Increasing Signs of GOP Desperation

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By Bernard Weiner, The Crisis Papers

Given how low the Republicans have fallen in popularity in the past several years -- mainly because of the dire economy, the endemic corruption, the never-ending war in Iraq, the extremist snooping on ordinary Americans, a government that doesn't function well in emergencies, torture as state policy, etc. -- given all that, one would think that the GOP higher-ups would realize that John McCain is heading for an ignominious defeat unless some major policy shifts in the party move it back closer to the middle.

But, no, almost as if they have an uncontrollable death-wish, the Republicans remain locked into a self-destructive separation from the popular will. Either that or they simply are incapable of thinking straight after eight years of sensory-deprivation in the dark CheneyBush spin chamber.

The public in general has moved ahead of the politicians in so many areas: opposing the endless Iraq occupation, tolerant of same-sex relationships, eager to move beyond divisive race politics, desirous of effective regulation of food and product safety, even more supportive of Social Security and Medicare, open to major health-care reform, etc. Yet those in charge of the Republican Party continue to hitch their wagon to the old extremist shibboleths that play well mainly to the fundamentalist and Old South base, which by this time is barely 25% of the electorate.

This status-quo tropism in the GOP may be great for Democrats in the November election, but may be horrificly bad for the body politic in general, keeping in play the worst sorts of divisive, hate-filled rhetoric both for the presidential campaign and the next four years in Congress.

Indeed, one could make the case that at least a good share of Barack Obama's popularity rests on the public's perception that he is trying to move America away from the extreme rhetoric practiced by both major parties in the past several years and back to a more rational, positive way of conducting politics in the 21st century so that something positive actually can be accomplished in Washington.

SPREADING THE MANURE

McCain occasionally makes little noises about trying to rein in the rabid righwing pundits and agitproppers out there acting on his behalf, but he takes no practical steps, for example, to stop the filth from spewing out against Obama. The clear implication is that he's happy to seem to be keeping his hands clean, while he gains from the noxious bile and lies spread by those supporting a McCain presidency.

It's the tried-and-true dirty politics tactics perfected by the GOP masters of the trade: Roger Ailes, Lee Atwater, Karl Rove, et al. Rove, by the way, is not as divorced from the political campaigns as he pretends to be; he is serving the McCain campaign as a consultant. ( www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/06/8690_natl_journal_ro.html )

Staring at a possible Democratic sweep in November and facing increasing unpopularity in the electorate, GOP strategists are using all the old Roveian techniques of smear and distortion against Obama, hitting him and wife Michelle with all sorts of claptrap bullbleep ("terrorist fist-jab," "flag-lapel pins," "baby mama," "whitey," "Pastor Wright," "not reciting the Pledge of Allegiance," "not born in America", etc.)

All that nonsense about Obama being a Muslim, or not being a native-born American citizen, or not reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, or not supporting Israel with enough fervor -- all the effects of those false rumors could be stopped in their tracks if McCain, supposedly Mr. Integrity, stepped up to the plate and forthrightly condemned them and those passing them around the internet. But he doesn't, and, sad to say, he probably won't.

ROVE'S BIG-LIE TECHNIQUE

Rove's theory of how to ruin your opponent goes something like this: It's OK to tell the most outrageous lies about someone, even if those rumors can be countered by actual facts, because you're not after voters necessarily believing what you say. What you want to do is to confuse them over time -- so that eventually they might think where there's smoke, there might well be fire, that type of reasoning. It's propaganda chaff you're dispersing. Some of it will stick and be believed, some of it will simply be ignored, some of it will remain floating out there in peoples' minds. Since most voters don't pay attention all the time, the meme might actually influence what and how they believe and could pay off on Election Day.

For example, I don't know about you but I've received countless anti-Obama emails aimed at voters, especially Jewish voters, that assert that Obama is a Muslim ("check out his middle name"), and that he got hate-indoctrinated in extremist "madrassa" schools in Indonesia.

When I was in South Florida recently, I asked a politically-connected Jewish leader how Obama was doing among Jewish voters in that state. "Not well," he said. "A lot of Jews, especially older Jews, will not vote for him." "Is it because he's black?" I asked. "Yes, many believe that way. But so many also believe Obama is, by association, anti-Semitic, that he's Muslim, and/or that he would sell Israel down the river to placate militant Islam. The facts don't matter. They want to believe all this nonsense." The beneficiary of this way of thinking, of course, is McCain, even though some of his religious advisors have made clearly anti-Jewish (and anti-Catholic) statements, which, of course, were not well-reported by the mainstream media. The point for many older Florida Jews seems to be that McCain is white, old, and a gung-ho advocate of wars against Muslims in the Middle East. Ergo, even though Jews historically have voted overwhelmingly Democratic, there will be fewer such Florida votes than expected for Obama in November, though the Illinois senator is picking up much of the younger Jewish vote.

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Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked for two decades as a writer-editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (more...)

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