The Narcissist-in-Chief surveys his realm.
Posted on 11/09/2012 6:04:21 AM PST by C. Edmund Wright
The story of the 2012 election is that voters still blame Republicans for systemic problems caused by liberalism, and yet they credit Obama for victories brought about by applied conservatism. Now how does this happen? The answer is both a short story and part of a longer festering narrative. Consider: during the Republican primary season, half of Mitt Romney's consultants told him to call Newt Gingrich the devil. The other half told him to merely to claim that the devil worshiped Gingrich. Then these same sorcerers all told Mitt to call Barack Obama "a nice guy." Well, gee, what could possibly go wrong with that plan?
For starters, we still have a country where over 50 percent of the voters think that George W. Bush is at fault for the economic mess and less than 40% think Obama is. Paul Ryan damned near admitted as much in his debate with Joe Biden.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I am a college professor. Look no further than public education.
Short term, the PR works. Short term.
Maybe 6 months, max. Then things begin to implode.
By mid-terms the GOP wins a significant number of seats.
What concerns me is all this negativism. We should be working to improve things. Obama cannot be re-elected. We need the economy to improve.
Stop talking about it failing.
The Socialists have a giant, active propaganda machine in the American media.
If you want to identify the enemy, it is first and foremost the media.
The average American will not go deeper than what they hear or don’t hear from the Socialist Media Machine.
The Narcissist-in-Chief surveys his realm.
Sadly, I must disagree.
Russia did their takeover by revolution (in other words, quickly) and it took decades, and determined foes (Reagan, Thatcher, Walesa, Pope John Paul II, and the US military) for it to implode.
Here in the US, the left has taken those same decades to BUILD a mammoth infrastructure (their tendrils are everwhere, and blooming heartily). And the list of determined foes is woefully short.
Rove finally admitted in 2009 that it was a mistake to sit around for eight years and allow every liberal argument against Bush to stand. Many of us were saying so back in 2001. That of course led right into John McCain's "reach across the aisle" campaign of 2008. With a golden opportunity at the time to demonstrate Democrat ties to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and bankrupt energy policies -- he instead told us that ANWR is gorgeous and that our problem was "unfettered capitalism." Now, four years later, shifting the blame to the rightful owners is going to be exponentially harder.
As if that was not enough, McCain assured us that we had "nothing to fear from an Obama presidency."
You can also add the media telling voters 24/7 that if they did not vote for Obama, they were racists. I’m sure that played a role a few times in the booth.
Well then we disagree for now.
With the proviso we start to actually go after targets:
The education establishment, the lawyers.
The media. Especially the media.
Thanks for your comments: but this piece is not talking about our outside obstacles - like the media - those are a given. This piece speaks to how we handle those obstacles, and playing nice and soft peddling the message is not the way to go.
“So let’s add up Romney-Ryan’s case against Obama: the economy is Bush’s fault. Obama is holding his own with job-creation. He also got Osama. GM is kicking butt. Everything with Sandy is fine and dandy.
“Damn. Obama’s a nice guy, and he has been so unlucky. He deserves a second chance. Bush, and by extension all conservatives, left him such a mess. Heck, even McCain, Romney, and Ryan say so. Can I vote for Obama now?”
You can’t timidly accept the oppositions premises and somehow expect to come out on top.
That's an argument to start a third party no matter the argument that such a path leads to sure defeat against the Rats. Alternatively, stop pulling the wagon and go Galt. Stop the motor of the world and aid the collapse against a possible future in some new world after the conflagration.
Another excellent piece, Mr. Wright. I love the “KKK” monkier, hope it sticks.
I agree, the democrat party and it’s media echo-chamber dictates the script, and for reasons unknown, the Republican candidates seem content to read their lines on cue and play their part in what obviously is the other side’s version of how things should be.
When, why, and how did this start? One point I think we can put our finger on is the “Saddam has WMDs” argument, Colin Powell et al, and the subsequent “Bush Lied” meme. Neither Bush nor the Republican Party did anything but lie down and take that nonsense, and maybe it was the tipping point, because they’ve gotten away with it ever since.
I might push back a bit on your claim that we can’t do anything about the educational system and the media. I’d maintain that we could, but we aren’t trying very hard. For example, we’re living in a visual/internet media world - yet were is the “Conservative Cable Channel”? If Bill Buckley were alive, I doubt he’d be limiting himself to writing books on dead trees. Talk radio is fine, but how many non-traditionalist, non-conservatives, and under age 40 listen to Rush or any of the others? And who could stand to listen to someone like Hannity, who seems to think that repeating the same words like a mantra to people who agree with him is somehow persuasive?
Education - today about 35 million kids are subject to public school indoctrination vs. about 4 million in private schools (grade 8 and under). That’s not a majority but it’s fairly significant, especially considering that private schools are 2-3 times more cost-efficient than unionized public schools. We could do more, I think.
But we don’t have a common view or strategy, much less a common and integrated approach to reversing the underlying problem that has led to the timidity you point out: ignorance of conservatism and the failures of liberalism, and the critical thinking skills needed to know the difference.
Thanks Bob - and to clarify, what I meant by not being able to change the media and educational establishments - is that we can’t do that within the confines of the messaging strategy of a campaign team. That’s the POV of this article....so you and I don’t really disagree at all...
The stock market is crashing and the Democrat media is blaming the extremist TEA Party Congressmen who are going to take us over the “fiscal cliff.” They will never admit that the cause is Obama’s re-electiion.
Anyone who didn’t get out of the market in October is a fool. Anyone could see this coming because re-electing a Marxist is no way to run a capitalist country.
Romney and Ryan are both really nice guys.
Real class.
However as a person who made his living selling heavy equipment for 56 years, I have been amazed at how little they understand about selling their ideas.
Either that or they had terrible advice from their “experts”.
As for mentioning the name of Karl Rove in any serious discussion of conservative values.....his name and face should be banned forever from any conservative strategy discussion..
It was Rove and the idea of compassionate conservatism that brought us the asinine compromises with the liberals, or as I prefer to call them, the Marxists; No child left behind, medicare drugs, no real border protection, ....and a dozen other capitulations to the Marxists in our midst.
Even today people still think the republican President Herbert Hoover caused the Great depression!
Things will implode. The left and 0bama will try to blame Republicans and Bush.
I don’t care whom their sheeperals blame, as long as they experience the consequences of their choices.
From Atlas Shrugged - you asked for it.
Speaking of Russia-— or the Soviet Union -— look back at their propaganda -— it shows people joyfully *working* -— working their butts off for the good of the State. Work, work, work.
One thing about their propaganda that was effective was the emphasis on the ‘dignity of the working man’ and productivty etc.
So different from this ‘socialist’ government at present, which simply says you get free stuff.
As lying and deceptive as Socialsts are, they surely must realize that the endless giving-away of Free Stuff has its limits. What then? Riots, of course.
I suppose they’re willing to rule over the debris, if debris is all they have left.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.