At least Dick Morris is honest about what it would take for the Republicans to win an honest election. Too bad his suggestion for an ad is so dishonest and his assessment of who is best informed is just plain wrong.
WITH only two weeks left ’til Election Day, Republicans won’t save themselves with phony optimism – pathetic claims that, somehow, they’re mounting a comeback. They need to sound a note of alarm and fill the airwaves with specifics of exactly what will happen if the Democrats triumph.
But inside-baseball talk about a Nancy Pelosi speakership won’t do the job. The GOP needs to focus on the concrete ways in which a Democratic victory would threaten our safety.
Here’s one possible ad: We see and hear a wiretapped conversation, with a terrorist revealing his worst plans to his associate – and, inadvertently, to government eavesdroppers, too. Then, when he’s about to spill the beans on when and where the next attack is going to come, the line should go dead, with a dial tone, with a machine voice saying “This wiretap terminated in the name of privacy rights by the Democratic U.S. Congress.”
The announcer can then say, “If the Democrats win, the National Security Agency will never be able to listen in as the terrorists are plotting to attack us.”
Republicans are doomed unless they can get their base back. But the GOP base is the best informed group of voters in the nation, with educational levels consistently higher than their Democratic counterparts’. They follow politics closely and are the easiest voters to reach via the news media, cable TV and talk radio.
A message like this could have a snowballing effect on the Republican base. The word could percolate through the clutter, reminding voters of their true priorities.
Otherwise, we know what is going to happen. All the borderline GOP incumbents will lose, while Democrats like Sen. Bob Menendez, a scandal waiting to happen, survive.
Morris is insane and his conclusions are just wishful. First, who believes that terrorists openly talk about their plans in a telephone conversation. Any foreign conversations can be tapped into by the NSA and any domestic conversation can be tapped into with a request for a warrant up to 72 hours later.
Secondly, demographics show that Democrats actually are better educated and better informed. Republicans can’t claim they receive a good education from Faux News nor from their right wing Christian mega churches.
Yep, to maintain the offices of lying Republicans currently in Congress you’d have to do yet even more lying. Good plan.
Oh yeah, I could see a counter-ad, with a Preacher discussing family problem with his parishoner. And the same wiretapping going on…and a little pharse “Isn’t anything sacred…the Republicans have approved wiretapping phone lines without a warrant and approved spying on people in Church. What will they want next a list of people who recently purchased a bible.
It can work both ways.
This might a good ad to make. Point out the open-ended aspect of the possible wire-tapping.
If you’re interested in viewing a tongue-in-cheek version of the RNC’s new video, “These are the Stakes”, I’ve posted a video called “These are the Stingrays” that does a good job of poking fun at the GOP scare tactics…link here:
http://www.thoughttheater.com
Does that happen?
What’s in it for him?
It is interesting to note that Morris has already made the spot he proposed. In today’s blogging/media nexus, simply talking about an ad can have a very disproportionate effect. Here we are discussing his ad, an ad that was never made and, I suspect, will never be made. I’m not sure what the effect of the Discussed-but-Never-Made-Ad phenomenon is, but it something to think about. It will be interesting to see if his NYPost article gets picked up by other papers and how much bandwidth it absorbs in the blogosphere.
I think we should be careful before we assume that the Left is better informed than the Right. “Better” is in the eye of the beholder; It is a qualitative judgment. From a political viewpoint, informed means reached with your partisan message. Arguably, the Repubs are better at informing their supporters than the Dems are. They have control of the MSM and have a very impressive internet effort. Lots of Rightwing websites and blogs out there, as you are all aware. Their message was, until fairly recently, clear and unified.
The GOP unity has been shattered by the declining fortunes of the Bush administration. But the mechanisms are still in place to spread “information” and the audience is still there. I am concerned that the many Republican voters, who are frustrated with Bush and the daily DC scandals, might still be responsive to the type of message that Dick Morris proposed.
>>I think we should be careful before we assume that the Left is better informed than the Right. “Better” is in the eye of the beholder; It is a qualitative judgment. From a political viewpoint, informed means reached with your partisan message.<<
Indeed. For instance, right wing supporters know that Sadam Hussein carried out 911, and I know no such thing despite my reading every available piece of information related to this assertment. And despite the fact that I heard Bush himself say “nothing” when asked what Sadam had to do with 911.
Yeah, those republicans have a good case to make that they’e more informed, even more informed than their boyking.
I agree, you are better informed of the facts. And the facts are clear on this one. I was only pointing out that politics is about what people think, not about the truth. It’s better for everyone to pursue the truth, but it hasn’t happened yet in human existence and I doubt it ever will. Most of us are watching the shadows on the cave wall.