Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Interesting I just tripped across this American Thinker article. Just last night I was wondering out loud to The Squeeze if I should consider, at this possibility, another “friendly wager” with a hardcore left-leaning liberal about how the election would come out. I guesstimated that there was about a four-to-six-point swing, historically, between what the polls say and how things turn out on Election Day. Said six-point swing, as people will recall from John Kerry’s unexpected defeat in 2004, is toward the benefit of the Republicans.
Along comes Lifson to explain why that might be.
The Democrats know very well that their strength lies in voters’ feelings rather than analysis, and so they choose slogans and labels aimed at creating fear of ‘mean-spirited’ Republicans or ‘domestic spying’ on ordinary Americans, and avoid directly addressing specifics of policies. They create positive images of the government “taking care of people,” and, above all, reject close examination of the outcomes which could be expected given the realities of human nature. The very format of most television, with no room for rational back-and-forth discussion or critical analysis, enables the flinging of labels.
Republican conservatives have generally been far less sophisticated at this game. By its very nature, conservatism is based on reflection and a due regard for the complexities of change and the flawed nature of the human creature.
As a result, Democrats and their allies have paid close attention to image management, and with the help of their friends in the entertainment industry, they have become extraordinarily skilled at it…
:
However, when American politics enters what I earlier called attention season, Americans un-obsessed with politics begin to pay attention to actual arguments made by the candidates. When there is an atmosphere of crisis, and voters have reason to believe their personal welfare and safety may be at risk, they ponder whom to believe, and talk about politics with others.
It’s an interesting theory, I wonder if it works that way.
I know there is at the very least a counterweight to what Lifson’s talking about. If you’re suddenly compelled to pay attention to something and you should’ve been paying attention to it all along, but have not been, human nature will be to form whatever opinion is easiest. This, I’ve always had the impression, is the target of the democrat image-management tactic. And they keep doing it so it must work…of course there’s that matter that they keep on losing…
But I still think Lifson is on to something. Because depending on where you live, your decision making activities during “attention season” are going to be driven not so much by pressure, but by a vacuum. That’s not necessarily true where I live, where you can regularly glance at sun-bunnies catching some rays in their tiny bikinis after Halloween (which is awesome, by the way). But…that’s Sacramento. Most places around this country, there are all kinds of distractions right up until Labor Day, after which there’s a shortage of things to do for fun.
Simply put: What people do, mostly around the clock, is non-discretionary. The kids have to be helped with their homework, lunches have to be packed, work has to be done, time clocks have to be punched, bills have to be paid.
People are inclined to pay this kind of attention to things. There isn’t too much else to do. Making up your own mind about something isn’t quite the same as playing beach volleyball. But hey. It’s something. With shrouds of mist hanging around when the sun comes up, and the sun coming up a little later in the day…making a serious decision independently doesn’t seem quite so much the pain in the ass it used to.
And I don’t think the argument of “If we defend ourselves, the world will hate us” survives this “attention season” quite so well as other arguments less politically correct, but making more sense. Like, for example, “If it’s less expensive to employ people, more people will have work” — or — “If we pretend terrorists are entitled to rights they don’t really have, they might be set free when they really ought to be killed.”
I’ll bet if you analyze elections in years past, you’ll find that the seasonal change has had a significant but seldom-discussed impact like this. The poor democrat party has had this tendency, to refine the message during the months without the letter “R”…when people think about Coppertone and beach balls and meadows filled with clover, how hard it is to stay awake with a body covered with sunburn and a belly full of beer.
But that isn’t when we actually vote on this stuff, is it?
If it’s dark when you get home from work…there’s frost on the pumpkin…you’ve got the time to read the paper, and when you settle down on the couch with your sweetie to watch the boob tube you tend to turn to the news. And you don’t want sound bites, you want complete stories. Suddenly, it doesn’t make any sense to be told asinine things like “we can beat global warming if we all work together but I’m not going to give you any specifics on exactly what it is we’re trying to do.” Or “the oil companies are gouging us at the gas pump, so we’re going to tax the ever luvin’ snot out of them and that’ll fix everything.” Or “Barack Obama is dedicated to bringing change to our nation’s capitol, and that’s why he picked a lifetime Senate fixture as his running mate.” If such snippets of malarky make sense to anyone at all, they only make sense to someone soaking up sun in the day, and looking forward to more of the same at night. They do not resonate with people who spend their days coping with post-Labor-Day responsibilities, enjoying the luxury of goofing off for only a few precious minutes a day, or not at all.
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