The Real Meaning of This Election (Vanity)

November 17, 2006 | Miss Marple

[pollyannaish]

websites like Free Republic so they can see what "real people" out there are thinking.

LOL. I love this place, but I can tell you from my occasional ventures in real life that sometimes its a stretch to call us "real people." Real people don't obsess about things of a political nature the way they are here.

[ggekko60506]

The Treason Party knows exactly what it wants and manages its coalition accordingly. Of course it easier to manage a coalition when fealty to the cause consists of getting some form largess extracted body politic in exchange for votes.

The Bush-Rove team deserves credit for refining the use of mircro-targeting and other GOTV innovations. These techniques will help in future elections but they don't substitute for a message.

I know a fairly substantial number of "swing" voters who are usually in the Libertarian camp. The extent to which this group had absorbed the MSM critique of the Bush Administration and Republicans was astounding.

A new communications strategy is needed to counter the poisonous MSM infuence with this group and other groups outside the base. What swing voters knew about what the Bush Administration had actually accomplished versus the MSM-provided caricature was a vast gulf.

As the GOP entered into this election, Swing Voters were given a picture of the Bush Administration as a profligate, reckless, incompetent, anti-science, power-mad psuedo theocrats. Now wonder the Swing Voters flipped this time.

The Conservative Media is a blessing and has advanced greatly versus the situation 10 years ago but they dropped the ball this time on a couple of issues. Discretionary Spending had started to come under better control as the Conservative Caucus in this Congress began exert some degree of discipline.

The sad thing is that the is the story about renewed fiscal restraint, the positive case for winning in Iraq, the booming economy, and Bush's vision for entitlement reform was never adequately explained to the base let alone to Swing Voters!

Point-Counterpoint. Rove innovates but the enemy counteracts with a new strategy (Marxsist-Anti-American-Post-Modernists-
Sheep'sclothing). The GOP was caught flat footed and now ere in for two years of hell.

[pollyannaish]

One word. Venezuela.

We have a choice with Mexico, a close alliance and do whatever we can to help them clean up their own house and become a strong capitalist democracy...or have a communist/socialist/dictatorship on our southern border.

If we don't do whatever we can to prop up the mess that is there right now, we will end up with a bigger and much more threatening illegal immigration problem really, really fast. I think there are a lot of conservative talkers who, in looking at their own ratings, have jumped onto the wrong bandwagon on this. This is a BIG deal...but not quite in the way many are seeing it right now.

I believe the President and his team a looking much further down the road than most on this. Think Star Wars. (And btw, I am not sure why, but I think Tony was being facetious.)

[pollyannaish]

Because it shows class in the face of defeat.

The absolute worst thing the President and his team could have done is slapped the voters in the face. The voters asked for change. The President acknowledged their wishes.

I am proud of the way the administration handled this. It shows they are keeping an eye on the ball...and willing to do what it takes to get things done.

[12th_Monkey]

The answer is simple, pure evil never dies and it was time for the pendulum to swing the other way.

[mthom]

"Also, I would like the President to explain his position on the border; not with platitudes, but with honest reasons and facts, complete with pictures and charts. This is one of the most divisive issues in our party, and I don't feel that he has made enough of an effort to make his case."

Ill preface this by saying that I do not support "comprehensive" immigration reform at least as it exists now.

I dont think Bush has explained his position because it would hurt his cause. People want the border secured, illegal immigration stopped, and some kind of reasonable guest worker program. Bush wisely voices support for the same things. The problem is what most people mean by those words and what Bush means are two very different things.

Bush would stop illegal immigration by essentially matching Mexican demand for jobs. Most people would see this only as a technical change. I would think that when someone voices support for border security they assume that it would be necessary to keep at least some workers out.

Most would support real border security and a guest worker program that does not exclude about 5 billion humans and not a worker program that becomes a stealth immigration increase.

[mthom]

Is Medved even a Republican? I thought he was a sort of liberal who became hawkish after 911?

[mthom]

"I think so."

That was exactly the problem. There was no way to even have a clue really. I had a problem with that "trust me" quality to the nomination and I supported the nomination and fully trust Bush when it comes to judges.

[Lazamataz]

Normally, I've read your posts and been somewhere between violent disagreement and amazement at the Bush-sycophancy.

However, Miss: This is truly an excellent analysis.

Kudos, kiddo.

[Miss Marple]

Thank you. Perhaps you will take the time to reconsider your idea that I am a Bush sycophant. I happen to agree with him more than a lot of people in government, but that isn't the same thing. I think he is woefully out of touch with his supporters right now.

Thank you for the compliment, Laz. I hope you can contribute some ideas on strategy and what we need to do. (Invading Canada is not an option, however. LOL!)

[Pelham]

Michael Medved is one of the "Second Thoughts" gang, a bunch of onetime leftwing activists who moved from near-communist to supporting Reagan back in the 80's. David Horowitz is a member of the group.

Medved had organized anti-war demonstrations during Vietnam, and worked for.. either Ron Dellums or John Conyers... some Democrat member of the House who belonged to the Fidel Castro wing of that Party. Medved had an epiphany during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War as I recall, and began to see the US military as being something noble since they were prepared to save his friends and relatives.

I'd say he's a hawkish liberal, a term I think fits most of the crowd that self-identify as neoconservatives. His hawkishness goes back more than a decade before 9-11. And I'm quite sure he has been a Republican since Reagan was in office. Michael is a pleasant enough guy, but he has a tendency to think he now gets to define what is acceptable conservative thought and what isn't. An interesting theory considering where his instincts took him in the past. A little humility in that regard would do him good.

[mcvey]

A positive Conservative message!!!!!

I could not agree more. We are in for a fight as ferocious as the late 1940's, early 1950's and it will be necessary to put our message out as movement towards something, not away from something.

McVey

[The_Eaglet]

I'd say he's a hawkish liberal,

I agree. I surfed into his program and heard him pushing for Mitt Romney for President. He spins for liberal Republicans too often.

[Guenevere]

I missed seeing this when it was first posted...

Excellent assessment, IMO...

I was just about to post a Joel Belz piece from World Magazine...(& I still may)...

..but after reading this I think Joel needs to read it too :))

Kudos MM

[maica]

There is no doubt that the media was a huge help to the democrats.

^^^^^^

I am a week late getting to your thread. The "media" made it their business to not let the Dems lose another election. When Pelosi and gang started the drumbeat accusing the Republicans of a Culture of Corruption, I thought she was tone-deaf. In retrospect, I can see that the corruption of Dems, like William Jefferson-D-La was not going to be an election issue, because they were not going to be publicized by the "media." Pelosi, Reid, Emanuel et al must have known this as they planned their attack a year ago.

I am most disheartened by the almost insurmountable task that Republicans will have to confront in future elections when 90% of all media is anti-Republican. And I don't mean news media. I mean everything that people tune in or read from Law & Order to Leno and Letterman and ....

[Miss Marple]

It is a huge problem. I am praying about it. We MUST think of ways to surmount this!

[Enterprise]

This deserves another bump.

[johnny7]

It is obvious that the public is(was) easily misled and confused.

Further explanation is unnecessary.