The witches of politics
« on: 2010-10-07 12:02:16 »
I promised myself I wasn't going to post this story, Fritz I said just more FauxNews silliness, but dagit, I am just spellbound .... Halloween and all coming up.
Cheers
Fritz
There’s finally a ‘real’ one; does she have a winning potion?
CHRISTINE O’DONNELL knows her black magic. Her “I’m not a witch . . . I’m you’’ ad is smart politics.
In it, the Republican candidate for senator from Delaware doesn’t look or sound witch-like. She looks and sounds like an attractive woman making a solid, if ungrammatical, case for election: “None of us are perfect, but none of us can be happy with what we see all around us.’’
It’s an effective response to Democrats and their allies in the liberal media who continue to harp on O’Donnell’s much sneered-about video clip, the one in which she confessed to dabbling in witchcraft while in high school.
During this autumn of our discontent, the Delaware Senate race is like every other race in the country. It comes down to a choice between a Democrat and a Republican and which one can do the best job of putting people back to work. Voters just might go with the witch, if they believe she has a job creation potion that is potent enough to succeed. Her Democratic rival — who is up in polls by double digits — has to show that it’s all smoke.
As for the conventional wisdom that Delaware voters could never elect someone like O’Donnell — remember the conventional wisdom that Massachusetts voters could never elect Republican Scott Brown as Ted Kennedy’s successor. Brown never expressed an affinity for the occult, nor did he take up other extreme positions embraced by O’Donnell. But he did overcome the nude centerfold he posed for as a law student.
Voters didn’t care about a long-ago youthful indulgence. They focused on what mattered to them: jobs, the economy, and the potential burden of government-sponsored programs, like national health care. Those same issues are in play this November.
Here’s another problem with the attacks on O’Donnell. Casting female candidates of all political persuasions as witches — or bitches — is standard operating procedure for their rivals.
Barbara Bush did it to Geraldine Ferraro (rhymes with rich). The Drudge Report did it to Hillary Clinton. Brown supporters did it to rival Martha Coakley. And the entire liberal establishment — with Mitt Romney’s blessing — is trying to put Sarah Palin on a broomstick to oblivion.
James Carville, the Democratic strategist, just sent out a fundraising email with an unflattering picture of Palin, blasting her “special brand of venom.’’ But Palin keeps flying back in all our faces. You can almost hear her cackling with delight, “I’ll get you, my little pretties,’’ and she just might do that.
Female voters may finally be sick of the “witch’’ line of attack, and O’Donnell, of all people, could be the beneficiary. Who said American politics isn’t flush with irony? Finally, there’s a female candidate who admits to being a “witch,’’ but labeling her as one creates sympathy for the devil.
Painting candidates like O’Donnell and Linda McMahon, the Connecticut Republican running for US Senate, as crazy freaks is risky business.
McMahon has been derided for her experience as a wrestling company executive, but she, too, is a candidate who understands the underlying issue in this election. It is not about her past life anymore than it is about O’Donnell’s. It’s about how worried people are about the precariousness of their own financial situation. McMahon gets that. During her recent debate with Democratic opponent Richard Blumenthal, McMahon asked “How do you create a job?’’ Blumenthal’s stammers and stutters are painful to watch. When he finally recovers, he focuses on government’s role in creating and sustaining jobs.
“Government, government, goverment,’’ McMahon spits back, and then wipes the ring with Blumenthal by explaining that a job is created “when an entrepreneur takes a risk.’’
As of this moment, voters don’t believe government is the answer. They are bewitched, bothered, and bewildered by fiscal uncertainty and disappointed with conventional solutions. That makes them open to at least listening to unconventional candidates. The insecurity of their own lives makes them less willing to be distracted by sideshow issues, such as someone’s former career as a wrestling executive, or life as a teenage witch.
Beware traditional witch hunts. In this atmosphere, they can backfire.
Fritz, That article was obviously written by a right wing political hack. Have you actually seen the ad itself? I think its creepy and it seems a lot of other people do too. The latest polls for the Nov 3rd election show her getting her ass handed to her by huge double digit margins.
The poll reveals a large number of undecided Delawareans – 13%. Coons’ lead widens to 24 points when the probable decisions of undecided voters are taken into account for the poll’s final estimate, with Coons holding a 61% to 37% advantage.
This is the THIRD time she's run for senate in Delaware in six years, and she got trounced the first two times by similar margins. She's becoming a bit a joke there as she heads for an apparent "three-peat". Christine O'Donnell is nuts and she brings it on herself.
I think her political ad people made a horrible mistake in oversimplifying her message. Of course a politician wants the public to think she is an everywoman, "a lot like you", or that she "shares your values", or is "part of your community" . . . those are strong political messages, but to actually say "I am you" is creepy, and given her previous crazy messages it screams identity crisis, personality disorder if not outright insanity.
It is way too easy to ridicule this ad of hers. Here are a couple of my favorite commentaries:
Joy Behar helps out O'Donnell with her identity crisis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9NcadNUuts “Christine, you’re not me. I’ve never dabbled in witchcraft or lied on my resume or taken campaign funds for personal use. And you don’t have hot flashes, bloating, night sweats or a mustache.” – Joy Behar
only 3:15 plus you can see his cat playing in the background.
Even her opponent is using her commercial for his campaign: http://www.chriscoons.com/notme/. O'Donnell's negatives go on and on. She's batshit crazy without even a toe in reality. Sure everyone is somewhat off kilter somehow I'm sure. But most of us don't make a living of it, and that seems to be her entire adult career. Whether she's been crusading against masturbation, claiming that evolution is a myth, lying about her education, or soliciting campaign funds for personal use, its been her bread and butter, her income, how she pays the rent, etc. Crazy isn't just an extra-curricular activity for her, its everything she is. Her "marketing consultant" career was all about selling her crazy religious ideas to other crazy people when she wasn't actually running for office. Has she ever helped anyone sell anything most of humanity could even imagine being useful to anyone? Like a gallon of milk, insurance, or ANYTHING?
I promised myself I wasn't going to post this story, Fritz I said just more FauxNews silliness, but dagit, I am just spellbound .... Halloween and all coming up.
Cheers
Fritz
There’s finally a ‘real’ one; does she have a winning potion?
CHRISTINE O’DONNELL knows her black magic. Her “I’m not a witch . . . I’m you’’ ad is smart politics.
In it, the Republican candidate for senator from Delaware doesn’t look or sound witch-like. She looks and sounds like an attractive woman making a solid, if ungrammatical, case for election: “None of us are perfect, but none of us can be happy with what we see all around us.’’
It’s an effective response to Democrats and their allies in the liberal media who continue to harp on O’Donnell’s much sneered-about video clip, the one in which she confessed to dabbling in witchcraft while in high school.
During this autumn of our discontent, the Delaware Senate race is like every other race in the country. It comes down to a choice between a Democrat and a Republican and which one can do the best job of putting people back to work. Voters just might go with the witch, if they believe she has a job creation potion that is potent enough to succeed. Her Democratic rival — who is up in polls by double digits — has to show that it’s all smoke.
As for the conventional wisdom that Delaware voters could never elect someone like O’Donnell — remember the conventional wisdom that Massachusetts voters could never elect Republican Scott Brown as Ted Kennedy’s successor. Brown never expressed an affinity for the occult, nor did he take up other extreme positions embraced by O’Donnell. But he did overcome the nude centerfold he posed for as a law student.
Voters didn’t care about a long-ago youthful indulgence. They focused on what mattered to them: jobs, the economy, and the potential burden of government-sponsored programs, like national health care. Those same issues are in play this November.
Here’s another problem with the attacks on O’Donnell. Casting female candidates of all political persuasions as witches — or bitches — is standard operating procedure for their rivals.
Barbara Bush did it to Geraldine Ferraro (rhymes with rich). The Drudge Report did it to Hillary Clinton. Brown supporters did it to rival Martha Coakley. And the entire liberal establishment — with Mitt Romney’s blessing — is trying to put Sarah Palin on a broomstick to oblivion.
James Carville, the Democratic strategist, just sent out a fundraising email with an unflattering picture of Palin, blasting her “special brand of venom.’’ But Palin keeps flying back in all our faces. You can almost hear her cackling with delight, “I’ll get you, my little pretties,’’ and she just might do that.
Female voters may finally be sick of the “witch’’ line of attack, and O’Donnell, of all people, could be the beneficiary. Who said American politics isn’t flush with irony? Finally, there’s a female candidate who admits to being a “witch,’’ but labeling her as one creates sympathy for the devil.
Painting candidates like O’Donnell and Linda McMahon, the Connecticut Republican running for US Senate, as crazy freaks is risky business.
McMahon has been derided for her experience as a wrestling company executive, but she, too, is a candidate who understands the underlying issue in this election. It is not about her past life anymore than it is about O’Donnell’s. It’s about how worried people are about the precariousness of their own financial situation. McMahon gets that. During her recent debate with Democratic opponent Richard Blumenthal, McMahon asked “How do you create a job?’’ Blumenthal’s stammers and stutters are painful to watch. When he finally recovers, he focuses on government’s role in creating and sustaining jobs.
“Government, government, goverment,’’ McMahon spits back, and then wipes the ring with Blumenthal by explaining that a job is created “when an entrepreneur takes a risk.’’
As of this moment, voters don’t believe government is the answer. They are bewitched, bothered, and bewildered by fiscal uncertainty and disappointed with conventional solutions. That makes them open to at least listening to unconventional candidates. The insecurity of their own lives makes them less willing to be distracted by sideshow issues, such as someone’s former career as a wrestling executive, or life as a teenage witch.
Beware traditional witch hunts. In this atmosphere, they can backfire.
The latest polling shows the counter-productiveness of her "I'm you" ad campaign. Since O'Donnell started advertising her identity crisis, Chris Coons has widened his already commanding lead by an extra 5% to now 18%. I'm guessing that she is going to start fading from the national media interest well before election day. She's a three-peat loser now and probably by even larger margins than her first two failed campaigns for Senate . . . not that there's anything wrong with that
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