WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, MR. NOVAK??

vanity | 11/03/2005 | Sam Katz

[hummingbird]

We need another name for those weasels, reflecting THEIR marginal, fringe, Leftist ideas. Something like, "MLM" for Marginal Leftist Media. The conservatives should be called "mainstream". But then I'd have to change my tag line.

I think you are onto something, Anselma. Conservatives have been pegged as the far right wing of the Republican Party (or the "religious right") when, IMHO, conservatives are...conservatives. We are not the so-called fringe right, or "wingnuts" of the GOP.

We have not fought that perception very well at all (partly because we are "well-mannered" and partly because it is hard to argue logically with people who will call you a Nazi to your face!

Perception isn't everything but it counts for a whole lot. It is like the rule that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. The public perception of conservatives is way off and we haven't shaken that perception.

I've posted this before, as have others, but I'll say it again: the Democrat Party acts like it won the election and the Republican Party acts like it lost.The Dem Party is full of hacks who easily pigeon hole conservatives negatively. They are loud and they are bullies and the press has given them full rein.

The Republican Party is too timid. We can still be fair and true to conservative principles BUT IF WE DON'T START GETTING LOUD AND UP IN THEIR FACES, WE ARE GOING TO BE CONSTANTLY DEFENDING OURSELVES WITH LITTLE TO NO TIME ADVANCING THE CONSERVATIVE PLATFORM. WE NEED TO DEFINE AND MARGINALIZE THE FAR LEFT AND KEEP AT IT...TOM DELAY IS FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE; WE NEED TO DO THE SAME...FAIRLY, HONESTLY, LEGALLY BUT WITH ALL THE MIGHT OF CHARGING MAMA ELEPHANT (GOP) PROTECTING HER CALF (THE CONSERVATIVE PLATFORM).

Gosh, I feel like Bluto (John Belushi) in Animal House:

D-Day: War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.

Bluto: Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!

Otter: Germans?

Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.

Bluto: And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough...

[thinks hard]

Bluto: the tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go!

[Anselma]

Ahhh, Hummingbird, you have my heart and my brain- what there is of it, anyway.

Trouble is, the Dems, at least the high profile ones, are so coordinated! They're all on the same page! It's scary, but I think that's why they seem so pervasive. I really noticed it when Clintoon was under scrutiny by some in the New Media, for his, ah hem, "indiscretions" shall we say; remember he trotted out a whole army of supporters, all saying the same thing (that he was being persecuted on a little, private matter)? There was Albright, Lanny Davis, Daschle, at least 10 of them, there, at the entrance to the White House, all saying the same things. And it wasn't just on TV, but radio (NPR, natch) and the MLM. Wide exposure, immediate, and repeated phrasings. Stupendous effort. Unbelievable. Literally. But it worked. Perceptions! Yah.

We don't have such a machine; forgive me, but I have to admit, that's probably one reason I am comfortable in the Republican party. But we need to fight fire with fire, as you point out. Closest anyone came to that, it seems, was the Swiftboat Vets in the last election. And they coordinated themselves. I think they saved the day, too. Any ideas?