Sunday, January 05, 2003

The horse is out with a take-no-prisoners manifesto on what Democrats and liberals need to do in order to win back the support of the Moron-Americans.
Anyone who hopes to determine the best strategic direction for Democrats need only consider ever so sincere and earnest offerings of "advice" from the likes of Hannity and other wingnuts, and heed the opposite.
The truth is, of course, that Americans consistently reject Republican policies and ideas, and favor those put forth by Democrats.
However, elections, particularly national elections, do not ultimately hinge on a mere battle of ideas. While policy is important to a majority of voters who do vote their pocketbooks and their conception of the national interest, an election cannot be won without appealing to the 10-20% of voters who are swayed not by the message but by tone and attitude of the candidates, as well as the general "images" of the parties. Gene Lyons recently referred to this important voting bloc as the "Moron-American community." (They also comprise the contemptible "late deciders" who make national election outcome predictions impossible until election day - when they make their voting decisions.)
This reminds me of something I talked about a few weeks back about how it was a mistake to waste time trying to figure out what the undecided voters want because, quite simply, they don't know what they want. They have to be told what they want in a way that is convincing and decisive. The Republicans understand this better then the Democrats and have taken full advantage of that understanding. Lincoln once said you can't fool all of the people all of the time. What the Republicans understand is that that isn't necessary. All you have to do is fool enough of the people enough of the time. (btw, for all that I like the above manifesto, I think it would be better to use the term "Undecideds" instead of "Moron-Americans" because, if for no other reason, it will be difficult to win them over to your side if you keep calling them morons.)

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