Comments on: No Blinking

By: montysano

montysano — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:58:14 +0000

vanya said: “See if you can find any actual examples. Palinâ€™s success is based on a brilliant job of conservatives attacking strawmen and convincing the low information voters that Palin really was under attack. Once again the Democrats are completely tactically outmatched.”

I don’t know if I’d go along with “outmatched”. The horrible truth is: there is no way to fight Rovian politics. Unless you are willing to crawl into the gutter, and unless you have a vast echo chamber filled with scum like Hannity and Limbaugh, you are screwed. Remember: the goal of Rovian politics is not necessarily to get you to vote for their guy; it’s also to make voters so disgusted with the process that they stay home, essentially becoming another voter suppression technique.

Adam01 said: “lot of people (Andrew Sullivan comes immediately to mind) quite simply lost their heads after Palin was announced, delving into the gutter.”

With all due respect, Sully is a dood with a blog. Nothing more. And how many of the blog commenters and Kos diarists who “delved into the gutter” are actually Rovian ratfuckers?

By: Adam01

Adam01 — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:25:08 +0000

” Has any mainstream media outlet questioned her ability to do her job while raising children or raised the prospect that she faked her pregnancy?”

This is the exact problem that Obama is facing in the new media environment: Not the Obama camp, but a lot of people (Andrew Sullivan comes immediately to mind) quite simply lost their heads after Palin was announced, delving into the gutter. This makes it much, much harder for any real issue (Palin’s nonsense about the bridge to nowhere, that Daniel & others have rightly demolished) with Palin to get traction.

By: vanya

vanya — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:52:29 +0000

That is the genius of the Republican strategy. Screaming relentlessly about shameless and unfair attacks against Palin, most of which were never actually launched or launched only in obscure corners of the blogosphere (which would be true of ANY candidate). Has any mainstream media outlet questioned her ability to do her job while raising children or raised the prospect that she faked her pregnancy? See if you can find any actual examples. Palin’s success is based on a brilliant job of conservatives attacking strawmen and convincing the low information voters that Palin really was under attack. Once again the Democrats are completely tactically outmatched.

By: Daniel Larison

Daniel Larison — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:29:30 +0000

You’re probably right. Since some have launched shameless and unfair attacks, any criticism will be deemed to be similarly off-limits and outrageous (or else it will be sexist and elitist).

By: Adam01

Adam01 — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:23:29 +0000

For all of the hullabaloo about her flub of the “Bush Doctrine” I donâ€™t think many have fully internalized the extent to which the media feeding frenzy over the last few weeks have rendered Palin absolutely bullet-proof to any but the most shocking, public, and obvious screw-ups. (Add to this her eldest going off to war, on 9/11 no less) Anyone who was on record claiming that all things related to Gov. Palinâ€™s sex life is a vital matter to the republic has eaten the seed corn of their credibility with a lot of voters. If I were a betting man, I’d say McCain/Palin up by 5 in Rasmussen tracking by Monday. G*d help us all.

By: rawshark

rawshark — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:36:20 +0000

They’re also hellbent on destroying our nation.