Maybe its just me, but I read something completely different into the RNC than most people did. Lots of people on this web page and others repeated over and over what garbage that convention was and how badly McCain did. Then suddenly McCain takes a lead in the polls and people are freaking out.
I think most people have missed the boat on what happened and are a bit shocked to be tied. They just can't believe that McCain is ahead in some polls. "His speach was terrible and devoid of facts". So now they are flipping out, writing some of the wackiest walls of text I have seen in a while. Its turning into a freak show as people try to rationalize what is going on.
First two things need to be clear.
- Facts are critically important to governing.
- Facts are nearly meaningless when it comes to politics.
Lets look at John McCain. I believe that his campaign tested and focused grouped every aspect of that convention with many of the brightest minds in politics. People constantly write them off as buffoons until they wake up in November and wonder what the hell hit them over the head. They play a different game than nearly all Democrats who often consider themselves "fact based". They say with a straight face "I am for change" when the facts clearly speak otherwise. How the hell can they do that?
Its so simple I can't believe people don't get this. McCain is saying he is going to be the steady hand, and Obama is a scary black man who can't be trusted, he is trying to bring people to that spot where they feel safe, and he is playing on identity politics where people have firmly held beliefs and he is portraying Obama as challenging those beliefs. Thats the subtext of the message, its a racist message, it isn't fair to black Americans, its laced with lies, but it works. McCain is going up in the polls. A lot of people are being too stubbornly stupid to grasp this. They are acting like the "facts" should persuade people. No, the facts are meaningless in this case, in some cases they are dead weight. Any politician can adjust facts to suit their own needs. And because many independents "want" to believe McCain is telling the truth, he is building them an intellectual construct that allows them to absolve themselves of this cognitive dissonance, which relieves them of anxiety and actually fires off the pleasure centers in their brain. Its extremely powerful stuff. If the Obama campaign lets him make that leap on a broad scale they are dogmeat. This race is over.
I am reading all kinds of bullshit posts on KOS. They are wallowing in self pity. Thousands of lines of explosive rhetoric that feed into the GOP message. I am going to be blunt, get over yourself. Get over it, I am sick to death of hearing whiners and complainers. This isn't productive and won't help us win. McCain is a lunatic for picking Palin as a person who he thinks should be a heart beat away from the Presidency: GET OVER IT. Palin believes in dominionism, and if given power will poison Washington, she is perhaps the most polarizing figure John McCain could have picked, she is perhaps the most polarizing figure to run for national office in modern American History: Thats exactly what he was going for, GET OVER IT. They are doing divide and conquer and have picked a candidate and a plan to do it: What else did you expect.
Know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Thats true. Buts its also completely irrelevant. We are in a match of pure power. There will be a winner, and they are intent on crushing us. Wiping us out. I expect no mercy or quarter from someone who would pick Palin as his running mate. We will get slaughtered if he wins. They will get 9 of 9 Supreme Court Justices, the Congress is feckless and weak and will be made irrelevant by an increasingly dictatorial Executive Branch and we will suffer economically, culturally and our liberty will be curtailed. It has happened before, look at the country now. What is going on now is frightening.
How does Obama win. That is simple, he needs to make McCain look risky, he needs to make him look like a loose cannon. And Obama needs to show how he is going to keep people safe, cozy and content in their beliefs about themselves. And Obama needs to forget the middle for now. He needs to go to his base. The GOP will ruin our lives and take this country back to a time of darkness. Obama is going to need massive turnout from his base. That means you have a job to do. Your mission is clear, get every activist, strong Democrat and good liberal American you can find and ask them to stand up now. Send them to the local Dem Party office or Obama office and have them get to work.