Part two of a two part series regarding our preparations for the 2012 election. "Where are the votes?" and, "How do we get them?"
MeanMesa visitors have already heard the grotesque and the bizarre issuing out from GOPCon radio and television pundits. The Republican "talking points" design of such media investments is exquisite. The outrageous is carefully implanted under some gaseous cover of recent events, uttered boldly then immediately diluted back to some socially acceptable irrelevance.
Of course, stranded without a media, the Democrats do nothing. There are no impassioned counter arguments or pointed refutations. Even if there were, hardly any Americans would ever hear them.
These Republican verbal "emoticons" are not particularly credible even to the hill billies in the GOPCon base. In fact, we can consider them to be around, say, 15% credible. That means that only about 15% of that base actually believes all or even part of these carefully crafted incendiaries.
However, when the psychological backgrounds in the minds of the Republican base retain some tiny amount of such commentary and elevates it, subconsciously, to the position of "fact," a gradual, almost unbelievable, accumulation of "credibility" begins to materialize in a rather durable fashion. Late at night, over cheap beer in an American Legion bar, these "talking points/facts" are regurgitated amid the grumping and burping to an enthusiastic response of "Yeah! Yeah!"
It is at this point that more rational Americans wonder how in the world the country has become so divided. Well, quit wondering and get busy.
In addition to these "talking points," a slightly more thoughtful crowd is also targeted by the media psycho-masters. This is the second realm of manipulation -- the one ever so slightly more sophisticated than the outright "emoticons" mentioned before.
For an example of these subtleties, just this morning, MeanMesa, as usual, was listening to Stephanie Miller (The Stephanie Miller Show, AM1350 KABQ, Albuquerque, 7 to 10 AM weekdays). One guest, Eric Boehlert of Media Matters, made the following point as he discussed the statistical spread of guests on the popular Meet the Press.
When the editorial staff of Meet the Press was criticized about the relative number of Republicans and Democrats invited to the show, the response was, well, predictable. During the autocracy, many more Republicans were interviewed than Democrats. The editorial staff explained that during the autocracy, all the parts of the government were controlled by Republicans, so their preponderance as guests was understandable.
The editorial staff continued, as Boehlert commented on the number of guests from the Democratic party being invited now, while the Democrats controlled two of the three parts of the government. The editorial staff reply reveals much.
"Our show continues to be balanced because we have invited an equal split of spokesmen. Half and half. Half from the Republican party and half from the Democratic party."
Further, this specific example is not the only one. After the bin Laden killing, Meet the Press interviewed an almost exclusive "clutch" of guest Republicans from the George II administration. Why? These were the same people who couldn't get to bin Laden after they spent a $ Trillion dollars and worked on it for six years.
The Republican media goals of both the outrageously low credibility stuff injected into the American Legion crowd and the ever so subtle stuff being injected into the slightly more aware crowd watching Meet the Press every Sunday morning, can be listed by a fourth grader.
The President becomes an "outsider." The Democratic party is imaged as a forlorn, desperate "has been." All the "important" and "news worthy" ideas are from Republicans.
Singling out these two obvious examples of the field media preparation being conducted by the Republicans might be a legitimate lamentation for anyone trying to soothe the pain of losing yet another election in 2012, but such complaints must be reserved for some other posting. This is about how to win the 2012 election, not explain why it was lost.
There is clearly little reason to expect a return to unbiased news reporting from the now terminally soiled domestic media. The independence -- and credibility -- of the commercial "Fourth Estate" is now as permanently extinct as the independence of its ownership and vanishing editorial honor.
As Part One of this series divided the "lower" end of Republican voters into the American Legion bar crowd and fickle, "pseudo-issue" independents, a third group emerges. The folks in this third group occasionally watch internet news coverage while generally dismissing the increasingly biased commercial media. Democrats do very well with this third group.
So, where, exactly, is this reservoir of potential Democratic voters?
The answer is simple enough. It resides in the "second group." Voters in this part of the electorate are neither watching commercial media nor looking for information on the internet. A large majority of this population is entirely ready to vote for Democratic candidates based on an intuitive background, and an effective campaign to collect this voting block must squarely face the challenge of augmenting that background inclination with information, developing it into material action.
But, without either the media or Democratic candidates with sufficient spine to actually speak to this group through any other channel, this second group remains abandoned -- that is, remains informationally disenfranchised. The cast iron, ossified campaign mechanisms which have delivered mindless Democratic votes in past elections have died a slow death in the national division so carefully crafted by the Republicans and their slogans.
When no political party makes the effort to effectively communicate with them, they respond by simply not voting. For a fundamental explanation of this, we, once again, return to the bad feeling voters get after they cast a ballot while remaining uncertain about whether or not they have voted for what they wanted.
MeanMesa won't buy this depressing possibility.
In a few weeks, this blog will post a campaign designed to counter this dismal forecast. The current plan is to implement this in a few, low voting precincts in Albuquerque, but the idea may, in fact, be a bit more viral than this.
Across the country, we find an attractive number of precincts with the same problem. They are filled with voters who are already inclined to vote for Democratic candidates, but who remain reluctant to vote at all because "no one has asked them for those votes."
In election cycles which have recently been decided by single digits of percentages, these votes can swing elections, most notably, the 2012 election. The message here is straightforward indeed. MeanMesa wants you, a valued visitor to this little blog, to consider just exactly how determined you might be to rid our country of the folks who intend to take over in the next election.
It's no time to be feeling hopeless.
It's exactly the right time to be making plans.
Stay tuned.
The Almost Invisible Subterfuge
MeanMesa visitors have already heard the grotesque and the bizarre issuing out from GOPCon radio and television pundits. The Republican "talking points" design of such media investments is exquisite. The outrageous is carefully implanted under some gaseous cover of recent events, uttered boldly then immediately diluted back to some socially acceptable irrelevance.
Of course, stranded without a media, the Democrats do nothing. There are no impassioned counter arguments or pointed refutations. Even if there were, hardly any Americans would ever hear them.
These Republican verbal "emoticons" are not particularly credible even to the hill billies in the GOPCon base. In fact, we can consider them to be around, say, 15% credible. That means that only about 15% of that base actually believes all or even part of these carefully crafted incendiaries.
However, when the psychological backgrounds in the minds of the Republican base retain some tiny amount of such commentary and elevates it, subconsciously, to the position of "fact," a gradual, almost unbelievable, accumulation of "credibility" begins to materialize in a rather durable fashion. Late at night, over cheap beer in an American Legion bar, these "talking points/facts" are regurgitated amid the grumping and burping to an enthusiastic response of "Yeah! Yeah!"
It is at this point that more rational Americans wonder how in the world the country has become so divided. Well, quit wondering and get busy.
In addition to these "talking points," a slightly more thoughtful crowd is also targeted by the media psycho-masters. This is the second realm of manipulation -- the one ever so slightly more sophisticated than the outright "emoticons" mentioned before.
Stand by, We'll Define "Balanced"
For an example of these subtleties, just this morning, MeanMesa, as usual, was listening to Stephanie Miller (The Stephanie Miller Show, AM1350 KABQ, Albuquerque, 7 to 10 AM weekdays). One guest, Eric Boehlert of Media Matters, made the following point as he discussed the statistical spread of guests on the popular Meet the Press.
 |
| Eric Boehlert of Media Matters (image source) |
The editorial staff continued, as Boehlert commented on the number of guests from the Democratic party being invited now, while the Democrats controlled two of the three parts of the government. The editorial staff reply reveals much.
 |
| David Gregory of Meet the Press (image source) |
Further, this specific example is not the only one. After the bin Laden killing, Meet the Press interviewed an almost exclusive "clutch" of guest Republicans from the George II administration. Why? These were the same people who couldn't get to bin Laden after they spent a $ Trillion dollars and worked on it for six years.
The Republican media goals of both the outrageously low credibility stuff injected into the American Legion crowd and the ever so subtle stuff being injected into the slightly more aware crowd watching Meet the Press every Sunday morning, can be listed by a fourth grader.
The President becomes an "outsider." The Democratic party is imaged as a forlorn, desperate "has been." All the "important" and "news worthy" ideas are from Republicans.
Back to the 2012 Election
Singling out these two obvious examples of the field media preparation being conducted by the Republicans might be a legitimate lamentation for anyone trying to soothe the pain of losing yet another election in 2012, but such complaints must be reserved for some other posting. This is about how to win the 2012 election, not explain why it was lost.
There is clearly little reason to expect a return to unbiased news reporting from the now terminally soiled domestic media. The independence -- and credibility -- of the commercial "Fourth Estate" is now as permanently extinct as the independence of its ownership and vanishing editorial honor.
As Part One of this series divided the "lower" end of Republican voters into the American Legion bar crowd and fickle, "pseudo-issue" independents, a third group emerges. The folks in this third group occasionally watch internet news coverage while generally dismissing the increasingly biased commercial media. Democrats do very well with this third group.
So, where, exactly, is this reservoir of potential Democratic voters?
The answer is simple enough. It resides in the "second group." Voters in this part of the electorate are neither watching commercial media nor looking for information on the internet. A large majority of this population is entirely ready to vote for Democratic candidates based on an intuitive background, and an effective campaign to collect this voting block must squarely face the challenge of augmenting that background inclination with information, developing it into material action.
But, without either the media or Democratic candidates with sufficient spine to actually speak to this group through any other channel, this second group remains abandoned -- that is, remains informationally disenfranchised. The cast iron, ossified campaign mechanisms which have delivered mindless Democratic votes in past elections have died a slow death in the national division so carefully crafted by the Republicans and their slogans.
When no political party makes the effort to effectively communicate with them, they respond by simply not voting. For a fundamental explanation of this, we, once again, return to the bad feeling voters get after they cast a ballot while remaining uncertain about whether or not they have voted for what they wanted.
There Is Absolutely Nothing To Be Done
MeanMesa won't buy this depressing possibility.
In a few weeks, this blog will post a campaign designed to counter this dismal forecast. The current plan is to implement this in a few, low voting precincts in Albuquerque, but the idea may, in fact, be a bit more viral than this.
Across the country, we find an attractive number of precincts with the same problem. They are filled with voters who are already inclined to vote for Democratic candidates, but who remain reluctant to vote at all because "no one has asked them for those votes."
In election cycles which have recently been decided by single digits of percentages, these votes can swing elections, most notably, the 2012 election. The message here is straightforward indeed. MeanMesa wants you, a valued visitor to this little blog, to consider just exactly how determined you might be to rid our country of the folks who intend to take over in the next election.
It's no time to be feeling hopeless.
It's exactly the right time to be making plans.
Stay tuned.
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