I happened on this post today at Huff Post. Yes, the media does love those tactics of ridicule and humiliation, even if they are stupid. They will play that kind of stuff over and over, playing to the least informed among us.
No skin off their teeth if McCain wins. In fact probably better for their corporate owners.
Vintage Karl Rove tactics loved by MediaThere is a plausible argument that no one has so negatively impacted the lives of the American people and the world as has Karl Rove. Not only did he elect an incompetent, not only did he misuse the White House to further his goal of a permanent Republican majority, but he has destroyed the American political dialogue. The mainstream media, interested only in ratings, has lapped it up. What simpler and inexpensive way to cover a contest whose outcome has profound stakes for the entire world than to treat the nonsense as important. Fox "News," interested only in electing Republicans, has presented it as, to quote Rove himself about the outing of Valerie Plame, "fair game."
The Obama Camp seems not to grasp fully what is going on. Responding in logical, measured terms that rationally pushes back on McCain's ads, they are missing the emotional side of the attacks that is the determining factor in 98% of decisionmaking, and, thus, voting.
..."In the Democratic primaries Obama used one very successful strategy of calling out the tactic, thus bringing it to peoples' consciousness, rather than leaving it buried in the emotional side of the brain. Hillary's "the sky is going to open" attempted mockery did not take hold, and she did not pursue it, in part because much of the primary electorate would not have tolerated it.
But, the McCain people do not care about much of the Democratic primary electorate. They want to undermine Obama, so their guy does not appear to be as lame as he actually is. Early in his career Rove and his people promoted death in the form of cigarettes. Then it was Bush. Now, it's McCain. They do not stop on their own, you have to stop them by making the price they pay too painful to continue.
The post suggests taking it very seriously, and it gives several suggestions on hitting back. One of them is to "show an empty stadium; trot out some of
the DNC footage of McCain praising the economic situation."
Another suggestion: "Add to it his gaffes (including Joe Lieberman whispering in his ear), and his statement about the Iraq-Pakistan border..... and his vote for the Iraq War....and then, hit him on his experience, "John McCain claims to have experience, but has it been useful: he didn't know you were hurting economically, he didn't even understand who the enemy is in Iraq, he still has not apologized to the American people for promoting and voting for the war in Iraq"....."why listen to someone who has nothing to say" (still of empty stadium).."
This post by Drew Weston at The New Republic gave some tips I like.
We are poised for the nastiest, most racist presidential contest in modern American history. Why? Because John McCain can't win any other way.
Is there an antidote? Yes, and it's fourfold, dictated as much by our psychology as our politics:
(1) Do not let attacks fester, where they can affect voters' unconscious associations and feelings toward a candidate long after they learn that the initial information was untrue.
(2) Create a counter-narrative about who Barack Obama is that makes clear that he is "us," not "them," and that his story is our story. (His first general-election ad appears to be an effort to do just that.)
(3) Strike hard at the character of those who would attack a man's patriotism, wife, faith, and race, so that the issue is their character, not his.(4) Resist the temptations to run away from talking honestly about race or to speak about issues related to race euphemistically. Our better angels on race are our conscious values. The more Barack Obama can fight this battle on the conscious battlefield, where virtually all Americans oppose racial discrimination, the more he will win the hearts and minds of the American people, and the more they will feel they know, trust, and can identify with him. The more Republicans succeed in fighting a subterranean racial insurgency, the greater their chances of beating the odds in November.
Drew Westen is Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Emory University and author of The Political Brain.
McCain's low road to victoryNearly all of McCain's campaign staff were
raised in the hateful tactics of Karl Rove....."The elevation of Steve Schmidt -- who worked closely with Karl Rove -- at McCain's headquarters represented a sharp diminishment of the responsibilities of Rick Davis, who has been McCain's campaign manager since the last shake-up nearly a year ago.
The move is the latest sign of increasing influence of veterans of Rove's shop in the McCain operation. Nicolle Wallace, who was communications director for Bush in the 2004 campaign (and in his White House) has joined the campaign as a senior adviser, and will travel with McCain every other week. Greg Jenkins, another veteran of Rove's operation who is a former Fox News producer and director of presidential advance in the Bush White House, was hired by Schmidt last week after a series of what McCain's advisers acknowledged were poorly executed campaign events."
Wayne Slater, the author of Bush's Brain, said that the "arrogant" theme used against Obama after he got back from Europe was in fact the brain child of Karl Rove....and the media went along for the ride.
Wayne Slater of Bush's Brain....says Rove started the "arrogant Obama" stuff and media fell for it.Few political operatives are better at definding an opponent's weakspot than Karl Rove. Bush's Brain has been busy pressing the case that voters should view Barack Obama's confidence as arrogance. And it's working. He's compared Obama to a condescending know-it-all at the clubhouse. He told FoxNews the other day that Obama's overseas trip "bespoke a little of arrogance and brashness." And like a dogwhistle to the troops, his call has been heard by GOP allies from radio talker Rush Limbaugh to cable TV's Sean Hannity.
But here's the beauty part: Even the dreaded MSM -- the mainstream media -- is picking up the theme. In the latest issue of the New Republic, Gabriel Sherman found reporters complaining that Obama's campaign was "acting like the Prom Queen." New York Times' Adam Nagourney cites an unprecedended overreaction by the Obama camp to one of his stories. And the New Yorker let it be known it was excluded from Obama's overseas trip because of that satirical magazine cover in which the campaign was not amused.
Now comes Dana Milbank of The Washington Post with a piece that begins: "Barack Obama has long been his party's presumptive nominee. Now he's becoming its presumptuous nominee."
Karl certainly knows how to call them.
I don't know the answer to how to fight these hateful tactics, but it appears the right wing for years will continue the Rove legacy.
They have taken out some of our best Democrats...they have done it by making our side fearful of offending them.
Rove is really still in power, and the media does love him indeed.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
