Posted on 01/23/2012 8:14:56 AM PST by JDPendry
It is an election year, a.k.a. the silly season in America. If you are a talk radio junkie, you may need to kick your habit until at least the second Tuesday after the first Monday in November. If you do not, some neurotic radio head may plant doubt in your mind. So much so that on election day you may declare that there is no use and stay home, thus guaranteeing that America falls on over the cliff which is now her wobbly perch.
I enjoy listening to the people with great voices who talk for a living. They are the background noise I need while I work. Mostly, I must admit; I listen because they cancel out my tinnitus. Their time slots in my work day are presently replaced by music - something that soothes my mind rather than assaulting it. When a radio head tells me that the only guy for them is Ron Paul, I hear the old analog dial spinning in my mind searching for something else. The same goes for Romney, Gingrich, Santorum or any other candidate for as long as any of them remain in the race.
The most destructive thing pundits, especially those with millions in their listening audiences or millions reading their books, can do to our electoral process is use their voices to shill for one candidate or another during primary election season. When they do this, they become no more useful to their listeners than is the remaining liberal media. They become MSNBC and undeserving of my time. I do not need a microphone driver to do my thinking for me. Most Americans do not.
I also love the brilliance of the television political panels that tell us who the only candidate is with any chance of winning the general election. Typically it is the polished, over-rehearsed one with nice hair and a lot of cash. He is the one who, although unspoken, would class up the cocktail party circuit and blend well with established Washington. He is after all, presidential. Then they tell us about the ones who could never win a general election. One cannot win because he travels the campaign trail towing his personal baggage car and his style is destructive rather than collaborative. One has a good message, but lacks the necessary charisma, cash, and establishment backing and, his social views scare away independents. Or, in their assessment, the one who is just plain nuttier than squirrel crap.
When all of their predictions and nuanced reasoning falls flat on its collective butt they are at a loss to explain why. They cannot explain why because they avoid the message while assessing the messenger. He may have won this time, but the polls tell us….
"Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. America loves a winner. America will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise a coward; Americans play to win." – General George S. Patton
General Patton just explained to all you over rated pundits, who could not figure it out, why Newt Gingrich won in South Carolina. The more you jump up and down on him while pushing others at us, the stronger he is likely to become.
For as long as I can recall, the accepted American and hopelessly liberal media has reviled and labeled every conservative voice. Liberal politicians, with the help of an eager media, have defined conservatives with every despicable brand one might imagine. If the liberal politicians proclaim it and the liberal media defends it and if it remains unchallenged, it must be true. Conservatives are greedy, money grubbing, middle class hating, homophobic, fundamentalist Christian racists who want to hold America hostage to their evil ideology. The ideology that insists that freedom is God-given and that people do not need government directing and meddling in their personal lives.
What is the typical conservative response? Assume self-defense mode. When you defend against nonsense, you give the nonsense validity. Conservatives, the nuanced, intellectually superior beltway version of conservatism at least, must stay on message. They must address only the issues and keep to the high ground. They must never utter a phrase that can be twisted to further define them as greedy, money grubbing, middle class hating, homophobic, fundamentalist Christian racists who want to hold America hostage to their evil ideology. It is a pathetic little media and mental war that conservatives have lost for decades. They have lost it for one simple reason. They are not playing to win. They are playing not to lose. There is a big difference. Why do you think the sports guys describe a football game strategy as conservative? It is a classier way of saying trying not to lose.
“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. Because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl. I’ve seen Eagles fans.” – President Barack Hussein Obama
Like him or hate him, Newt Gingrich broke the code. Americans understand the code. When you are in street fight, one that may decide whether you live or die as a nation, you better be prepared for some eye-gouging, toe stomping and hair pulling. You better be prepared to land some solid body blows on your opponent and keep pounding him until he is on the ground and then when he is down jump up and down on him some more. Otherwise you become John McCain.
"Now there's another thing I want you to remember. I don't want to get any messages saying that "we are holding our position." We're not holding anything. …. We are advancing constantly and we're not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose and we're going to kick him in the ass. We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time and we're going to go through him like crap through a goose!" - General George S. Patton
Americans love a good fight. Americans love a fighter. Conservatives, do you want to win? Then find and hold on to the fighting spirit. It is that simple.
The article’s good, but I would like to eradicate the term, “silly season”. Hannity and others frequently use it. The stakes in this election are too high for us to consider it in any but the most serious terms.
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