I'm taking a break from Internet politics for a while.

[MonteLukast]

I just read Mass's post about the Rassmussen breakdown of the vote, and the reasons things went they way they did.
And I'm sorry, everybody-- I'm about to insult a lot of Massachusetts residents.

So the middle class felt ignored, eh? So the independents thought they were going their own way, making their own decision, and sending a strong message, eh?
So the slick, glib man with the crackerjack sales job said all the right things and made their little hearts go flitter-flutter, eh?

They just got played, and they don't even realize it.

ANYONE WHO'S BEEN PAYING ATTENTION TO NATIONAL POLITICS FOR THE LAST YEAR, OUGHT TO SEE THAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS THE LAST PLACE THE MIDDLE CLASS SHOULD BE LOOKING TO FOR SUPPORT AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
I don't care if they feel the Democrats let them down! They FAILED to take the long view, FAILED to look for the deeds to match the pretty words... and above all, FAILED-- or is that flat-out disregarded?-- to think of their own life experiences, to remember the consequences of following the one with too strong a charm offensive and nothing to back it up.

They probably felt really good getting played. It always does. That sleazoid boyfriend is NEVER a sleazoid at first, for good reason. He wants to get you hooked first, make sure you fall hard and fast for his charm offensive... and only THEN, once it's too late, does he let his real, asshole self come out.

A majority of Massachusetts voters just forgot EVERYTHING their life experiences ever taught them about sleazy ex-boyfriends, high-pressure salesmen, and corrupt religious authorities. They fell, like giddy teenagers, for a gimmicky emotional appeal and a well-orchestrated charm offensive... and they probably don't even feel shame for it. Hell, they're probably proud of it; probably patting themselves on the back for "thinking for themselves" and sending their message.
They are, effectively, NO better than the Georgia voters in 2002 who fell for Saxby Chambliss' Pavlovian invocation of terrorism. And unless I miss my guess, I don't think Massachusetts residents would appreciate being likened to a group of people they may see as uncultured and rednecky.

But if you act the same way-- if you prove yourself putty in the hands of the same emotional appeal, if you respond to that Pavlovian bell... then you ARE unthinking, you ARE an idiot (if only for a moment), and you DID allow yourself to get played. Like a million-dollar violin. No matter what your self-esteem and your "gut" are telling you. Crack and meth addicts feel good when they first get a fix, too.
Sometimes Oprah is wrong-- sometimes our gut feelings do NOT know what is best for us.

For my part, I only called a total of about 150 people in 3 days. I was by no means a superstar in this game. But it made me feel great to do my part. I talked for about 45 minutes with "Katherine" in Worcester, whose polling place was at the Worcester Ecotarium, where I seriously seriously want to go now; and who voted early in the morning because she was afraid of running into one of the very nocturnal, quite numerous and curiously-unafraid-of-people skunks that hung around the area. I got positive Martha responses by a ratio of almost 3 to 1. Wherever all these gaga-for-Brown folk were, they sure weren't popping up on MY phone lines.

We all fought like lions for Martha. Once we stepped up our game, our mobilization was impressive, our ground game well-organized. We did tremendous work making up for lost time. I was so heartwarmed at the rally last weekend, and came to like Martha as a person as well as a candidate. And I think the method BarackObama.com came up for phone banking, where you have the polling place and the transportation info at your fingertips, is a stroke of genius.

Perhaps what really gnawed at ME, was finding that Leominster and Fitchburg had gone almost 2-to-1 for Brown. This was the area that had been hit by an ice storm and suffered under the incompetencies of a foot-dragging utility company, per the DailyKos diary "Coakley... something you should know". Coakley played an integral part in making sure these cities got the prompt service they needed, twisting arms and pressuring the right people and everything else lawyers in high places do. And that is how they repay her kindness and competence.

If there's one thing I hope from all this, it's that we not give up on people power. Yes, we were defeated in spite of our best efforts and our biggest guns.
But buckling down after this loss, because some pretender to people power was able to con Massachusetts into believing HIS brand of it was better (and who will drop this act, laughing all the way to the bank, when it's too late for voters to do anything about it)... is absolutely, unequivocally the WRONG thing to do.

We need to listen to the middle class, and get BETTER at addressing their needs and concerns than the purveyors of instant gratification. We need to be BETTER than some con artist who has ZERO interest in actually meeting those needs despite saying all the right sweet nothings. We need to resist their insistence that they really do want lower taxes and deficit reduction after all; because those viscerally-appealing teabaggers told them so; but this time, actually come up with something concrete that will nourish them and their souls.

I'm sorry, Mass, MBS, TayTay, everyone else... for insulting your state. I don't live there, and I may never fully understand it. But I've come to the conclusion that part of the progressive mission is weaning people off the emotional fast-food diet that the Republicans have given voters a taste for. To inspire people to a BETTER class of emotions. So that we use them to build bridges... not to cocoon into insular little niches; to use our hearts FOR our long-term best interests, not against them; to get smarter and sounder of judgment, to be more resistant to manipulation and dissonant messages, instead of more susceptible.

With that, I yield the floor...

--ML