A shellacking? Nooooo...it was a spanking!
I've been reading many of the diaries here on why oh why we lost the election. It's Obama's fault, it's the democrat's fault, it's the TeaPartyRepublican's fault, it's the liberals' fault, no it's the centrist's fault, it's the Blue Dog's fault, it's Fox "news", the media, Rush, the economy, health care reform, the young didn't vote, some gays voted republican. And our messaging sucks! Have I missed anything?
Well I have a different take altogether: we got a good, old fashioned spanking from our elders!
Change can be scary. Was there too much too soon? Or are nefarious forces at work?
As the wife of a financial planner, who counsels seniors on their retirement every day, I know for a fact that many seniors are frightened. They're scared silly of the (black) man in the White House! And socialism! And muslims! And death panels!
Well, guess what?
Jonathan Chait has written an article about it:
Voters over 65 favored Republicans last week by a 21-point margin after flirting with Democrats in the 2006 midterm elections and favoring John McCain by a relatively narrow 8-point margin in 2008....
http://www.tnr.com/...
21 points? Ouch, that hurts!
Recently, I was shocked, shocked I tell you to learn that the median age of Fox News viewers is 65. It's the oldest audience in all of cable:
In a survey released by analyst Steve Sternberg, Fox News has the oldest audience among fully distributed cable networks. The network's average viewer last season was 65 years old, according to Nielsen. Heck, it's viewers are even older than viewers of Hallmark Channel, Military Channel and Golf Channel.
http://mediamatters.org/...
http://gawker.com/...
And it explains alot. It explains why my husband, a financial planner for thirty years, has now also become a hand-holder/psychologist to his elderly clients. Even his own mother, shortly after the financial collapse of 2008, accused him of wanting to "send her to the poorhouse" because he told her to turn off O'Reilly.
I've listened numerous times as my hubby, talking on his cell phone to another panicked client while we shop at the mall or whatever, tries to explain the potential pitfalls of transferring your life savings into gold and the possibility of a gold bubble. He's a good man and is trying really hard to keep everyone calm. But Fox "News" isn't helping:
On the issues of social security and medicare alone, here are just some of the articles listed on Media Matters website on Fox's manipulation of the elderly:
Fox's Gary B. Smith thinks it's "great news" that young people don't think they'll receive Social Security
http://mediamatters.org/...
O'Reilly promises to send back Social Security checks: "I'm leading the way, and I can do this because I'm a rich guy"
http://mediamatters.org/...
Even though "you may not have enough money to retire on," Varney still believes in privatizing Social Security
http://mediamatters.org/...
Doocy attempts to conceal Sharron Angle's position on Social Security
http://mediamatters.org/...
and
Hoenig repeats discredited claim that "Social Security is, by definition, a Ponzi scheme"
http://mediamatters.org/...
A personal note:
Shortly after my Mom passed away in 2004, my Dad, always a happy and fun loving man, a lifelong democrat and union member, started watching Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly. He was grieving, but I noticed a change in his personality as well. Practically overnight, he turned into an angry, bitter, selfish old man. We always discussed politics and often agreed, but suddenly we were arguing about everything. Finally, I sent him a letter telling him that I could no longer discuss politics with him because he had turned into such a hardass since watching Fox. So, he stopped watching and amazingly, within a week, he was back to his old self! Now, he calls it all "bullshit" and watches a game or reads a book instead. I send him articles I find on the internet via snail mail and he reads them all and is amazed at how much information doesn't show up on the nightly news. During the Florida primaries, he was very upset by his pool hall buddy asking him: "Who are you gonna vote for? The Jew or the Nigger?"
But,
My mother in law, a lifelong New York Times reader, started watching Bill O'Reilly about five years ago. After Obama was elected, she became unhinged. Angry and afraid, we can no longer discuss anything about politics around her. Her formerly disguised racist tendancies have been exacerbated and she was furious with my husband and I for working to elect President Obama.
Mr. O'Reilly, Mr. Beck, Mrs. Palin, Rush, Mr. Hannity, Mr. Wallace, etc., didn't your mothers ever teach you that there's a special place in hell for people who prey on the elderly? Don't your hardly-used bibles talk about treating the elderly with respect?
And the "greatest generation" should be reminded that they have nothing to fear, but fear itself.
Maybe it's time for a call or visit to our grandparents to remind them that we need good-paying jobs to keep social security strong and still existing for their grandchildren. And we whippersnappers...no matter how disappointed or disillusioned...need to vote, goddamit!
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