(Please Don't) Get Smart

[NanceGreggs]

As many of you are aware, John McCain’s campaign is a total disaster – and it gets worse every day. He doesn’t know the difference between Sunni and Shia, he doesn’t “get” this economy thing everyone is on about, and he thinks Czechoslovakia still exists.

While his opponent, Barack Obama, is drawing unprecedented crowds, McCain’s non-events would be completely unattended were it not for the Secret Service (who have to be there) and the few reporters who are assigned to cover him (usually as punishment for having pissed-off their boss).

That’s why McCain is counting on you – the totally misinformed, the ignorant, and the just plain dumb – to keep his candidacy viable.

In furtherance of that effort, please don’t smarten up before November. John McCain’s only chance of getting any votes is your continued stupidity; don’t let him down.

If you believe that the high cost of gas is the fault of the Democrats, despite the fact that fuel prices rose while the Republicans were in control, please don’t start putting two and two together now.

If you believe that Obama is a radical Muslim and a Christian with a too-radical pastor, please persist in ignoring the contradiction and continue to accept that both of these things are incontrovertible facts.

Should you find yourself noticing that McCain doesn’t seem to know what he’s talking about, take a break from listening to him. A little time out can renew your faith in his ability to eventually figure things out.

Please do not abandon reliable sources like FOX-News, no matter how shrill and desperate they sound in the months to come. If their fine journalists are saying things that are the complete opposite of what you know the facts to be, remember that they could be right and the facts could be totally wrong.

Do not fall prey to the idea that change is needed in our government, or that the direction the Republicans have taken the nation in the past eight years has been wrong-minded – or even insane. Losing your job, your healthcare coverage, your savings and your home are not the worst things that can happen. The GOP has plunged the nation into unprecedented debt – you don’t hear them whining about it, do you? Put that flag pin in your lapel and soldier on.

Please keep focused on the idea that the War in Iraq is going swimmingly. So far, we have lost a mere 4,000-plus US troops, and a only few million Iraqis are dead, maimed, orphaned and/or displaced. Do NOT allow common sense to dissuade you from believing that McCain’s idea of staying the course will ensure victory within the next hundred years or so.

Above all, do NOT lose sight of the character of the candidates. Obama may be eloquent, well-informed, admired and respected by world leaders, a man of vision and perception, hopeful about implementing positive change, enthusiastic about our ability to put the country back on the right track, and willing to work tirelessly to undo the damage done by eight years of the Bush administration’s policies.

If you find yourself thinking that these are the qualities we want and need in a president, McCain will probably lose. In fact, if you find yourself thinking at all, McCain has already lost – big time.

So don’t start thinking. Don’t inform yourself. Don’t question anything. And for the love of God, don’t smarten up – because John McCain is depending on your stupidity. It may fall squarely in the slim-to-none category, but it’s the only chance he has.

[unhappycamper]

1. Another great post, Nance.

k&r

[1Hippiechick]

2. GREAT post. I laughed when I got to "Don’t question anything." because in the 60s

we started questioning EVERYthing! LOL

K&R

[DarthDem]

3. Genius Post

K & R. Thanks for a smile and some very eloquent thoughts.

[fasttense]

4. Well said. n/t

[Political Heretic]

5. I wish I could write like you.

My writing is dull and tedious, perhaps - perhaps - occasionally containing a salient point somewhere, but not enjoyable to read.

You rock.

[skepticscott]

6. The question is, who ARE these people?

Who are the voters that still are in play, who either haven't decided between Obama and McCain, or who've tentatively made up their minds, but could change based on tomorrow's sound bite collection?

Maybe I'm just slow, or maybe I've been hanging out with the wrong crowd, but the thinking of this crop of voters is absolutely unfathomable to me. How can any human being with the intelligence to get out of bed in the morning not have already learned enough over the past 8 years to decide whether they prefer the Republican or the Democrat in this election?

I can understand the thinking of people who believe that the whole political system in Washington as perpetrated by Democrats and Republicans is so corrupted as to be unredeemable and who simply refuse to participate in it at all, or who participate only to the extent of supporting candidates who are more or less on the fringe. I can even understand the people who've decided that the Republican way of doing things is what they prefer, and who are all for McCain. I think they're pretty screwed up, but at least there's some kind of twisted consistency to their thinking. But how in the hell can someone have experienced 7 1/2 years of Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Libby, Abramoff and all the rest and not know one way or the other??

[Voice for Peace]

19. I am puzzled by this as well.

Had a visit recently with a good friend who's smart, educated, open minded. He leans Republican because he believes in smaller government and more power to the states, etc. But he did vote for Clinton the first time 'round.

He is uneasy about Obama because of the spin regarding Obama's inexperience. He still sees McCain through the lens of "maverick" "war hero" stuff. He was bothered that "Obama wouldn't admit that the surge had worked."

I don't debate politics with friends. I did point out that McCain doesn't seem to be "all there" and he agreed. Also said I was concerned that he was being used by the same people who've run the gov't in last 8 years. Although he voted for Bush, he's really disgusted at this point.

Anyway.. the media is really dangerous, I concluded. How they are instilling ignorance in people.

[pipi_k]

27. Same here

OK, in January I could see where people might be undecided.

In May....

June...

Here we are on the brink of August, and there are still people out there so unbelievably fickle (or stupid) that they can't decide which issues mean the most to them?

Oh...and the best of all...the "undecideds" who always manage to make it to the night before the damned election...probably are still scratching their asses while they're in the line to the voting booths...

"Duhhhhhh.....now which one will I vote for?"

I've often wondered if they even know what issues are important to them. Like, once upon a time they grew up and decided this and that and the other issue mattered and always would matter, and there are two candidates who are different enough for them to be able to make a choice. Or do their core issues change that much every four years? "Yeah, four years ago I was all for Women's Rights and affordable health care, but this time around I'm changing my mind, and four years from now, who knows...I might change my mind again"

I mean...what the hell.... Is that how these people think?

It's really disheartening (not to mention scary) to think that there might actually be that many truly stupid Americans running around out there...

[AlbertCat]

33. The "in" crowd

There are people who just want to be on the winning side. They make no commitment to anything until it looks like one or the other is winning....then they jump on the winning side.

Of course it seems obvious at this early moment where the winning side is already. The only way McCain can win is to lie, cheat and steal....just like any other Repug.

[The Wizard]

7. Well done as usual

The Republicans have perfected the exploitation of the great dumbing down. That Pox (deliberate typo) News has the number of viewers it has should alarm everyone who can speak and write compound or complex sentences.
The Republican Party's media handmaidens have done their damage and taken the money. They're trying everything possible to create doubt about Obama and cover McCain's gaffes, witness the CBS editing of a McCain interview with Katie Couric, whose main qualification seems to be a hiked up skirt. They run McCain campaign ads as if they were news.
To hear the corporate media tell it, America needs a senile crackpot at the helm the same way it needed two convicted drunk drivers steering the ship of state.
Most people reading this already know these things. It's time to shout if from the roof tops.

[ekwhite]

8. To quote HL Mencken

"No one has ever went broke by underestimating the intelligence of the American people." American stupidity is an endlessly renewable resource.

[bluerum]

9. Unfortunately, this is how I felt in 2004. Stupid really pulled through for KKKarl.

But stupid is only part of the equation. Giving this election to McCain will require a coordinated effort of dirty smear campaign politics, manipulation of voter registrations, voting machine fraud, false deceptive advertising and corporate MSM shilling.

It will also require overconfidence on the part of the opposition.

[ekwhite]

10. My hope is that anger will overwhelm stupid

Things are happening now that affect people's lives directly, and McCain's campaign is so inept he is not able to spin things his way. Even Karl Rove may not be able to save this one. Running against gay marriage isn't going to work when people are worried about losing their homes.

[bluerum]

11. IMO the biggest issue is the economy. Anything else is distraction.

[Alter Ego]

49. Not anger--enthusiasm.

Democrats win with turnout this year...remember, 44% of Obama's supporters are "very enthusiastic" about voting for him. Would we like that number to be higher? Yeah, but it's pretty damn high when compared with McCain's whopping 17%.

I'm counting on Republicans to throw their hands up in disgust and call this one a wash because their guy is so utterly, utterly awful.

[Demeter]

12. I Hope Americans Are as Hungry for an Intelligent, Adult Leader of the US

as the Europeans and Middle East and our own Armed Forces are!

[Coexist]

13. Ignorance is bliss!

[ekwhite]

29. I doubt it

Most Americans are neither intelligent nor adult.

[GeorgeGist]

14. Ignorance is bliss ...

according to judeo-christian tradition; as set for by the book of genesis.

[saltpoint]

15. Nance, the strong praise you get from your posts, including this one,

is deserved.

You take the big theme -- the disembodiment of U.S. citizens from their own well-being. Next you describe the symptoms in your case summary: ignorance of the facts, a willful disregard for anyone who HAS the facts, etc.

Next you name names as culprits -- FOX News, the McCain campaign's smears and falsehoods -- so that even lurking freepers can follow the trajectory. "Are the perpetrators in this courtroom, ma'am?" Yes, they are, you tell the judge, and you point them out.

Last you encase the whole enchilada in top-drawer writing with and vision.

Pretty darn convincing combination if you ask me.

Bravo. Again.

[DFW]

16. Calling Agent 99!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Agent Maxwell McCain is stuck in the phone booth again, and has lost all contact with Control.

(Well, OK, he never had a whole lot of THAT to begin with)

Our biggest obstacle to regaining the presidency, beyond the obvious electoral fraud which
Rove, Cheney, Diebold, ESS, et al have down to a science, and will continue to perfect, is
the sad, sorry fact that 40% of the voters in the United States will vote Republican even if
the names on the ticket are Charles Manson and Adolf Hitler. We enjoy no such army of robots,
and as such have an uphill battle, no matter HOW much logic, common sense, and plain self-intetrest
dictate that voting Republican this time is the equivalent of national suicide.

Some lemmings just INSIST of jumping off that cliff, and nothing we do or say will dissuade them.

[grantcart]

17. I strongly agree

Don’t question anything


and especially do not raise questions about certain banks.



Its just a personal thing.

[immoderate]

18. It's about time that you went for the big crowd, Nance.

Your audience here at DU can't be more than 100,000. But in addressing the conglomeration of idiots out there, you've tapped in to a group of millions. Why they exist -- nobody knows.

--IMM

[djp2]

20. McCain won't last

He won't last the election cycle. He will be replaced at the last minute due to "health problems" so look at his VP running mate as the "REAL" presidential candidate. McCain will pull out around end of Sept, beginning of Oct. so media won't have time to get dirty with the New Repug candidate.

[UrbScotty]

21. This is why I love you, Nance.

[President Decider]

22. Great post .... worthy of a "BUMP"

I already started to curculate this around the country

[Avalux]

23. The move "Matilda" is on right now.

She was punished by her evil parents for being smart; they did their best to break her spirit but she didn't listen.

[rasputin1952]

24. I was brought up in a somewhat mixed ideological family...

on the one hand, my mother tends to take things as they come along, making judgment calls on the validity of the situation; my father however was a man who left this world in 1965 with these as some of his parting words..."question authority".

A person can agree w/or disagree with what comes along, but to let it pass by w/o challenge is immoral and avoids the very basic drive for human beings to know why something is happening.

Force the hands of those that make the "rules"...make them own up to their decisions, and when they go against the Rights and Privileges of humanity they need to be stopped, challenged and if necessary, torn down from their perches.

232 years ago, those who challenged authority began the fight to try to make this Democratic-Republic a reality knew they needed to stand up and be counted. They challenged the then, most powerful nation on earth, they gave us this nation, and we have watched it from the sidelines being torn apart ever since.

The neo-con RW has been hell bent on creating a new "monarchy", complete w/landed barons and serfs...I shall be a serf to no man, I will not be enslaved by the ideology that all of us created "unequally", and I will fight for the Rights of everyone, but particularly for those who are the most oppressed.

This is what separates "us", from "them".

[TroubleMan]

25. This post inspired me to make large deposits at Silver State Bank.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[mdmc]

26. That’s why McCain is counting on you – the totally misinformed, the ignorant, and the just plain dum

b.

Pretty good strategy, imho.

[uponit7771]

28. K & R

[L0oniX]

30. K & R ...nice work ...as usual

[Bobbie Jo]

31. BAM! K&R

[TheCowsCameHome]

32. Please stay the course.

Straight downward, full speed ahead.

[Kurovski]

34. HEY!

This was the Wetzelbill/Kurovski strategy!

Wait till I get that fetid old floating cloud of foul gasses on the phone. "Maverick" my aching pecker! godammit, but I'm angry.

[scarletwoman]

37. Kicking for the Wetzelbill/Kurovski campaign! Remember, they did stupid first! (nt)

[Jack Rabbit]

35. Slim to none, Nance?

Slim has left the building.

[Vinca]

36. McBush's only shot: the "low information" voter.

I won't call them "stupid," that's rude.

[Historic NY]

40. Oh thats good "low information voter" .

[MadrasT]

38. Thanks, Nance!

I needed this SO BADLY right now... (though none of us have the time for me to explain why).

K & R!!!

[Monk06]

39. Sure, Sure, It's always about HIM ........ Grumpy Mc Dwarf says

[RNdaSilva]

41. Problem being,

we have these people to contend with .

Please do,

please do,

get smart.

[whatchamacallit]

42. Great as always, but you get extra points for using "furtherance" n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

43. Another gem....

[neuvocat]

44. Once again you hit a grand slam. Great work!

[psquare]

45. Well written, impeccable logic, but it reads like you are insulting whomever

is thinking of supporting McCain. That to me is not the way to sway those low-information voters who may well decide this election.

Calling people misinformed, ignorant and just plain dumb is a great way to get them to listen to Rush and Billo, who both constantly remind their viewers how smart their viewers are.

[NanceGreggs]

50. I sincerely doubt ...

... that the people of whom I speak are reading this post.

[politicoFOsho]

46. Great Post!

I agree with everyone else.

[saltpoint]

47. Here's a kick for the ugly stepsisters lining up to see if

McCain's glass slipper fits their fat feet.

Romney. Huckabee. Pawlenty. Little Lindsey. Franklin Graham. Haley Barbour.

[mlevans]

48. Alas, that the people

who really need to read this piece should be incapable of seeing past the well-turned ironies to grasp the true message. Come oone, come all, come vote. No minimum test scores, no prerequisite reading, no common sense required, and no one turned away. Can you pull a lever?...push a button...blacken an oval on a paper sheet? You're in, my friends; this is your lucky day! What, you need a reason? There are so many: your candidate once gave you a pencil and a refrigerator magnet with his name on it...your candidate is tall, has really good hair and is a snappy dresser...Jesus came to you in a dream and told you He supports your candidate...the list goes on. Stupid? Uniformed? You bet. I'd love to share this post with my brother, who is at least smart enough to understand it for what it is. Unfortunately, his minister told him that Barack is the Antichrist, so I'd just be wasting my effort. Pity.