Methinks our "strategery" for dealing with Palin is all wrong

[nxylas]

The more I poke around the sewer that is the conservative blogosphere (someone has to do it), the more I think the Palin pick is aimed at energizing the base rather than appealing to the non-existent PUMA demographic. I'm seeing a lot of "I was apathetic about McCain, but now I'm definitely voting for him" comments over on the dark side. Therefore, pointing out that she is an anti-choice, anti-environment creationist gun nut is a waste of time, since the intended audience would regard those as points in her favor.

In my opinion, the DNC's best tactic would be to praise her to the skies for the diversity she brings to the GOP ticket. There are few words more guaranteed to make Freeper heads explode than "diversity". At the moment, conservatives are swooning over Palin, and seem to be able to overlook her regrettable lack of testes in order to grant her the same "honorary man" status they awarded to Margaret Thatcher. But the more they hear "diversity, diversity, diversity", the more Palin will serve as a constant reminder that they no longer live in the good old days when women, gays and minorities knew their place (the kitchen, the closet and the back of the bus respectively). Such a tactic won't gain Obama any new votes, but it might depress turnout among Republicans. Which is almost as good.

What say you?

[childslibrarian]

1. Great post

Thanks!:bounce: :bounce:

[Lucinda]

2. Yup, But honestly, O and Joe would be smart to push her ultra pro-life position too

to help reduce the anti-Obama Dem women from crossing over.

[RagAss]

3. We don't set strategy here....I'll leave that to the campaign.

[DutchLiberal]

4. They need to keep stressing the point that Palin is 'everything McCain is not'.

If conservatives keep getting reminded of that fact, maybe they won't vote for him after all.

[SmokingJacket]

5. Haha, I like it.

There's lots more in that vein we could use.

"Powerful woman"

"A progressive choice" etc etc

[pegleg]

6. There is no doubt that she has energized some of the base that

doubted McCain before the pick. It was clearly a strategic move on his part. The Dems really need to emphasize the fact that she is very much in line to be president given McCain's age and that is a sobering thought.

[skooooo]

7. I say, as they energize the "base,".....

...they will alienate moderate independents that were thinking of voting for McCain.

Personally, I think what's going to happen is going to happen whether we "attack" Palin or not.

[BlooInBloo]

8. Uh... we're not trying to get those people anyway.

[nxylas]

31. I think I covered that in the OP

The goal is not to "get those people", the goal is to depress voter turnout among Republicans (coupled, of course, with the GOTV operation that is already underway among likely Democratic voters).

[mudderfudder77]

9. Probably not.

I don't think Biden is a petty ass so I imagine he'll stick to the issues - things that matter.

[vixengrl]

10. I can see how the line would work-- "We as Democrats

look forward to hearing a refreshing new perspective from a relative newcomer, and hear her voice, as a woman, on the topics central to Americans. We are pleased that Senator McCain has truly decided to invoke the air of change and bring diversity to his ticket."

I can see where a little dicomfort would creep in. They aren't called conservatives because they're "changaholics."

[orwell]

11. How about this...

We are pleased that Senator McCain has brought radical change to the Republican party to respond to the air of change and bring diversity to his ticket.

[vixengrl]

14. "Radical"....that's a nice touch.

:)

[book_worm]

12. Yes, that is the reason and Obama campaign knows it. It's the DU strategy

which won't work of concentrating on the fact that she's a hunter and the rumor about her daughter. What she needs to be hit on is inexperience and McCain's judgement in selecting her as VP, one heartbeat away.

[FatDave]

20. Actually, as much as I hate to say it...

...if the stuff about the baby pans out, that's the thing that will tarnish her for the fundies.

[NashVegas]

23. *if*

If it turns out to be unprovable, it's Dan Rather all over again.

Palin is a big red cape put out to make Dems behave badly.

[FatDave]

30. Nobody of "Dan Rather" status is going to touch it.

It'll come up through the tabloids, who do occasionally get it right.

[Pacifist Patriot]

13. It depends. Republican voters can be surprisingly as divers as Democratic ones.

I know some who would be appalled by her extremism and some who would embrace it. I know some who would be thrilled she's a woman who brings diversity and some who think it immoral to have a woman lead over a man. I know some who like seeing the Republicans risk change and others who think the selection of an untested candidate moronic.

I think it far more prudent to know your audience and tailor your response accordingly.

[HughMoran]

15. I think that once the excitement wears off, she'll sink like a stone

as she is a shallow troll.

If she tries to come up for air then, we hand her a lead weight.

[ailsagirl]

24. Hold that thought!!!

[krkaufman]

16. She was definitely picked to energize the fundies ...

... but she may not sit too well with actual conservatives, nor with independents. Her extremist positions need to be highlighted in order to inform those in the middle.

[Essene]

28. she might energize a lot of women, too... to be fair

i suspect there are a lot of conservative and moderate women out there who suddenly looked up and got interested in the race.

[intheflow]

17. I don't agree.

I think if we say "diversity, diversity, diversity," we'll just reinforce it in their thick little skulls that tokenism is a-ok. :grr:

[Gregorian]

18. If you take the cheer out of cheerleader, you don't get a leader.

As a keyboard warrior, I think there are smart Repubs who are not happy. Despite (hey, did you say Thatcher? Yuck!) what you say as being true, there are many bright conservatives who don't want this woman as commander in chief. Not that it's a man's job, but that well, she doesn't know diddly. Miss Wasilla versus Obama? No contest.

Remember, John Dean was Nixon's chief of staff. There are many John Deans out there.

My bottom line thought is that the "stupid vote", which is the one I think your post addresses, is a minority in number.

[SteppingStone]

19. Forget the fundies...

She's firing up the liberal wing of the democratic party too. She's against birth control, against women's choices, pro thrill-killing of animals, pro-war, anti-environment, etc. etc. Once her positions on the issues gets out, we'll realize that McCain gave us a huge gift!

[dansolo]

21. McCain won't win with just the right wing base

The path to McCain's victory is through the moderate/independent/undecided voters. These people need to know exactly what they will be getting with Sarah Palin. So what if McCain energizes the fundies. They are a much smaller portion than the moderate voters who will be absolutely terrified of her.

Look at it this way. Any fundy vote that McCain can gain is a voter who would never in a million years vote for Obama. But every voter that McCain scares away with Sarah Palin, will go to someone else, and that would very likely be Obama. We need to continue to his McCain and Palin hard.

[Essene]

26. Exactly, And he wont be able to make that pitch very well now...

Bush lost in 2000 even with the evangelical turn-out and the Clinton backlash. He won because of the S.C.

In 2004, even as a "wartime" president, the rabid nationalism and raw fear mongering... Bush barely got by.

Mccain cant use a Rove strategy this year with only like 25% of the population satisfied with the GOP's leadership. The polls may indicate it's close, but the energy level seems to low on the GOP side that this has to be their priority: get folks energized.

Mccain's road to the white house meant he'd have to get up there... scream at the top of his lungs that the GOP has lost the faith and trust of the american people for a long list of reasons. He'd have to STATE those reasons, force a reckoning and then declare the GOP back to its more inclusive Reagan era roots.

If he was gonna do that he'd have picked somebody like Tom Ridge for VP.

[Essene]

22. Agreed re: her role being to energize rather than steal voters... but...

They need to highlight the entire gambit of her history and situation which are unflattering to the party base.

The entire "alaska" phenomenon where it's revenue is driven by oil taxes and the people get direct checks from oil revenue while the rest of america suffers. Up until 20 months ago she was the mayor of a town of 6700, so how much can she really know about america? Cue video clip from the Newsweek interview in March where she jokes about how shocked she was to see the high gas prices down here in the rest of the USA...

[WinkyDink]

25. "the DNC's best tactic would be to praise her to the skies...." Yeah, okay, we'll be right there.

[LibraLiz1973]

27. I say that while you may be right, it makes me SICK

that those god damn morons in conservative land can even pretend to support someone with NO FUCKING EXPERIENCE.

[CakeGrrl]

29. I doubt the Obama strategy much reflects what some in the blogosphere would do

if they were running the campaign. Good for that.

I have no doubt Team Obama, as they have done throughout their campaign, is doing their oppo research to know what can be substantiated and what cannot; and I'm sure they're also deciding how best to drive home McCain's lack of good judgment in picking a Republican ideologue so unfit to represent the United States on the international stage if it ever came to that.

[D23MIURG23]

32. Interesting idea, but they can't win with thier base alone.

Hence Rovian wedge issues and microtargeting.

I also don't see us changing thier minds about Palin just because we pull the diversity card.


Those issues aside, bringing "diversity" into the discussion probably wouldn't hurt anything. So I think your idea is good, but insufficient without attacks that undermine her appeal among the fence-sitters.

[flamingdem]

33. NOTE: Bristol Palin is pregnant by a mulatto .. there's your diversity point nt

[flamingdem]

34. Here is a possible website for the Bristol Palin's boyfriend

http://profile.xanga.com/ColonyKnight4