years since I have been a a member.
I agree with your feelings of affection for this site. And the amount of posting by EVERYONE has gotten a little out of control lately. The duplicate posts of the same article are driving me crazy.
If someone is posting crap (no matter how long they’ve been here) that should be called out and removed.
I’d support some measure of improving the performance of this site by limiting its use in some manner (or greatly increasing the server capacity) even it that means making it fee-based. I know FR is going to come crashing to its knees tomorrow night...and that bums me out.
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