The latest Pew poll offers some encouraging news for Democrats: Bush's popularity remains stuck below the 40% level. But the news is quite dismal on three other fronts.
Corruption: Alas, the vast majority of the public believes that the bribery scandals amount to nothing unusual. How do we convince the citizenry that something novel and disturbing is taking place?
We must emphasize that the Abramoff and Cunningham affairs go beyond the sleazy tableau of lobbyists filling congressional pockets. The Republican party has morphed into the new Mafia, filling its coffers with loot from gambling and (very likely) drugs.
Wiretapping: Much of the public also believes that the wiretapping scandal is no scandal at all. People of this stripe probably fall into three categories:
1. Those who continue to think that the administration conducted these wiretaps legally.
2. Those who operate under the naive delusion that the administration illegally spied only on terrorists, not on political opponents.
3. Those hard core nutcases who want the Bushites to spy on opponents; they think that liberals are terrorists.
People in the first category are probably unreachable; if they haven't received word by this point, they never will. People in the third category (which, I fear, may be the largest) are also beyond dialogue. If we want any movement on those poll numbers, we will have to find a way to speak to those trusting souls who inhabit the second category.
Terror: Finally, the Republicans still command national respect on the issues of security and terrorism. If Karl Rove were a Democrat, he would advise the party's leaders to hit the opponent in his one area of strength. That is what we must do.
My own contribution is modest. I'm thinking of getting into the business of creating anti-W paraphernalia. How's this for a t-shirt slogan:
"IF BUSH WEREN'T PRESIDENT, OSAMA MIGHT HAVE GOTTEN AWAY"
Whaddya think? Too subtle? I'd love to hear your suggestions...
10 comments:
Yes, it's way too subtle.
How about: "We know where George is, but where's Osama?"
JB
<3. Then there are the hard core cases who want the Bushites to spy on opponents, or who think that liberals are terrorists.>
funny thought here as my humor has been real low with all this news but ....
the congress feel so safe and secure and above all this but they better think again.this president may have even targetted them.they do not know he hasnt and i hope that thought can be given to them to seriously think about.it raises the stakes considerably if they can have doubts raised for their own secure rights also.
br3n
yeah, too subtle...
how's about:'
OSAMA: IGNORED AND ALIVE!
The trouble, I think, is that most Americans don't possess the cognitive/deliberative skills to experience outrage at hypocrisy or betrayal of trust.
Like it or not, intellectual outrage is a luxury of the educated classes, and requires leisure. When you're dead tired and can't pay the rent, putting up with your stupid boss is quite enough of a burden.
And there's never been enthusiastic support for civil liberties in this country. In what other country do politicians habitually run campaigns based on their opposition to rigorous enforcement of those rights, in the form of the hated ACLU?
In other words, we're all living in the wrong place. The BushCo element will never be put back into the bottle or marginalized. They have too much money, and they can draw on an ignorant, fanatical base.
As for the notion that "they all do it" -- I'm not sure it's altogether wrong. Republicans are certainly worse, because their constituency is so much narrower. The Democrats have (at the least) to throw the occasional bone to labor or environmentalists, and are far less prone to ideological extremes.
But you can't blame people for dismissing the whole lot. What *is* troubling is the propensity of the "American people" to re-elect these criminals, year after year. If "we" really have no confidence in Congress, and believe it's a corrupt institution why don't we throw the bums out? Or do "we" tell pollsters what they want to hear?
Joe, I like your slogan, just leave out the "but."
The reason we keep electing the same crooks each time is that one way or another they eliminate anyone with ethics. They drown 'em with dollars, lather 'em with lies or, if all else fails, assassinate 'em by airplane.
On voting day, we are once again left with the lesser of two evils.
How about:
Keep clearing brush, maybe you'll find Osama
I'm with the "way too subtle" crowd. Well, unless the back of the shirt has an even more subtle, "Oh, wait..." printed on the back, next to a picture of Bush reading about the goat to the kids.
"IF OSAMA WERE PRESIDENT, BUSH MIGHT HAVE GOTTEN AWAY"
MMIIXX
How about alot of T shirts... Nazi Party shirts, Smoke eM out shirts... its a better fund raiser than Abramoff's ideas......
I'd like to see Dubya's face, above the words, "Not a Moron." Unfortunately, only Canadians may remember the international flap around that phrase:
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/11/21/moron021121
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