Author: chimneyswift

Steve Schmidt, the man most directly responsible for Sarah Palin, decries Trump candidacy as evidence of “intellectual rot” in Republican Party.
http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/schmidt-trump-has-exposed-intellectual-rot-of-republican
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Apologies for crappy formatting…

The Clinton Campaign needs to hit Trump hard on the Russians and his taxes. Trump’s entire argument is that he is a straight shooter who tells it like it is, and it’s based on two gigantic falsehoods. Hopefully the Clinton Campaign hammers on these points over and over until Donald gets upset and lashes out. I think that would do it. He doesn’t have any good answer for either, and they’ll be prepping like mad for the same issue but about the foundation. Not that they shouldn’t land a couple hits there too.  But the Russians and taxes are the angle. The man is a complete fraud and probably bought off. Let’s get him.

Pardon my crappy phone link, but I recommend opening this song in another tab while reading this, if possible.

https://youtu.be/QhOG42ADtGo

I don’t usually write here, but this is something I thought very much worth sharing.

The outpouring of energy, creativity and optimism the Bernie Sanders supporters are generating on my social media feed is kind of out of this world. There’s a Bernie Sanders Air Jordan silhouette. People are making a lot of their own really sweet fashion campaign art and t-shirts and buttons. They don’t seem to think they’re going to lose. It’s not that I think Sanders will get the nomination, but these are mostly people I know and not all of them are what I would call super political types. More than that, though, I think the aging Democratic party has no idea what’s going on in the younger third of the population.

A friend of mine tossed up the album art where this song is from that you are hopefully listening to on her Instagram.  She said it fit her mood she was so pumped Bernie had carried Minnesota. This is a thirty something mom, and she’s not that unusual. If you’re in your 60s, this song might be hard to listen to. My friend might have been dancing with her toddler.

From what I can see, the vast majority of people under 45 are solidly with Bernie Sanders. It’s kind of shocking, really. I think it has to do with Elizabeth Warren. When she went on the Daily Show, she changed things. There is now such a fundamental critique of the status quo that is so common among Millennials (and quite a few Gen Xers, not that anyone seems to notice) that it is going to get Bernie Sanders elected Vice President. Because this is not a joke, or a fluke. A lot of people are very serious about this, if in a fun loving sort of way.

And another thing, in another 8 years, this country is going to be very, very different politically.

So for the last month, I have been for knocking for a group contracted to the MN House Democratic Caucus. We knocked mostly swing voters and occasional voters for about a dozen targeted House races. We won all but 2. Here’s some of my thoughts on the state of the electorate:

-> The ACA has a long way to go. Even in a state where things have gone relatively smoothly, this law is far from a clean win. The Democrats need to find the people who are having to deal with disruptions or pay more and listen to their stories.

-> Keep running on the economy and start talking about wages. Many people are ready to listen to a frank discussion of the cost of living. The President has built some language and Senator Warren has built a lot. People need to hear it more, though, because it makes sense to them when they do.

-> There is a dangerous level of cynicism and disenchantment in the electorate. Everything Booman says about the news media is true, but I also fault the President some here. He has turned out to be not much different than other politicians, and no one said as much to me, but I think there has been a real disappointment on the part of some bourgeois white folk about this.

-> National legislation on Marijuana Reform would be a winner. Way more people are ready for it than you think.

-> The biggest challenge we face is overcoming our own party and the media wall on Civil Liberties. Right now people don’t trust politicians at all, and most hardly even know the right issues. The conflicting voices from within the Democratic Party and the unwillingness of the media to present a real critique of our current situation is a Gordian Knot that must be attacked and attacked until a sea change happens. Right now, nobody knows what the Democrats stand for on this issue, and it’s a shame, but I think that includes many office-holders. If we’re going to regain the trust of the electorate, this is going to have to be a big part of it.

Anyway, hope you find that helpful. Cheers.

Not much time to comment, but here’s Juan Cole…

See if this is covered much in the “slow holiday news.”

And it’s funny, I was going ver there to see if there was anything on the Ashura violence in Iran.

From the Times UK:

Barack Obama is to pursue an ambitious peace plan in the Middle East involving the recognition of Israel by the Arab world in exchange for its withdrawal to pre-1967 borders, according to sources close to America’s president-elect.

Obama intends to throw his support behind a 2002 Saudi peace initiative endorsed by the Arab League and backed by Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister and leader of the ruling Kadima party.

The proposal gives Israel an effective veto on the return of Arab refugees expelled in 1948 while requiring it to restore the Golan Heights to Syria and allow the Palestinians to establish a state capital in east Jerusalem.

On a visit to the Middle East last July, the president-elect said privately it would be “crazy” for Israel to refuse a deal that could “give them peace with the Muslim world”, according to a senior Obama adviser.

Pretty sweet.

What a mess. People are starting to say nasty things, and the worse it gets the worse it is for us as Democrats and for all American citizens.

The good news is that now voters in other states will have a meaningful role to play. The bad news is that it will get harder and harder to get media play for hugely significant differences between candidates. (<== WARNING: candidate bias apparent in reference selection.)

The best thing any of us can do, I think, is to sternly rebuke anyone we see making crappy arguments. We need to respect the humanity of each of these candidates. The issues of race and gender are stressing this campaign (and have in fact already made it historic) but that is not what the campaign is about. It is about who would make a better president and who presents a better vision for the future of the Democratic Party and the country.

Ok, that’s my bit.

So I started wondering about David Axelrod, since it seems he may well be in line to have a huge voice in national politics in the years to come. This is the first thing I found, and thought it interesting enough to share  right away.

Key graf, as they say…

In 2001, Mr. Axelrod played a major role in devising Mr. Ferrer’s [New York mayoral, against Bloomberg] campaign message that there were ”two New Yorks” separated by an economic divide — a message that, although it was labeled divisive by Mr. Ferrer’s opponents, helped him into a runoff against Mark Green, which he then lost. Mr. Axelrod also played roles in the presidential campaign of Senator John Edwards and the victorious senatorial run of Barack Obama of Illinois.

So that looks like it makes more likely an Obama/Edwards ticket, if nothing else.

What else can people find about Axelrod?

“The Shortcomings of the Image”

A primer on the art of failing in propaganda.

(-and-
one little suggestion.)

First understand that failure at propaganda is redundant.  Any time that a person chooses to rely on propagandistic techniques as a tool for persuasion (rather than say, safety procedures) has already failed.

The reason is that most of the times one needs to revert to propaganda, it is because the cause one is rallying to flies in the face of obvious facts.  These facts take many forms.  Some are historical facts, such as the corruption of an administration; some are mythological facts, such as the cult of armageddon.  

We are mostly familiar with historic facticity, I think, so let me expand on what I mean by mythical facts.  A mythical fact is something like Ragnarok, aka armageddon, that pops up from time to time.  In this way, myths establish some indepent, verifiable reality.  They are facts.  

There are many types of mythological fact, but most we know through their repition.  They repeat themselves in current time, in our experience.  Mythological fact shapes existential colorings of each historical moment.  This is why it is often the basis of propagandistic elements.

In particular the propagandistic application of eschatological premises is quite precedented.  Usually forgotten by the Rasputins of any given time is that these premises have a built in shelf life.  People who want the Rapture, for example, tend to look silly to their children.  

There are of course some new wrinkles to the modern propaganda, such as the soft fascism of conrolling the field of referrent authority via mass media, but even this does not allow propaganda to fly in the face of reality for all that long.  

In conclusion: Any attempt to deny reality does not work.  Reality remains more real.  No matter how you deny reality, it will get you.  Reality is bigger than propaganda.

Today we are fortunate to have the tradition of historic giants such as Rousseau and Franklin; Martin Luther King Jr., I.F. Stone and Woody Guthrie.  

The mythological fact of this presence in history is still being estalblished.  Today, out here in the cyber-fields of Democracy, our generation takes our place alongside our heroes.  For make no mistake, had corruption turned the tide tonight alongside propaganda, this would have been a tragic fall of historic proportions.

But tonight, let us remember our heroes, because we will need them.  Our propagandists of the moment may be battered, but they will not be unbowed.  We must continue to support the candidates we have helped into office.  

My one litlle suggestion, from the heart of a Dean Progressive, is that we consider establishing blog-led subscription pools for officeholders’ off-season funding.  This could be sort of modelled after Public Radio campaigns, but more anarchicly blogic.

In any case, it will work as a counterbalance, however small, to the absolute beholdenness of junior Reps to the corporate machine.

Cheers, all,
-swift

Over at Hullabaloo, digby and tristero’s awesome blog, there have been some great posts that challenge our relationship to the status quo. My recent diaries have in some part taken off from comments I was moved to post there. Here is my latest.

The question, again, is what to do? Given that there is no longer a functioning democracy in this country (arguably hasn’t been for a while if you count the absolute control of the presidential primary process that has been maintained by the status quo establishment since at least 1988), what can we do today? Tomorrow? And yes, as tristero says, you still have to vote for Democrats. As much as possible, and making lots of noise if the Dems you have to choose from all stink, but voting.

Besides voting, though, what can we do? Because we certainly do need to do more.

For me, this is more and more about culture. The thing that separates us from full blown fascism (incipient fascism is probably the best way to describe our current situation, IMHO) is the non-existence of a culture of populist violence, literal physical violence, directed against the political opposition AND one or more targeted cultural minority groups.

For those curious, I still think Dave Neiwert lays it out the best in his essay Rush, Newspeak and Fascism. If you never have, you really should read it.

Right now this is still very unacceptable to the mainstream public. If the offices of Planned Parenthood were bombed, for example, there would still be a lot of backlash. In full-blown fascism, there would be none. For our part this means we have an opportunity/responsibility to develop cultural bastions of strength. Being a part of communities, expressing our diversity in ways that people can relate to, that make people feel good about being “American,” these are our strongest cards right now.

It is important that this is in the public eye. Community celebrations, parades, festivals, etc. are prime venues for presenting diversity and subcultural identity to other civic minded souls. This should be proud and also friendly. We are claiming our part of the cultural fabric- this means we exist in harmony with the whole. If there is hostility it comes from the bigots and proto-fascists.

On the other hand, I also maintain that the time is coming for more traditional forms of agitation and dissent. There is, after all, a lot happening that deserves our hostility. Also, there are messages that are not being presented by the mainstream media. It is up to us to find ways to present our perspectives. This will of necessity be outside the normal system of cultural communication. It will require going outside the lines, but it is also about communicating. Not throwing a temper tantrum and being angry, but having something to say and getting it across.

There are many people within the citizenry who do not like what is being done with the Constitution, after all, and many of those who remember the civil unrest of the 60s and early 70s will connect the dots and blame the people who have created the situation. It is up to us to help them make common cause with us, not make it more difficult. But given the near categorical lack of public communication by Democrats, many people will understand what we are doing and why.

While networking and planning to undertake this agitation we must always be conscious that the electronic communications we have come to rely upon should not be used. (Hmm. Uh, shit. ;> )

Beyond that, be traditional and be creative. The basic strategy at this point is simply to communicate the essence of our dissent as elegantly and forcefully as possible.

But it is time. Torture is too much. It goes against everything the “greatest generation” fought for. We need to solidly establish a position of dissent while there is still a fresh enough memory of that aspect of our history. This will take a lot of work and will not come easy, but it is what we have, and that’s something.