Occasionally I venture into the mainstream media equivalent of junky strip malls to see what's being said, for example the political commentary on America Online. AOL has a straw poll that shows McCain leading in every state (the last time I checked), so it gives you a flavor of who hangs out there--it doesn't say much at all about the real election, since it is an invalid poll for anything but amusement.
Today, there is a front-page-linked article here by a commentator named Mark Impomeni, titled "GOP Convention Bounce Showing Up Early." He argues that McCain is already showing a good bounce, with more to come, but that it will be a close race overall. He's probably right about that. But in the course of his argument, he makes the statement, "Conservatives for the first time have a reason to vote for the McCain ticket, rather than against the Democrats."
Is this an admission that there is no good reason to vote for McCain?
After all, if, apart from Palin, conservatives had no reason to vote for McCain, and progressives and most independents already can see there is no reason to vote for McCain, then who does have a reason (other than the makers of $520 shoes)?
And how does Palin change that? McCain, after all, is the one nominated for President. Unless they are counting on him to die in office, why would they vote for him with Palin if there was no reason to vote for him before? I won't even get into the absurdity of a party that was two weeks ago claiming Obama lacked experience, only gave speeches, and was a "celebrity" suddenly falling in love with Palin over a single scripted speech. (Don't forget, she didn't write that, but Obama writes most of his own, especially the most important ones.)
Anyway, there is an even bigger point I want to make here. What's interesting about sites like AOL is that while they lean right-wing, anyone can make comments, and you won't get banned for pro-Obama comments as you would at sites like Red State. Unfortunately, the comments following this AOL article (and most similar articles) are utterly juvenile and pro-McCain by about a 10-1 margin. I think there may be a sort of mission field here. Bear with me.
It does no good to post on the hard-core right-wing sites, where you just get quickly banned. (Oh, there is an art to it if you wish, but the potential to influence anyone is very limited.) DKos is wonderful, but here we are mostly preaching to the choir. But some of those less-informed voters, a few of whom may be persuadable, can be found on mainstream sites like AOL, ABC/NBC/CBS, CNN, and cable sites that have articles with comment sections afterward. There are many of these.
I certainly believe there is no good reason to vote for McCain, and we see on DKos many of the reasons why. But those reasons are rarely picked up by the mainstream corporate media. It often drives me nuts to realize how unaware so many people are about things that are common knowledge here. So how about if we spend more time on those sites placing posts that get the news out?
I don't mean getting into unproductive back-and-forth arguments. In general, I don't mean responding to other posts on those sites at all. I don't mean spreading lies--just the truth. But a steady flow of posts that simply raise awareness of what we all know here might get those facts more widely known.
Do you make less than $112,000 a year? If so, did you know that you will do better on taxes under Obama than under McCain? Link here.
Did you know Obama has sponsored 820 bills and authored 152, including major reform legislation, and Palin and McCain have lied about this?
Did you know McCain likes to gamble at craps for 14 hours straight, betting thousands at a time, and wanted a private craps table brought to his room on a recent trip to Vegas, a perk for high rollers? (His staff had to talk him out of it.)
Did you know what McCain called his wife?
Did you know Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it?
What facts would you like to spread?
Will you do this so the readers of sites like AOL truly get the message that there is no reason to vote for McCain?