******************************************************************************************
Protecting a Lead?
Now, here we are in 2006. The evidence of presidential lawlessness and lies has been piling up. The polls show that the American people have moved from 2/3 believing GWB to be a man of integrity on the eve of the 2004 election to (last I heard) nearly 60% now believing that he is not honest, not to be trusted.
Yet still the Dems do not speak out boldly to the American people about the extraordinarily dark and amoral nature of this Bushite regime.
So, with recent history suggesting that "playing it safe" is anything but safe, what are the Dems thinking?
One semi-rational explanation of the Democrats failure to raise the alarm and this truly alarming moment is that they are looking at the favorable poll numbers --that the American people trust the Dems more than the Repubs-- and are thinking that THIS TIME it is going to be different.
All they've got to do, perhaps they figure, is be cautious and run out the clock till election day and wait for the electorate to hand them a victory this November.
Like a team protecting its lead.
It could work. But the Repubs are not going to just sit there. They are still up against the guy who has beaten them with lies three times before. Can the Dems really beat the Bushites by countering Karl Rove's inevitable hot-button manipulations with the luke-warm message they've been putting out?
I wouldn't count on it.
If the Dems are afraid of Karl Rove --and I believe they are, and I believe they should be-- I would suggest that the best way to act on that fear is to attack Karl Rove not at the margins of the Bushite policies but at the core of their power: their still-somewhat-successful lie that they are decent, moral, righteous, patriotic Americans.
Only if these guys are fully exposed for what they are, only if they are thoroughly discredited in the eyes of the American people, will this Rove-Bush team cease to be a threat to the Dems.
In other words, the best defense now is not to play cautiously to protect a lead, but to drive aggressively into the moral lie that undergirds the Bushite power.
******************************************************************
The Lesson of the "Straight Talk Express"
The last time the American people were approached by a politician who seemed to be honest and straight-forward, and not visibly trimming his words on the basis of calculating its every effect, was in 2000. It was the presidential campaign of John McCain.
He seemed to be willing to take a chance on being more honest and bold. And the result: he did far better than expected.
Protecting a Lead?
Now, here we are in 2006. The evidence of presidential lawlessness and lies has been piling up. The polls show that the American people have moved from 2/3 believing GWB to be a man of integrity on the eve of the 2004 election to (last I heard) nearly 60% now believing that he is not honest, not to be trusted.
Yet still the Dems do not speak out boldly to the American people about the extraordinarily dark and amoral nature of this Bushite regime.
So, with recent history suggesting that "playing it safe" is anything but safe, what are the Dems thinking?
All they've got to do, perhaps they figure, is be cautious and run out the clock till election day and wait for the electorate to hand them a victory this November.
Like a team protecting its lead.
It could work. But the Repubs are not going to just sit there. They are still up against the guy who has beaten them with lies three times before. Can the Dems really beat the Bushites by countering Karl Rove's inevitable hot-button manipulations with the luke-warm message they've been putting out?
I wouldn't count on it.
If the Dems are afraid of Karl Rove --and I believe they are, and I believe they should be-- I would suggest that the best way to act on that fear is to attack Karl Rove not at the margins of the Bushite policies but at the core of their power: their still-somewhat-successful lie that they are decent, moral, righteous, patriotic Americans.
Only if these guys are fully exposed for what they are, only if they are thoroughly discredited in the eyes of the American people, will this Rove-Bush team cease to be a threat to the Dems.
In other words, the best defense now is not to play cautiously to protect a lead, but to drive aggressively into the moral lie that undergirds the Bushite power.
******************************************************************
The Lesson of the "Straight Talk Express"
The last time the American people were approached by a politician who seemed to be honest and straight-forward, and not visibly trimming his words on the basis of calculating its every effect, was in 2000. It was the presidential campaign of John McCain.
He seemed to be willing to take a chance on being more honest and bold. And the result: he did far better than expected.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
