In Which I Shamelessly Suppress Voting
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Here is a RedState post (“The Seven Reasons McCain-Palin Are A Lock To Win”) that will serve as a valuable artifact of the political and intellectual cocoon of the modern GOP and mainstream conservatism. In years to come, when strategists and pundits try to understand what happened in this election, this might serve as a key text demonstrating core Republican disbelief that they could lose.
It may interest you to know (on the day that Gov. Crist had to extend voting hours to accommodate the waves of early voters) that there is an egregious campaign of voter suppression, and I suppose it must be a conspiracy so vast that I and many other conservative bloggers have unwittingly contributed to it by acknowledging reality days and weeks ago:
The first and foremost reason McCain-Palin will win is the absolute arrogance, elitism, condescending, patronizing and in-your-face voter suppression campaign – don’t vote for McCain, he can not win — being conducted by the national media on Senator Obama’s behalf.
Now think about this for a moment. When the author says that there is a “voter suppression campaign,” he means that the national media are reporting poll numbers and Electoral College projections accurately and then drawing more or less rational conclusions from the information they have reported. For fun, let’s grant this point–there is a vast campaign to “suppress” the vote, but we are then told that the vote-suppressing is going to lead to McCain-Palin victory by way of causing a backlash. If that’s true, shouldn’t McCain supporters want the media to be even more biased and unfair in the closing days? After all, as his media coverage has gotten worse and more hostile McCain’s numbers have been soaring. Oh, wait, maybe that’s not right.
The other reasons why McCain-Palin is a “lock” (note that he doesn’t even hedge his bets with a lot of conditional statements about what still could happen) are: 1) the Gallup poll after Labor Day as reliable predictor (which means we should ignore all the polls since then); 2) the ”predictor states” of Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee (never mind that Obama is probably going to win one and possibly two of these); 3) Farrakhan and Jackson’s remarks about Obama are scaring away elderly Jewish voters (never mind that Obama’s support among Jewish voters is at 74%); 4) Disaffected female Clinton supporters will re-emerge and shock all of us (Pew has Democratic support for McCain at a whopping 7%, and his support from women is 34%); 5) Unstable economic situation means voters will turn away from the young, inexperienced candidate (even though economic woes clearly work in Obama’s favor); 6) Bradley Effect! (non-existent!).
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17 Responses to “In Which I Shamelessly Suppress Voting”
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OK, I owe you at least two tacos just for finding this.
BTW, please note that, according to Erickson, “[the author] is a Republican strategist”
well, that reassures me
“in addition to writing wonky books on health care”
That would be America’s Health Care Crisis Solved: Money-saving Solutions, Coverage for Everyone. Sounds wonky to me, at least more than the other title I found, Health Savings Accounts for Small Businesses And Individuals: What Are You Waiting For?, which sounds a bit less wonky.
I am a cynical old SOB on these here internets, and I can be cold and snarky and downright mean, but I am truly saddened right now by these idiots and their stupid, stupid, stupid ways. We actually need an intelligent conservatism, but so often this is what we get. Some jackass who has never been outside the bubble and cannot imagine there is anything outside the bubble. And if Sarah Palin, and the landslide that she is about to help fall on John McCain’s sorry ass, can drive a stake through that stupid, stupid, stupid way of looking at the world, than, girl, you have earned your place in Crazyass Heaven.
oh, i WISH these bubbleheads would learn a lesson from an obama win. but you know they’ll just blame ACORN, and the cartoon characters, dead people, and battlestar galactica characters who showed up to vote with valid ID.
kinda funny, considering what happened in 2000.
Make that three tacos. That was simply incredible stuff.
That darn media bias. *eyeroll*
Granted, there is some, but because there is no false equivalence here, they must be in the tank.
I would be glad to accept your taco offer, since I have quite a few tacos to pay out next week after Obama takes Michigan and Ohio, but I’m afraid I just found the post on RCP’s best of the blogs list. Someone there deserves the tacos more than I do.
There’s a chorus of graveyard hikers, whistling “Valderee, valderah-ha-ha” at contentions, too.
The power of self-delusion is, alas, limitless.
Perhaps I am too generous but I read the original post and assumed it must be a form of gallows humor. The Gallop poll point could hardly be a real argument. Perhaps you’ve taken it too seriously?
For me, a Bush despiser and Obama supporter, the very best part of the whole affair is watching the Republican intellectuals, such as yourselves, being chased out of the party by the crazies who have dominated our politics since Gingrich. People like me have stood by, mouths agape, for going on 12 years as the very worst propaganda was spoon fed to us as if it were strained, mashed peas, and people who should know better, such as yourselves, have stood in line for seconds.
Well, welcome to my world!
THEY’RE CRAZY! They have always been crazy. This is not some momentary lapse of reason, this is how these people think. If you really want to be serious about yoru navel gazing introspection you might ask yourself, what took you so long to get here?
What is so sad is that all the reasons cited are based on fear, backlash and vendetta. Nothing on any policies to deal with the actual economic reality (although of course its possible that the economic crisis is part of the “conspiracy” too).
But what is most depressing is the comment section. Any dissent is dismissed as trolling, or with the ad hominem “Obama supporter”. There are some literally unreasonable people out there.
“people who should know better, such as yourselves, have stood in line for seconds.”
In fact, I have never been swallowing the propaganda, since I am not a Republican, much less a Republican intellectual.
“what took you so long to get here?”
I have been “here” longer than most.
And, no, I don’t think the post I linked to was a kind of dark humor. It all seemed to be very much in earnest.
I arrived at this site unawares by way of a link that took me to RedState and then here. As a lifelong Democrat I can’t imagine ever returning to RS but Mr. Larison seems sane enough so while I’m here and for what it’s worth… As I’m sure you might guess, I’m excited by the prospects of the election and what it may mean for the next few years- but I harbor no desire for a long term Democratic Majority. Just long enough to undue the damage done by he who should not ever again be named. It’s my sincere hope that the Republican Party can find a way to forget about tactics long enough to rebuild on a foundation of conservative principles and win their share based on ideas and performance.
I’ve only recently found this blog, along with Culture11, so intelligent conservatism on the net seems like a very phenomenon to me (which might be entirely my fault, I don’t know). Non-Republican conservatism seems like the Yeti, 9/11 conspiracy theories, or female orgasm; something I’ve heard about but never seen convincing proof of. In any case, I acknowledge I am late to the party here on this blog, so my apologies to any dolphins caught with the tuna, so to speak.
That said…the old stalwarts of conservative media have only recently seen the light, if at all. NRO, Weekly Standard, NYT, etc…while the ideological fight is fun to watch, and while it casts the differences between honest commentary and propaganda in razor sharp relief, I wonder if someone like George Will really understands the error of his ways lo these past twelve years, or if really he’s just pissed about the Palin choice and if it weren’t for that there wouldn’t be a problem?
And I have to ask, where was all this debate about the future of the Republican party while GWB was driving the bus into Iraq with rhetoric and fear mongering? Where was all the hand-ringing while he was stuffing the Justice Department with crony idiots? I ask because it sounds to me like all the BS propaganda and air-headed ideological purity is only a problem when Republicans are losing.
“And I have to ask, where was all this debate about the future of the Republican party while GWB was driving the bus into Iraq with rhetoric and fear mongering?”
For the most part, the debate was at this and other “heterodox” conservative magazines. Inside the party and mainstream magazines/institutions/think tanks, there was not much debate, which was half the problem. I recommend looking at TAC’s early archives to see what independent conservative arguments at the height of GOP power looked like. I have been blogging for just the last four years, so I can’t offer a lot of direct evidence from this blog that I was railing against these things at the start of the decade as well, but I assure you that I was.
“I can’t offer a lot of direct evidence from this blog that I was railing against these things at the start of the decade as well, but I assure you that I was.”
Then you must be about as welcome at Republican parties as a love child with a crack habit. Nice.
I’ll check out the TAC archives and see what there is to see. I like to think of myself as a one man Truth-and-Reconciliation commission.
that red state article is just a big bowl of fail..
“2) the â€predictor states†of Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee .”
check the electoral map…as long as obama flips some 04 red states he can still win without ohio…. and if he wins ohio, than mac is toast…he has no way to 270 without it..
5) Unstable economic situation means voters will turn away from the young, inexperienced candidate ……
surely THAT explains why all the polls on who can better deal with the economy favor mac overwhelmingly….oh wait!.
OT, but I made the taco offer because I was quite aware that you were going to be running a severe taco deficit to e.g. General Moebius (whom we haven’t heard from in a while), and I didn’t want any structural problems associated with taco imbalance to impede your writing and blogging.
Perhaps one of your fans or family back in NM can get into the taco carrying trade, but I think we should avoid collateralized taco obligations, don’t you think?