On Wed, 07 Sep 2005 11:15:48 -0500 Chuck0 <chuck at mutualaid.org> writes:
>
>
> Floyd gets to the crux of why the political landscape wont' shift
> much
> after Hurricane Katrina, at least for those who are hardcore Bush
> supporters, perhaps 30-355 of the population. I've had the
> unfortunate
> experience of listening to the words coming out of the mouths of my
> family members this week. They are all Dittoheads and have quickly
> picked up on the propaganda lines being promulgated by Fox News.
I have been saying that about 35% of the electorate are diehard Bush supporters and they will remain so regardless of what he does or fails to do. And this by no means a new phenomena. Over thirty or thirty-five years ago, a similar proportion of the electorate were diehard Nixon supporters, and you still had 24% of the electorate clinging to Tricky Dick right up to the time that he resigned.
And I don't think that the US is unique in this regard. I think that you will find similar proportions of the electorates in most western European counties who are similarly attracted to political figures of the right and extreme right.
>
> What are they saying? One thing I've noticed is that they've picked
> up
> on the "school bus thing," that is the fact that the Mayor of New
> Orleans didin't use those school buses--currently stranded in flood
> waters--to evacuate the poor residents. In their minds this is bad,
> if
> not worse, than the federal government's lack of response. They are
> also
> upset about "those people", especially the looters who are stealing
> TVs
> and guns. Last night I heard them bellyaching about Democrats and
> the
> charges of racism--I confronted them with some statement about how
> the
> U.S is racist.
Yes, racism has a lot to do with drives the hardcore Bush supporters. The same was true in regards to the harcore Nixon supporters of a generation ago.
>
> Here are the key themes that Rove and the neocons are using to
> control
> their followers:
>
> 1) That the failure to avacuate is the fault of local officials (who
> happen to be people of color)
> 2) Promoting stories of fear, i.e. focusing on looting, chaos, and
> stubborn black people who didn't leave.
> 3) Avoiding charges of racism by pointing to issues of class
> 4) Trumpet the positive stories. Show lots of pictures of the troops
> and
> official helpers. Defend Bush by saying that critics are "playing
> blame
> games"
> 5) Highlight stories about the Hollywood Left, such as Oprah
> visiting or
> Sean Penn and his boat
> 6) Promote the story that the rest of the world won't help the U.S.
> This
> plays into the widespread misconception held by Dittoheads that the
> U.S.
> spends more on foreign aid than other countries. This reinforces "us
> vs.
> them" fear and jingoism.
All that will probably help the Bushies to hold on to their harcore base. I doubt that it will make much of an impression on more moderate people who have become turned off on Bush because of Iraq, rising gasoline prices and the bungling of the response to Katrina. The Bushies are in trouble. They know that and their main concern right seems to be trying to hold on to their own base. This is reflected in the decision to appoint Judge Roberts for Chief Justice rather than Scalia or Thomas. If the Bush Administration was in a stronger political position, do you think that they wouldn't have nominated Scalia (or Thomas)?
>
> The key question for the Left is How do we pierce that bubble?
The answer is that you don't, at least not right away. It's basically a waste of time and resources for the Left to try to convert the hardcore Bush supporters. It's the 50% or so of the population that either hates Bush or is at least worried about the direction that he is taking the country that should be our concern right now. There is a lot more mileage to be gained from organizing them rather than trying to change the worldviews of the hardcore Bush people. Amazingly enough as soon as the Left begins to make headway organizing these people you might actually see some of the Bushies becoming "born again" progressives. A lot of those people are suck ups to power. If they see the Left gaining power then they will begin drifting that way, just because that's where the power is.
What
> will
> work to radicalize these people, or at least, get them to drop their
> support for stupid neocon beliefs? The Left's problem, as I see it,
> is
> that it continues to be very deterministic and fatalistic when it
> comes
> to action. We prefer to talk about the Dittoheads, but we aren't
> trying
> things to see what will work against the paradigm they subscribe to.
> It's pretty obvious that the Left can't change the situation by
> electing
> pathetic Democratic candidates, so how do we change minds?
>
> Chuck
>
>
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