Wednesday, November 03, 2004
[First]Post Mortem: Our (increasingly) Republican Nation
Basics: Republicans solidified their control. Bush bested his opponent by 3.5 million after losing by 500,000 in 2000. The Rove Machine registered and brought to the polls ample new folk to offset the Democratic/Move-on, etc. Effort. With their usual discipline they focused on few issues- a simple message conveyed by a simple man- and that brought people to the polls to vote their passion, which usually was god, abortion or gay marriage. Kerry was not a good candidate, crippled by his Iraq position, his failure to combat the swift boat lies- and other lies- or to explain the $87 billion vote.
But, Gore and Dukakis were similarly immobilized, and the charming, talented Clinton only won because he had a three-way race (Perot); he then took the party to the Right. In other words, the Democratic Party is the issue, not the individual candidates; it wasn’t the messenger- it’s the ‘message’. The Democratic Party silenced itself until the election cycle, legitimizing Bush and hampering the Media, which had no opposition to report. Simply assuming that Edwards, Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama will solve their fundamental problems is…a problem.
How we think is very much determined by the frame put out by those in power. In this case, the Democratic party will try to define the problem as Kerry being too stiff, too late to define himself, etc., and they need to say they were competitive but need still more money, perhaps to be more corporate-friendly to compete with the Republicans.
That’s not much of an improvement over just blaming Nader, as per 2000.
The problem wasn’t money or Kerry. The principal problem was the Party: its disorganization (who WAS running that campaign), the competitiveness (Did Kerry fully trust the Clintonian help who had to have feared 8-16 years of Kerry/Edwards?). The lack of message was a problem- the failure to tackle the lies (Bush’s character problem), the disastrous war (not the planning, not the execution, but the invasion/diversion itself) which he only seemed to do in the final weeks. Kerry and the Democrats too often prefer civility to winning, competitiveness with each other to taking power.
* We are shaken that the (largely ignorant) masses chose to vote for a chronic liar whose lies have killed 1100+ American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis and caused such environmental and economic destruction, and much more, someone who is clearly an empty suit. That is very tough to swallow. Apparently,
· People do not care that Bush didn’t answer questions
· People do not care that Bush was “resolved” but a failure
· People wanted to hear optimism even if it was really denial
· People wanted, or could only digest, sound bites; no complexity wanted...ETC
Noting the cliché ‘don’t mourn, organize’, the “Left” has to indeed mourn, accept the harsh reality, bond with others, etc. AND THEN out-organize the Right- to build structures that can compete with their think tanks, their control of the media- their Noise Machine.
Other: Daschle, who was such a weak Senate leader. Typically, he kept the picture of his very public hug of Bush after 9/11on his web site’s front page for months. Maybe the Dems will appoint an effective spokesperson and fighter. It’s unlikely they’ll think about their corporate, yuppie base. (Nick Kristof in the Times addresses some of this at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/opinion/03kris.html?hp.
[The Republicans will have their own internal war, as old-line conservatives will confront the fundamentalists and neocons that have the power.]
Election Day Stories:
Bogus stories, shenanigans: Early Election day came the Republicans were spreading a rumor about alleged Philly machine fraud perpetrated by the Democrats, that votes for Kerry were recorded even before the polls opened; it was a phony, part of their noise that will leave impressions of fraud. It’s most effective, as any Democratic complaints are then only “balancing” what “obviously” happens by both sides. Most interesting was that the DA and the Deputy City Commissioner investigated it and pronounced it no problem in the mid-morning. Yet, right wing talk radio and FOX ranted about it all day, noting that they were saying it on Tuesday so that it wouldn’t sound like sour grapes when they say it again on Wednesday. Ah, the noise. The same allegation was repeated by the Republican campaign at 11:30PM!
There were reports such as that of a sheriff beating an independent photographer taking pix of the lines, of Muslim women being overly questioned and some long-time voters being removed from the List in Columbus, Ohio, but there were fewer such reports than anticipated. There are issues, irregularities, systematic disenfranchisement, but it’s hard to address them when you don’t control those state houses and if the popular vote was not close.
Meanwhile,
Rehnquist: He’s got anaplastic thyroid cancer; it is not amenable to treatment and 80% do not survive a year. So, he’s likely to be the first one to be replaced.
AND, … tho it’s hard to focus…
Russian Nukes:
A former Russian nuclear scientist has handed over to police eight containers of plutonium-238 he had stored at home for eight years.
The 400g (14oz) of plutonium-238 - a highly radioactive compound - came from a disused laboratory in Siberia.
Former employee Leonid Grigorov said he removed the containers for safekeeping after the lab was looted and stored them in a lead case, Russian media say.
He may face criminal proceedings, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency says. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3974851.stm
Bush's War on Iraq: More attacks on people and Oil, deaths, plans for attacks on Falluja. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1342463,00.html
-R
Basics: Republicans solidified their control. Bush bested his opponent by 3.5 million after losing by 500,000 in 2000. The Rove Machine registered and brought to the polls ample new folk to offset the Democratic/Move-on, etc. Effort. With their usual discipline they focused on few issues- a simple message conveyed by a simple man- and that brought people to the polls to vote their passion, which usually was god, abortion or gay marriage. Kerry was not a good candidate, crippled by his Iraq position, his failure to combat the swift boat lies- and other lies- or to explain the $87 billion vote.
But, Gore and Dukakis were similarly immobilized, and the charming, talented Clinton only won because he had a three-way race (Perot); he then took the party to the Right. In other words, the Democratic Party is the issue, not the individual candidates; it wasn’t the messenger- it’s the ‘message’. The Democratic Party silenced itself until the election cycle, legitimizing Bush and hampering the Media, which had no opposition to report. Simply assuming that Edwards, Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama will solve their fundamental problems is…a problem.
How we think is very much determined by the frame put out by those in power. In this case, the Democratic party will try to define the problem as Kerry being too stiff, too late to define himself, etc., and they need to say they were competitive but need still more money, perhaps to be more corporate-friendly to compete with the Republicans.
That’s not much of an improvement over just blaming Nader, as per 2000.
The problem wasn’t money or Kerry. The principal problem was the Party: its disorganization (who WAS running that campaign), the competitiveness (Did Kerry fully trust the Clintonian help who had to have feared 8-16 years of Kerry/Edwards?). The lack of message was a problem- the failure to tackle the lies (Bush’s character problem), the disastrous war (not the planning, not the execution, but the invasion/diversion itself) which he only seemed to do in the final weeks. Kerry and the Democrats too often prefer civility to winning, competitiveness with each other to taking power.
* We are shaken that the (largely ignorant) masses chose to vote for a chronic liar whose lies have killed 1100+ American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis and caused such environmental and economic destruction, and much more, someone who is clearly an empty suit. That is very tough to swallow. Apparently,
· People do not care that Bush didn’t answer questions
· People do not care that Bush was “resolved” but a failure
· People wanted to hear optimism even if it was really denial
· People wanted, or could only digest, sound bites; no complexity wanted...ETC
Noting the cliché ‘don’t mourn, organize’, the “Left” has to indeed mourn, accept the harsh reality, bond with others, etc. AND THEN out-organize the Right- to build structures that can compete with their think tanks, their control of the media- their Noise Machine.
Other: Daschle, who was such a weak Senate leader. Typically, he kept the picture of his very public hug of Bush after 9/11on his web site’s front page for months. Maybe the Dems will appoint an effective spokesperson and fighter. It’s unlikely they’ll think about their corporate, yuppie base. (Nick Kristof in the Times addresses some of this at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/opinion/03kris.html?hp.
[The Republicans will have their own internal war, as old-line conservatives will confront the fundamentalists and neocons that have the power.]
Election Day Stories:
Bogus stories, shenanigans: Early Election day came the Republicans were spreading a rumor about alleged Philly machine fraud perpetrated by the Democrats, that votes for Kerry were recorded even before the polls opened; it was a phony, part of their noise that will leave impressions of fraud. It’s most effective, as any Democratic complaints are then only “balancing” what “obviously” happens by both sides. Most interesting was that the DA and the Deputy City Commissioner investigated it and pronounced it no problem in the mid-morning. Yet, right wing talk radio and FOX ranted about it all day, noting that they were saying it on Tuesday so that it wouldn’t sound like sour grapes when they say it again on Wednesday. Ah, the noise. The same allegation was repeated by the Republican campaign at 11:30PM!
There were reports such as that of a sheriff beating an independent photographer taking pix of the lines, of Muslim women being overly questioned and some long-time voters being removed from the List in Columbus, Ohio, but there were fewer such reports than anticipated. There are issues, irregularities, systematic disenfranchisement, but it’s hard to address them when you don’t control those state houses and if the popular vote was not close.
Meanwhile,
Rehnquist: He’s got anaplastic thyroid cancer; it is not amenable to treatment and 80% do not survive a year. So, he’s likely to be the first one to be replaced.
AND, … tho it’s hard to focus…
Russian Nukes:
A former Russian nuclear scientist has handed over to police eight containers of plutonium-238 he had stored at home for eight years.
The 400g (14oz) of plutonium-238 - a highly radioactive compound - came from a disused laboratory in Siberia.
Former employee Leonid Grigorov said he removed the containers for safekeeping after the lab was looted and stored them in a lead case, Russian media say.
He may face criminal proceedings, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency says. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3974851.stm
Bush's War on Iraq: More attacks on people and Oil, deaths, plans for attacks on Falluja. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1342463,00.html
-R
