Back to Sinclair, dammit! (The debate isn't for ten hours)

[troublemaker]

All around the Internet(s) I've seen 1) a bubbling desire to move on to the next topic de jour and 2) an undercurrent of "isn't pursuing this playing into Rove's hands?"

As to #1 (losing focus): If you are working for the campaign or for third party GOTV efforts then your time is very well spent. That's obviously the best thing to be doing by a long, long, long way. But aside from that that the two top priorities are debate spinning and Sinclair. (That's why God gave us two hands.)

The debate is MAJOR. But after GOTV and debate spinning Sinclair should remain the top activist effort until at least 80% of affiliates agree to drop the show. Not until something fresher comes along, but UNTIL IT IS WON. This isn't a futile voice in the wilderness thing. This is a real-world effort with real-world goals.

The story about the Nevada/Oregon/everywhere criminal conspiracy to destroy Democratic voter registrations is a huge story, but not a huge *activist* story. Sinclair is a situation that can only be won by thousands of individual actions and is a text-book activist story. I am not saying Sinclair is the most cosmicly important thing, but that it is the story where "retail" activism can do the most good.

We have the numbers and the means to get most stations to blink by polite but firm calls and letters to Sinclair affiliate (local) advertisers and by turning other media against Sinclair. Media whores love a chance to build themselves up as journalists (ha!) by cheap-shotting someone else. (I seem to recall CBS's troubles getting more than a little attention on the news) The only reason everyone hasn't piled on Sinclair is that most networks have an affiliate involved, but if a bandwagon starts all the national news orgs will jump on. Remember that Republicans have dictated TV programming for years with a fraction of our numbers.

And the stakes are high. If Sinclair backs down it will break the spirit of the RW precisely when emotion matters most.

As to #2 (playing into Rove's hands): Is everyone aware that the film in question is a Swift Boat Liars production? (SBVFT has formally merged with the producers of Stolen Honer into one organization. You can look it up.) So it's August 2004 all over again. The Swift Boat Liars dumped a bucket of shit and the compliant reliable losers that brought us the glorious Mondale presidency say "Ignore it! Fighting them plays right into Rove's hands."

I've even seen the observation that every LTTE about Sinclair is one less LTTE about Bush. Bull. Every LTTE about Sinclair is one less LTTE about whether Elm and Main needs a four-way stop sign. The Sinclair story will do more to make swing voters uncomfortable with the prospect of creeping fascism than anything about the campaign itself. Swing voters accept that all politicians are liars and tune out most political news as static. But a RW takeover of their local TV news by OUT OF STATE BUSH FANATICS is scary. (I know four or five undecided voters and every one of them is only undecided because they cannot decide whether they are more paranoid about al Qeada or Bush. They go back and forth based on the day's events. Swing voters do not, by definition, fit comfortable partisan molds.)

[venus]

1. Too bad your missing Dianne Reem on NPR discussing this in great

detail. Been on a while.

[w4rma]

2. action is more important (nt)