Wednesday, February 06, 2008

The furball

Although the backstabbing and dirty trickery between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has received far more media attention, a significant amount of sniping has also occurred between the camps of McCain, Romney and Huckabee. In fact things may have reached the point where pundits are becoming collateral damage. Andy McCarthy at the National Review Online says he has been the subject of vituperation from one of the candidates. And McCarthy's not even running for office.

What explains this level of internal animosity in the 2008 Presidential campaign? Is it the collapse of a national consensus which has widened the differences not only between the Democrat and Republican parties but even between their inner constituencies? Or is it that, with the rise of the Internet political combat has become much more finely grained? In today's increasingly specialized New Media environment it is possible to become a niche player on the immigration question, the Israeli question or even the way in which questions are planted during network "debates". I know a some people who have devoted their online existences to the Obama Muslim question. Doubtless the midnight oil is now being burned over the relationship between Mormonism and Mitt Romney. Advising people to "get a life" doesn't work any more. This is now the life.



11 Comments:

Blogger NahnCee said...

Don't forget that the replacement for Watergate's lesson of "follow the money" is tracking down and limelighting media lies from forged National Guard memo's to photoshopped Iraqi war pictures.

The media -- both print and electronic -- were once powerful players in both national and international politics. Not so much any more and it has proven to be *so* much fun taking down bigwigs like Eason Jordan and Scott Beauchamps that this is unlikely to ever go away.

So that the bottom line is one of the ways of declaring a full-blown winner that everyone SHOULD fall behind has been fractured. The blogosphre may not be powerful enough to make a candidate into a winner, but it is definitely powerful enough to keep a winner from being declared at all.

2/06/2008 09:33:00 AM  
Blogger eggplant said...

Nahncee said:

"Don't forget that the replacement for Watergate's lesson of "follow the money" is tracking down and limelighting media lies from forged National Guard memo's to photoshopped Iraqi war pictures."

On the subject of "media lies", I was most amused by the Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll predicting that Obama would beat Hillary in California by 13%. Instead Hillary ended up beating Obama by 10%. The poll was obvious garbage intended to benefit Obama, the liberal messiah.

I'm so tired of being lied to by the MSM!

2/06/2008 09:46:00 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Conservatism as a political movement is getting sucker punched by McCain and the RNC. The net effect cannot be anything other than a loss of influence in the national Conversation for probably the next several election cycles. Wealth is not zero sum but political power is. Collectivism is on the rise.

Conservatives should stake out the states from the leeward slopes of the Rockies to the Mississippi and focus people and money on gaining supremacy at the state and local level instead of within the Beltway. I'm talking about Conservatives moving families and businesses to these states in a positive, internal migration that will quickly build political strength in geometric proportion.

A thought experiment I suppose but the national trends do not look good for preserving the core values of America. At some point the only other choice will be getting swallowed alone by the collective.

2/06/2008 10:43:00 AM  
Blogger NahnCee said...

'tis a mystery how Zogby's poll numbers always seem to match up with Arab expectations and wishful thinking. Arabs right now are rooting for Obama (middle name Hussein) so it won't be a coincidence that Zogby's numbers will add up in his favor.

Old saying about "lies, damned lies and statistics" needs to add another clause about "Arab poll-takers".

2/06/2008 11:48:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Was a shock to see how far off pollsters were FOR Mitt in CA.
...course all but Rasmussen had McCain far in the lead until the LAST DAY.

Rasmussens had a tough year on the GOP side, not sure about the Dems.

2/06/2008 12:34:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

I recall Zogby doing a bogus poll in the ME in which none of the actual people on the ground were identifiable as being Americans, or even being identifiable at all, in any meaningful way.

2/06/2008 12:37:00 PM  
Blogger JimMtnViewCa said...

"Conservatism as a political movement is getting sucker punched by McCain and the RNC."
Over the last decade it seemed like the Dems were so out of touch with basic American values that they might implode. Now the Repubs seem on the verge of doing the same thing.
Where is the pro-American party that will fight against corruption and wasteful gov't, keep the US strong, foster a vibrant economy, ...?
The Dems are out-front in saying "that doesn't describe us", but the Repubs seem disinterested too.

2/06/2008 12:48:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

About twice as disinterested if yesterday's poll numbers are used, dems outvoting pubs by 2 or 3 to one.

Limbaugh's last caller suggested forget about the WH, put all effort into trying to elect conservatives to Congress.

2/06/2008 01:30:00 PM  
Blogger Trebics said...

Ducunt fata volentem, nolentem trahunt...

As Spengler (the real one, i.e. Oswald) pointed out over 80 years ago, all civilizations end up in socialism as a consequence of the rule of money, followed by the return of the rule of blood.

Nothing to see here, people, move on...

2/06/2008 02:12:00 PM  
Blogger RWE said...

One of effects of Liberalism is the extension of the Federal Government into more and more aspects of life.

While at the Pentagon I used to have to scour Congressionallty-produced budgets for extra requirements or limitations. We had people assigned to do that but they always missed something. Such budget documents are deliberately made as obtuse as possible in an attempt to obscure the pork.

I came to realize that if you had nothing else to do but investigate and evaluate the Federal Government's impact on your individual life - that you could not do it. Not even by working 40 hour weeks to do it.

So, people have gradually become aware that they can no longer ignore what goes on in DC and go about their happy little lives, secure in their ignorance. Try to do that and you will either be missing out on some big Federal Freebie or will be getting screwed by those who grab the money and run.

No one can afford to be non-partisan any more.

2/06/2008 04:54:00 PM  
Blogger gossypol said...

Wasn't Andy McCarthy talking about McCain's vituperation against him BEFORE the primaries heated up the rhetoric?

2/09/2008 09:20:00 PM  

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