Rove Plan
Jon Stewart had a great line the other night (when doesn't he?). The odious Chris Wallace was on, and gave Jon a cookie that Karl Rove had given Chris especially for Jon. Wallace told Jon to eat the cookie, right there, on camera. Stewart unwrapped the cookie and said: "I'm going to eat this cookie, do you know why? Because Karl Rove can't hurt me anymore."
Amen to that. There's a good chance that the ugly Rovian brand of politics has been de-fanged. It just doesn't resonate with people any more.
Now, it may have been the case in this election that the economic crash (along with the unpopular war and president) made everything seem too important for Rovian trivialities (he sat next to a guy who was an asshole 40 years ago!). Maybe, if there's another election like 2000, where you have a strong economy and peace (mostly) in the world, the race-baiting and crap-flinging will work again. I hope not. Having a good economy and world peace (mostly) can only come about by Democratic leadership, and those things are winners.
The 2000 election was stolen, and the 2004 election was all about fear and hate. 2008 has been, improbably, about hope. And maybe it was hope that beat Rove after all.
There was one aspect of the filthy McCain campaign that I wanted to touch on before it justifiably disappears into what Mike Tyson calls "bolivian."
It struck me, as I watched the McCain-Palin show whup up the hate, that the Bush-Cheney-Rove team never did that. Rove was too smart to let his campaign rallies come off as Klan rallies.
The Rove events were invitation only. Zombified Rightists with eight ball pupils would be invited to come down and say what they were told to say to the empty suit that they so revered. Rove would hand pick some Army widow who was ecstatic to have offered her husband and four sons to die in the sand for the Boy King, and was now proud to work three jobs and who needs health care anyway? "You're welcome. Heh-heh."
McCain wanted Town Halls. He wanted his folks to come out and tell him how great he was - unscripted. The audiences were (from what I saw) virulently hostile to anything left of Barry Goldwater. And by painting Obama as a Socialist Terrorist Muslim who Hates America, the crowds tore at the red meat in great hunks and cried for more.
Rove would have been so much smoother. His "Town Halls" would have been invitation only (Chamber of Commerce and wives), and the scripts would have insinuated just the right amount of racial and 'class war' fears and hatreds to get the message across.
And where McCain relied on his existing cozy relationship with the media - which failed him once he started his 24/7 lie and slander festival - Rove would have known that the media needs constant attention. Do you think you can put a bunch of 14-year-olds in a room and trust that they'll keep liking you? Not a chance. You have to keep feeding and praising and gently scolding them all the time.
McCain thought he had the Junior High class that is the national media under his thumb, so he let them have their heads. More patting and preening and maybe a cool new phone would have done the trick.
All that being said, I don't think there existed a playbook that would have won this election for the Repubs. They had a historic chance to govern their way, to have purely their own foreign and domestic policies for most of a decade. And it's been proven to be the biggest failure of both ideology and execution in the nation's history.
The Republicans failed Capitalism the way the Soviets failed Communism.
Amen to that. There's a good chance that the ugly Rovian brand of politics has been de-fanged. It just doesn't resonate with people any more.
Now, it may have been the case in this election that the economic crash (along with the unpopular war and president) made everything seem too important for Rovian trivialities (he sat next to a guy who was an asshole 40 years ago!). Maybe, if there's another election like 2000, where you have a strong economy and peace (mostly) in the world, the race-baiting and crap-flinging will work again. I hope not. Having a good economy and world peace (mostly) can only come about by Democratic leadership, and those things are winners.
The 2000 election was stolen, and the 2004 election was all about fear and hate. 2008 has been, improbably, about hope. And maybe it was hope that beat Rove after all.
There was one aspect of the filthy McCain campaign that I wanted to touch on before it justifiably disappears into what Mike Tyson calls "bolivian."
It struck me, as I watched the McCain-Palin show whup up the hate, that the Bush-Cheney-Rove team never did that. Rove was too smart to let his campaign rallies come off as Klan rallies.
The Rove events were invitation only. Zombified Rightists with eight ball pupils would be invited to come down and say what they were told to say to the empty suit that they so revered. Rove would hand pick some Army widow who was ecstatic to have offered her husband and four sons to die in the sand for the Boy King, and was now proud to work three jobs and who needs health care anyway? "You're welcome. Heh-heh."
McCain wanted Town Halls. He wanted his folks to come out and tell him how great he was - unscripted. The audiences were (from what I saw) virulently hostile to anything left of Barry Goldwater. And by painting Obama as a Socialist Terrorist Muslim who Hates America, the crowds tore at the red meat in great hunks and cried for more.
Rove would have been so much smoother. His "Town Halls" would have been invitation only (Chamber of Commerce and wives), and the scripts would have insinuated just the right amount of racial and 'class war' fears and hatreds to get the message across.
And where McCain relied on his existing cozy relationship with the media - which failed him once he started his 24/7 lie and slander festival - Rove would have known that the media needs constant attention. Do you think you can put a bunch of 14-year-olds in a room and trust that they'll keep liking you? Not a chance. You have to keep feeding and praising and gently scolding them all the time.
McCain thought he had the Junior High class that is the national media under his thumb, so he let them have their heads. More patting and preening and maybe a cool new phone would have done the trick.
All that being said, I don't think there existed a playbook that would have won this election for the Repubs. They had a historic chance to govern their way, to have purely their own foreign and domestic policies for most of a decade. And it's been proven to be the biggest failure of both ideology and execution in the nation's history.
The Republicans failed Capitalism the way the Soviets failed Communism.
posted by fiduciary at 8:55 AM
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