Monday, April 11, 2011

A Political Pet Peeve

The title is not ACTUALLY what I would choose because, to quote the immortal George Carlin, "some people have pet peeves.  I have psychotic fucking hatreds!"  So, let' call this a "pet peeve tending toward a Carlin-esque rant."

I was reading poll numbers on 2012, fully aware that at this point in 2007 the polls had Hillary Clinton in a virtual landslide, and I noticed how the Republicans are doing PRECISELY what they accused the Democrats of doing all through 2007 and 2008:  talking down issues.  Case in point:  Obama's negatives are running about 50-56% in a lot of the South, and the GOP is attempting to translate that ito "56% of people will not vote for him" or "Obama loses to Republican field, except Palin."  I will deal with Palin in a sec, because I have a SPECIAL treat on Mama Grizzly.

What the GOP ignores, what anyone who is more than 25 years old already knows, is that Americans' negative perceptions do not translate well at the ballot box.  Congress had a rating in the teens before the 2010 elections, yet all of the anti-incumbent sentiment, while sweeping the House to the Republicans dramatically, did not remove the Senate from Democrat hands and many anti-incumbent candidates lost (see the Nevada and California races for examples).  Americans have a long history of holding their noses in presidential elections.  We vote for the lesser of two evils....see 2004....see 1996....see 1976....  We will vote for the one least likely to screw it up worse than it already is.  That is at least part of why Obama was able to utterly crush McCain.  That is why Clinton was able to destroy Dole in 1996.  Sure, we knew they were lying....they are politicians, you know?  But Obama had promise....he said the things people wanted to hear.  Now, let's not get into specifics because he looks terrible on the micro-level.  Hope and Change, folks....stick with it!!!

My rant has a point, and its simply this:  the next time you hear a Republican talking down the economy (the continuing recession) or talking up a candidate who got crushed by his own party in the last cycle (Huckabee, Romney), ask for facts...and offer them if they do not have them.  By the same token, the next time you hear a Democrat talk about Republicans starving children and turning out the elderly, ask for facts or offer them if they are in short supply.

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