Chad Scarborough is one of the least self-aware people I have met in print. He begins his column by listing a bunch of faux scandals (ObamaCare, Benghazi, the IRS), plus a real one at the NSA. But then he immediately begins complaining that the Romney campaign never developed a unified theme for their campaign and, instead, careened from one “wild, disjointed accusation” to another. As Billmon put it, “The guy is bitching about the RW echo chamber — from inside the RW echo chamber. And he doesn’t even realize it.”
Scarborough could have added ACORN, the birth certificate, Fast & Furious, Solyndra, and Shirley Sherrod to his list of “scandals” that the Obama administration has easily weathered because they were not scandals at all. In fairy tales, this one is explained by The Boy Who Cried Wolf. If you tell a bunch of lies, eventually no one will believe you when you’re telling the truth and it matters. This is also true of Karl Rove and Dick Morris, whose lies and overconfidence left big Republican donors feeling like gullible marks. They aren’t giving their money to the Super PACs anymore (Dem groups are out-raising them 2-to-1).
In any case, it’s hard to have a unified message when your party isn’t unified. They rallied around obstructing Obama’s first term, but all that did was produce a cacophony of cow manure. Just think about it. The party of John McCain doesn’t want to have much to do with the party of Mitt Romney; the party of Mitt Romney doesn’t want to have much to do with the party of Rand Paul, and the party of Rand Paul wants to have nothing whatsoever to do with the party of John McCain. Deep seams have emerged, and no Super PAC can smooth them over merely by devising a clever messaging campaign, whether it speaks directly to the American people or not.
I am now so speechless on this!! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mokoolapps.dogpuzzles
Out last year: http://gamesforcats.com/
Ah, whoops, this was the original!
http://www.ipadgameforcats.com/
the wingnut grift machine has conned itself into believing everything can be solved with the right con … if they can just find it.
Heh, heh. Another potential patient for Booman’s Home for Wayward Wingnut Welfare Wannabes and Twelve Step Program. The proven program for detoxing chronic failures from getting high on their supply.
Reckon it’d fried Chad’s wiring if he knew what the serious tinfoil hat types are saying about Benghazi: a Romney campaign stunt that went very, very bad. The very transparent motive was to embarrass the President and Democrats on his strong suit–national security. The secondary motive was putting a mark on Hillary Clinton’s record at Secretary of State. According to this loopy narrative, CIA slowwalked some critical information that should have been passed on the Benghazi station. But the ambassador getting killed was not in the plan. And yes, the Islamophobic YouTube to stir things up was part of the narrative. FWIW–>0 Of course, the CIA has never played a politicized role in an election, has it.
Dude’s right about this:
Run a series of disjointed accusations and arguments, and it’ll become little more than noise — noise that the voters will all-too-quickly tune out. But build a strong case, piece by piece, and you’ll find that you can shape the public’s opinion about an issue or candidate entirely.Need an example? Look no further than last year’s presidential election. On one side, you had a cohesive, damning narrative — Obama’s attacks on Romney. From early summer through Election Day, the Obama camp unleashed a powerful series of ads that successfully transformed Romney’s image from that of an accomplished businessman and public servant into that of a rapacious venture capitalist whose love of tax loopholes was exceeded only by his thirst for outsourcing. The message was coordinated and consistent. Romney never recovered.
Contrast that against our side, one of the more disjointed national advertising campaigns in modern political history. No narrative, no cohesion. A fragmented series of defenses and attacks from Medicare to welfare to Chrysler. It’s as if the campaign were never sure of the argument it wanted to make, whether for Romney or against Obama. Throw around a bunch of wild, disjointed accusations and what do you end up with? Noise.
McCain’s 2008 campaign was even worse, though.
Bill Clinton had a quick-response war room in 1992 and it was a huge asset. That doesn’t mean you make that tool that central organizing principle of your campaign. The Republicans haven’t learned that.
OT: Somebody finally came up with a solution to the Terry McAulliffe problem:
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/tom-steyer-terry-mcauliffe-virginia-governor-race-95174.html?h
p=t1
In hindsight, it seems so obvious.
But if he buys McAuliffe, will McAuliffe stay bought?
Chad Scarborough? Is he related to that other idiotic Scarborough