Much of Left Blogistan has entered a particularly useless late-election-cycle guffawing phase in which all the "right thinking smart people" point fingers at the "wild swinging" and "desperate scare tactics" of the Republican candidates.
Actually, I think this is not entirely "useless". Because if it frames everything McCain does henceforth as "desperate", then that will take the sting out of any wild "surprises" he plans to introduce. Make no mistake, the right is desperate right now, and assuming that the GOP has "good reasons" for a coordinated strategy is giving them too much credit. They've learned to coordinate strategy very well, but that doesn't mean their strategy is a good one, or that it will work. It didn't work in the LA and MS special elections this summer, and...
Understand that the Goops aren't running against a compliant, failure-oriented Democrat. That's a huge difference this time.
Oh, hell, just step back for a second: as you noted Scalise-- who should be one of the safest incumbents in Congress-- feels the need to play the Wright card. There's no other word for that other than desperate.
I understand the Cazayoux race is supposedly the model we're working from here. I won't argue with that. It's sound reasoning to assume voters will react the same way this time. But I think the atmosphere is different. Everything is amped up. A lot of people who weren't paying attention before are paying attention now. In other words, it's not unsound to be concerned.
That's great and all, but who have the New Orleans ministers come out to support? Did they vouch for anybody's integrity in these races?
Yeah, the appropriate description of these tactics is 'desperate.' I just did a post about it.
Also.. I think Kennedy has no shot in his race against Landrieu. But Scalise's district is very conservative and this may be the correct strategy for him.
What I'm suggesting here, though, is that the GOP nationally have decided to make smearing Obama the third act of this election and that the best way to do that is have the bulk of the ugly stuff come from the "down-ticket" candidates.
I think it helps GOTV for the Presidential race as well if all-of-a-sudden there is a Vast Left-wing Conspiracy to defeat.
My fave Kennedy commercial is the one with the proclamation, in GIANT WHITE CAPITALS, that Landrieu voted the same as Obama 81% of the time. And the world is supposedly going to come to its end much quicker if Landrieu is elected once again, presumably.
Dan looked at that stat and said, "So? They're Democrats!"
I assume that they all have a good reason for engaging in this behavior.
Because it has a tendency to work. If Democrats were as coordinated in their efforts, this election would already be over. Probably.
The strategy is not about a Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy but about deep-down-in-the-skin racial fear: if Obama wins, he'll only serve the blacks; what will happen to you and your wife and/or kids if A Black Man is president?; who do you trust, who do you know (the only answer: white folks)? This is LA. It works not because it's coordinated but because it's racist. Calling it anything but that ignores the reall test here, the shit-or-get-off-the-McCain-bandwagon, the Cracker Vote come to your living room and local polling place.
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