They do not speak for us, we can speak for ourselves!
Posted on 08/24/2011 12:43:42 AM PDT by techno
Consider this a companion piece on my discussion of the fallacy or false narrative of the Goldwater blowout perpetuated by Rasmussen and other pollsters in respect to the possibility of President Obama beating Sarah Palin in a political landslide in 2012.
First let me bring a a historical note. "Push polls" are designed to act as propaganda tools, nothing more and nothing less. Imho, we must first acknowledge that the far-fetched results published by pollsters about Sarah Palin in relation to how she would fare against President Obama in a general election are similar to the propaganda tactics leveled at the American soldiers in the Pacific theater during World War II by Tokyo Rose and then set about to develop strategies to "refudiate" it or at least successfully counter it.
Apparently the greater majority of American military personnel never allowed Japanese propaganda to sag their confidence or morale in terms of the job they had to do or to wilt their resolve or certitude that their cause was just and that they would not let anything stand in their way of defeating the enemy. We could all learn a lot from their attitude. Why did the American soldiers not succumb to Japanese propaganda beamed to them on a regular basis?
Here are ten strategies to counter these insidious 'push polls' that may answer that question so like the American soldiers we can consider them simply as "like water off a duck's back":
1) As Tokyo Rose was designated as an enemy of the USA, Rasmussen or any other "push pollsters' who deliberately seek the downfall of Sarah Palin must be considered a political enemy as well. Let me be clear: I will still continue to report on Rasmussen's polls on Obama and other subjects but when it comes to Sarah Palin I now consider him persona non grata and I will henceforth look at anything he publishes on Palin with askance and extreme skepticism.
I must add what separates Rasmussen from Tokyo Rose is while Rose was a clear enemy of the USA, the former is a fifth columnist. But their modus operandi is no different, which is to subvert the will and belief of their enemy, namely Palinistas, as to the righteousness of the cause and to undermine our efforts to fight a successful political war in the trenches throughout the primary and caucus states to capture the hearts and minds of Americans for Sarah Palin.
Scott Rasmussen therefore should NOT be considered our ally until at least to after Palin wins the nomination; and even then I would want to see him prove his "polling sincerity" before extending him my hand of friendship.
2)The righteousness of our dream, mission or goal must be paramount. We are fighting for something greater than ourselves. We therefore must NOT allow any obstacle or barrier stand in our way to reach our objective or to accomplish the task at hand. In other words we must strive to transcend negative or "push polls" by always remembering when we wake up each day why we are Palinistas.
The American soldiers in the Pacific theater knew they were fighting for something greater than themselves. Palinistas are fighting to save their country from radical socialism and its policies.
3) The importance of esprit de corps is never so important than to combat enemy propaganda. Based on the law of averages, there must have been a few soldiers who became susceptible or vulnerable to the pleadings of Tokyo Rose. But because the soldiers were never alone and attached to a larger unit, they were quickly given a wake up call by their superior and told the lay of the land, educated about feeling sorry for themselves and told to "snap out of it". Similarly, Palinistas need to be consistently plugged into a larger unit or group, whether it be online in blogs like Free Republic, their local Tea Party or similar action group or becoming a member of the GOP to help to reinforce their will and belief.
The goal of enemy propaganda is to pick off strays one at a time who have figuratively wandered away from the herd and then to use these strays to find and rein in more strays to wean them off supporting Sarah Palin. Folks that tend to become members of a large group or consistently plug into a larger entity for use as a support system tend to be harder to pick off or proselytize.
4) Like the American soldiers in WWII who were educated to the nature and purpose of and prepared by the US military for Tokyo Rose's frequent broadcasts, Palinistas need to be educated as well to the nature and purpose of and prepared for enemy propaganda as disseminated by any pollster releasing a "push poll" on Sarah Palin. It's similar to a manager of a baseball team going over the starting line-up of the opposing team with his starting pitcher before the start of the game highlighting what each batter's strengths are and what his weaknesses are in order to prepare the pitcher for actual "game situations" and to help him decide what pitch should be thrown at a given time in the ball and strike count and that point in the game.
History and psychology will tell you that a prepared mind is less susceptible to enemy propaganda.
5) The Tokyo Rose episode and the lack of effectiveness Japanese propaganda had on weakening the resolve of the American soldiers in the Pacific theater of operations imho proves the importance of taking an issue head on rather than choosing to sweep it under the carpet, deliberately ignoring it, or discounting its influence and impact on the performance of the troops.
That is why I always challenge the premise that "all polls are meaningless at this point" and the premise we should all bury our heads in the sand and move on and completely discount the information in the "push polls".
Hey folks, who consider themselves politically savvy, not everyone is like you or knows as much as you do. Not all GOP primary voters understand the nature and purpose of "push polling" or even know what "push polling" is. Some even may believe every poll is accurate. And finally remember Rasmussen is considered by reputation as being "on our side".
That is why it is so important that efforts need to be taken to educate Palinistas, whether it be done online, in the classroom, or one-on-one to the attempts that have been made and still being taken to destroy Sarah Palin through the use of enemy propaganda, both from the Left and our side as well, specifically the GOP establishment and the Beltway elites. And then once educated they must remain eternally vigilant to remaining mentally and psychologically strong in order to beat back attempts to weaken their resolve to see Sarah Palin become the next GOP nominee and the 45th President of the United States.
6)In advertising circles, counterprogramming is defined as efforts to draw away viewers from a certain acclaimed TV program. Imho, Sarah Palin needs to develop her own form of counterprogramming to draw away 'viewers" from these "push polls" or to at least neutralize the harmful effects they may have on her looming campaign.
For awhile now I have argued that once Palin gets in the race that she hire her own pollster and release her internal polls as "counterprogramming".
The Undefeated and you tube videos showing large, enthusiastic crowds at her events may also be considered counterprogramming. Palin may have other cards up her sleeve as well.
But bottom line: Sarah Palin cannot afford to ignore this push poll nonsense and allow it to fester because quite frankly it makes her job even more difficult to coalesce the entire conservative movement around her and makes it easier for her political enemies to make the argument that she is NOT viable or electable and that you as a GOP primary voter would be a fool to throw your support behind "a sure loser".
7) Palinistas must be able to refute the overblown arguments and false narratives created by non-Palinistas or the anti-Palin forces as to why Sarah is unelectable. These push polls are simply the symptoms and not the cause. To refute these false claims, Palinistas need to improve their knowledge on the record of Sarah Palin,her personal and political strengths, her accomplishments in office, the facts behind the resignation, and the efforts of the journolists working at the behest of nefarious forces on the Left (at first) and now GOP bloggers on the right to destroy Palin's credibility in a conspiratorial fashion and then to present logical, cogent arguments for her Presidential worthiness and legitimacy without sounding bitter, irrational or paranoiac.
8) I really think it is extremely important that every Palinista set aside quiet time for himself or herself to reflect on the passing parade and the events of the day that have shaped the present political discourse. At times we all fail to see the forest for the trees.
And that perspective must include the reminder to each one of us that no official vote will be cast until Feb. 6/2012 in the Iowa caucuses.
As American soldiers were constantly told during WWI you only have to worry about is following orders, staying alive (being shot at or having bombs thrown at you)or doing you job in advancing against an enemy position, Palinistas have to keep reminding themselves that the vote is still 5 and 1/2 months in the offing and that in terms of a football game we are still very early in the first quarter; and what happens on the ground between now and then in a protracted fashion will go a long way to determine who will win the GOP nomination and not what some pollster would have you believe so early in the proceedings.
As American soldiers did NOT believe the winner of WWII would be determined by the enemy surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Palinistas by the same token should never believe that their fate and that of Sarah Palin was sealed by the advent of adverse push polls showing her not doing as well early in the game.
9) To win a war, one needs allies. And in political terms that means endorsements, nominally or financially. One excellent way to refute "push polls" and prove one can still prevail is to elicit the endorsement of or active participation in one's campaign of those prominent individuals or groups who impart credibility to the notion that Palin is viable or her support is growing and that she can win the nomination.
In the Pacific campaign the American soldiers knew they were NOT in the war alone. They were fighting alongside the Australians, the British, the Filipinos, and the Chinese as well as the natives of the various islands in their pathway to victory. Tokyo Rose was NOT just competing against the US military but much, much more.
And the enemies of Sarah Palin must come to realize that they will be up against much more than the current crop of Palinistas but the future allies of Sarah Palin as well and eventually the American people.
10) And finally the number one way to "refudiate" the propaganda of "push polls" is to do what the US military did during WWII--win battles, amass victories. When you triumph, naysayers like Tokyo Rose or Scott Rasmussen or anybody else can dump on Sarah Palin forever and a day but it will at that point have little impact or effect on one's prevailing attitude. Do you think the American troops who had captured Guadalcanal in the afterglow of their victory became more impressionable or less impressionable in terms of receiving Japanese propaganda?
There is no substitute for victory my friends. Overflow, standing room only crowds, an exponentially growing Facebook and Twitter following, out-of-sight online fundraising, hair-raising stump speeches, winning debate sequences, and scoring big-time political points against Obama all will contribute to a sense of eventual political victory and make it much easier for Palinistas to proclaim to anyone questioning Palin's electability in push polls, "It's like water off a duck's back."
And as dedicated as Tokyo Rose was to convince America service personnel of the futility of their efforts against the vaunted Japanese Empire, their victories rendered her pleas and entreaties meaningless and became to the soldiers like water off a duck's back.
Interesting. Saving for later.
I don't join threads asking, "What do you think of this poll?"
Only the ignorant give any poll more than a few seconds' notice.
The only poll than counts is the on in the voting booths.
Life is too short.
The real enemy is a mob movement. You'd do yourself a lot of good by carefully reading Le Bon's The Crowd. Therein is a case study of how an experienced orator drained a ugly mob movement.
Le Bon's Rule #1: mobs are never swayed by rational arguments. They cannot be reasoned out of mob mode because their reason gets short-circuited when in that mode. Their mob sentiments either have to be spoken to or successfully cast as ridiculous. Plain embarrassment is a reliable antidote to the mob mentality.
Applies not just to Rasmussen. They used the same techniques to demonize Angle here in Las Vegas. I used to work for a crooked Democrat PR firm (don’t ask), so I know their techniques.
In the end, it doesn’t matter. The insiders crammed Bush, Dole, Bush and McCain down our throats, now its time for cramback. Who are THEY going to vote for as the country crumbles? Time for the RINOs to suck it up.
Palinstas have no desire to become a part of a mob or adopt a mob mentality. But they do seek the truth and ways to improve their performance in terms of spreading “the good news” about Sarah Palin.
The point I was making is that they have a great interest in draining the mob mentality on the other side. I haven't read Ann Coulter's Demonic, so I don't know if she added suggestions on how to drain the mob feeling from the liberal mob, but I have read Le Bon and know he offers a few tips.
To sum up, I'm saying that Palinstas have a real need to become effective mob-tamers. I'm also saying that the techniques that work are counterintuitive, as Le Bon explains.
How did the American soldiers in WWII tame the “Japanese mob” in WWII?
They defeated them. “We win, they lose.”
Just remember the night of the Republican National Convention When Sarah Palin brought the house Down! That was Before the Lefty Nazis unleashed their Assasination of Sarah Palin because they wet thier Pants because they Knew What Sarah Meant,the Republican Establisment Knows as Well. Remember also the Crowds and excitement that Sarah Created,the Families that Flocked to see and Hear her.
I REMEMBER,Run Sarah,lets remind the Folks that we Decide Not Pollsters or Talking heads,at this time in our countries Journey we Need the Courage of our troops on the Front Lines.
I long to feel good about my Country again,thats what Sarah Brought,dont Settle for less
They weren't a mob: they were an enemy military force. You seem to be in love with your analogy.
Which echo's my sentiment.
We are intelligent and we do not need the following RINO's / Establishment types to tell us what to think anymore:
Kruthammer, Will, Kristol, Noonan, Parker, Rove just to name a few...
We can think for ourselves thank you very much! They do not speak for us, we can speak for ourselves!
I have professional reasons for taking polls more seriously, and they can be meaningful. Some polls are pure propaganda, but many do provide important and useful information. The issue is that polls measure what they were designed to measure at a particular moment in time, and in Palin's case that is the level of support for her today - when the majority of likely voters have not heard her own case for her candidacy. That's pretty much meaningless as a predictor of support for her once she has campaigned and people know her own words better than the Tina Fey sound bites. Good polls can answer how she will do at the ballot box, just not before she conducts a campaign.
The reason Obama is going to spend $1B in foreign donations and union dues on his campaign is that that sort of thing works. Let's see where she stands once voters listen to her. Perhaps Sarah will crash and burn even after campaigning. I doubt it, but it could happen. The good news is that we will know the answer long before November 2012, and we can decide whether to go forward with the best potential president (Sarah) or with the best candidate who is a patriotic conservative (NOT Romney, hopefully someone acceptable).
Of course you know that's redundant. :-)
I wish that were true. My reading on this board does not support that statement. I have seen calls for zot, more than once, for folks who dare to question the "Immaculation" of Sarah Palin.
You have never addressed me I don’t think.
I don’t consider myself as part of a mob and neither do I possess the mob mentality.
Actually I am an iconoclast who follows a beat of a different drummer.
 |
“...crooked Democrat...”
Of course you know that’s redundant. :-)
I know that now. I wrote my book on Harry Reid based on what I learned working at that PR firm. A lot of mafia stuff.
Political pros pay close attention to polls — but most of the ones they trust are unpublished and are used not to predict results but to gauge relative strength and changes over time. Such polls are used as part of campaign decisions about where to best allocate campaign effort and resources.
You make a wild assertion about Rasmussen...but provide no proof. Where is the world did you get the notion he is “push polling.” That is just insane.
Now, I don’t like the low numbers he shows for Palin against Obama. I question if the methodology of questions are phrased right...or that it is a correct sampling of the populace. However, I would never accuse him of push polling.
Just because a pollster does not report the numbers we want to see does not make them a push poller.
I don’t put much stock in polls. However, after watching them for years, it appears....at least to me....that Rasmussen is the most reliable. Although any poll - including Rasmussen’s - are at the very best semi-reliable.
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.