The Culture War's Decisive Battle has Begun

American Thinker ^ | September 08, 2008 | Herbert E. Meyer

[neverdem]

By choosing Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate -- and by staking his own claim to the presidency on "Country First" more than on any specific policy initiative -- John McCain has thrown the switch and put us Traditionalists onto the offense. By doing so he has unleashed the energy and the will to victory among Traditionalists that have been dormant for so long the Left-Wing Liberals mistakenly assumed we'd lost.

I have to wonder. Did McCain appreciate that his choice of Palin would make this a battle royal over culture - what he always seemed to want to avoid? He was the last guy that anybody would expect to be a culture warrior. Who can forget his attack on Robertson and Falwell in 2000? With the exception of foreign and fiscal policy, McCain rarely sided with "Traditionalists." All's fair in loove and war. At least McCain is playing to win. Maverick, indeed!

And by taking the over-confident Left-Wing Liberals so completely by surprise, McCain has stunned them into revealing themselves for the vicious phonies that they are.

Not for the "Traditionalists" who knew as much, but it could well be more than enough to lift the scales from the eyes of Oprah's huge audience.

Here's the previous thread:

The Culture War's Decisive Battle has Begun

The original title has no period. IIRC, I wrote to the admin moderator that what was posted was just an excerpt early in the morning. It deserves to be reposted. This analysis by the author is a bull's eye. It's been a domestic cold war for 40 years.

[PhilosopherStones]

Sarah is causing apoplectic fits over in DUmmie land.

They are outing themselves left and right (well, left and left, anyway). Roughly half of them are now down to admittingly publicly “Screw principles, we HAVE to win whatever the cost!”

They myth of the “compassionate and tolerant” left is vaporizing under the withering attack of Sarah “SCUD” Cuda’s missiles...

[ghostrider]

bump for later

[polymuser]

"Commanding the Left-Wing Liberal armies is an elegant, eloquent cosmopolitan whose most striking talent is his ability to push past everyone else to the front of the line.

His second-in-command is the U.S. Senate's leading plagiarist, whose only undeniable talent is his ability to use Senate confirmation hearings as a platform from which to trash honorable Republican appointees such as Bill Clark, Robert Bork, and Clarence Thomas."

Yep.

[95 Bravo]

I heard Laura Ingraham call Gov. Palin “Sarahcuda” on her show last week. Oh, how true.......
I hope she chews ‘em up & spits ‘em out!

[GonzoGOP]

have to wonder. Did McCain appreciate that his choice of Palin would make this a battle royal over culture - what he always seemed to want to avoid? He was the last guy that anybody would expect to be a culture warrior."

To stick with the decisive battle analogy. The Japanese at Midway had based there entire strategy around facing Halsey, known for his aggressive tactics and dogma of charging in regardless of the odds. Instead the US fleet was commanded by Fletcher, who was conservative to a fault, and Spruence, who was the master of setting traps for an unwary enemy. The result was that the Japanese planned one battle because they concentrated on what the enemy was likely to do instead of concentrating on what the enemy could do.

Governor Palin was no secret. FR has been full of posts from her fan club and I have been talking about her to friends and family for over a year. Yet Admiral Obama had concentrated his entire strategy on having to face two white guys (race card, Washington insider) and having Biden take on Romney in the debates. It is obvious that they didn't even assign an intern to read FR and come up with a set of strategies to take on every possible candidate that the right was talking about. As a result they got caught by surprise when McCain didn't do what they expected. But given his reputation their lack of preparation is unexplainable except by the arrogance of hope.

Just as WWII didn't end at Midway this campaign doesn't end at the conventions. There are still the debates but Obama hasn't shown any flair in this venue and Palin vs Biden looks like a mismatch. But McCain must be careful not to fall into the the same trap as Obama did.

I hope that McCain has one staffer that does nothing but come up with contingency plans for every hair brained stunts that the Dem's might pull. They need to have contingency plans for the Dems replacing Biden or Obama with Hillary. Or for some manufactured "October Surprise". Just as his Grandfather battered his way across the South Pacific in WWII, McCain needs to balance staying on the offensive with staying out of the enemies trap.

[RedRover]

Excellent analysis!

[goldfinch]

bump for later

[WilliamWallace1999]

Bump for email list.

[semantic]

In World War II, it was Midway Stalingrad.

Japan was never going to win WWII, while the Germans had a very good chance. If Russia hadn't held firm, the Nazis would still be in control of Europe.

[lonevoice]

This is an inspiring article with excellent commentary at post #1 and post #7

[icwhatudo]

After seeing the title it made me think of (and make) this:

[harrym]

When I talk to my socially left-leaning friends here in good old S.F. (that means practically all my friends) about the culture war I use an analogy of society being like a sea anemonae (sp?). It has a fringe surrounding the center body where the vital organs and solid meat are. The fringe is as vital to the animal as is the center, it filters out dangerous elements and holds them away from the healthy center. It is unfortunate that, since sometime in the 1960’s, it was decided that putting the fringe into the center of society was a good thing. WRONG. Trying to normalize and accept as equivalent all those social elements which were on the fringe has exposed the main body of society to those elements which should have been filtered out. The rampant drug addiction, single parent births, lowering of standards of speech and actions in media all point to the fact that our society has lost its filtering system and is being sickened by the poisons seeping into the main body. This has been brought about by the acceptance of moral equivalency and a cheapening of values. Solution? I don’t know, it’s taken us fifty years to get this way (1968 seems to be a terminal year). There was a revolution in the ‘60s and it is still affecting us today, maybe we need another one to set things aright.

[Mr. Silverback]

bump for later reading

[AndyJackson]

Another great article by some more “bitter” folks taking on you porked out and stoners.

[semantic]

whose most striking talent is his ability to push past everyone read a teleprompter.

[Enchante]

"Roughly half of them are now down to admittingly publicly “Screw principles, we HAVE to win whatever the cost!”"

Well that's been the Demagogue operating principle for as long as I can remember but they don't usually admit it openly.

[jazusamo]

Excellent! Thanks for the ping, Red.

[GonzoGOP]

In World War II, it was Stalingrad.

No I would say Midway is the correct analogy to the Palin pick. Midway was determined by the Americans doing something that the Japanese didn’t expect. As a result the carefully laid, but inflexible plans of the enemy were fatally disrupted and their fleet damaged to an extent from which it could not recover. The Japanese Admirals actually had a word for their mindset before the battle, the Victory Disease.

Stalingrad was a brutal, graceless slugging match. There were few surprises there and the battle turned not on great generalship from above, but on the determination and resourcefulness of the men at the front. The Russians simply decided to keep fighting and not give more ground. This forced the enemy to fight on their terms, in a city where the German advantage in aircraft and tanks didn’t matter.

In current politics this is equivalent to the Drill Here, Drill Now debate in the darkened house chambers. The heroes of the house decided not go surrender. They forced a debate on energy under circumstances unfavorable to the Democrats where the reporting was by new media negating the Democrats support of the MSM.