No, They're Not On To Us
Sorry, Moe, Staci Schoff's Piece Parodies Itself
By Gerry Daly Posted in Democrats — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Below, Moe writes in a piece titled "They're On To Us":
her method deliberately avoids relying on rabid partisanship, a quite unfounded sense of one's moral superiority, an arrogant dismissal of the other side's points and other beloved tactics of the BDS sufferers
With the exception of a brief bridge of reason in the middle, Staci's article parodies itself.
Read on...
Let's start with her first suggestion, which comes six paragraphs in.
Bumper stickers that say, “Vote Republican it’s easier than thinking,” are not helpful. They only reinforce Rush Limbaugh (king of “overstating the case”) as he routinely informs his listeners about how dumb they’re perceived to be by the “elitist left.”
She kinda sorta, maybe, has a point here, if her point was that insulting voters is not a way to win their vote. But notice the phrasing "how dumb they're perceived to be" combined with the phrase "overstating the case." Is it really overstating the case for Rush, or anyone at all, to suggest that the "elitist left" thinks people are dumb? Before you answer, let's look at some of the words the sage Staci Schoff uses earlier. "Fox News is complete propaganda, but is there really anyone who doesn’t know that?... Actually, I enjoy watching a little Fox News myself. It’s amusing and absurd, and I find it hard to believe that very many people don’t know that." Oops, Staci just came across as a member in fine standing of the elitist left to those who realize that Fox News is no more biased than CBS News. Or how about "There are a lot of conservative people out there, even some who are smart and some who are educated." Even some who are smart? Amazing, but true! Some who are edumacated? Hard to believe, is it not?
Heal thyself, doctor!
Or how about this beauty of a paragraph:
When discussing homosexuality, you’ll find most rural and working class folks firmly in the “mind your own business” camp. But suggest the public schools use their tax money to “educate” their children about it, and I’m afraid all bets are off. A good article in the New York Times recently discussed how social liberals have taken over the Democratic party and alienated blocks of voters. These social issues are important, but they’re not necessarily popular; so to champion them at the expense of your core constituents may be noble, but it certainly isn’t smart.
Whatever you do, do not tell the voters what you intend to do is her prescription for liberal candidates. There are two problems to this approach. First, voters are not stupid and can usually figure out what candidates are trying to pretend they will not do. Second, in the cases where voters get fooled by candidates downplaying their intention to do exactly what the voters oppose, voters tend to react very negatively afterwards. They hold grudges. They do not like being deceived.
It’s not a good idea to assume that all of the “poor, uneducated people” who don’t agree with the liberal party line are obviously just sheep swallowing Republican nonsense. I’m sorry, but people don’t conform to the liberal agenda just so they can be considered as smart and enlightened as Al Franken or Michael Moore. As if there are no liberal “sheep.” Please.
I particularly enjoyed that rant. She thinks calling people sheep alienates them. True dat. But her objection is not that people are not sheep, but rather that they will not be pressured into voting for Democrats to avoid being thought of as sheep, and besides, Democrats have their own sheep.
What was that again about "overstating the case" that the "elitist left" thinks voters are dumb?
But wait, there's more!
This is who Americans like to vote for: the strong guy who says, “I’ve got things under control, everything is going to be fine.” Did we not learn anything from Jimmy Carter’s presidency? People don’t want to see Jimmy Carter sitting in his sweater turning the thermostat down to sixty-eight degrees while he whinges on and on about the gloom and doom of the energy crisis. They want to hear Ronald Reagan say, “America is wonderful, Americans are great, the economy is fine, so fine in fact, I think I’ll take a vacation.”
Why? Your guess is as good as mine, but there it is.
Not all guesses are equal. Mine is that Americans want to hear "America is wonderful" and "Americans are great" because those are true assertions. In fact, when you get right down to the core (it's the hottest part), this is the crux of the Democratic party's woes. They do not think or act like America is wonderful and Americans are great. They act like "your guess is as good as mine" as to why anyone would think such.
Or is that "overstating the case"?
Ms. Schoff finishes with a flourish.
And begging people to vote for some weak Democrat just because he’s not George Bush? Listen, I’m liberal from the word go, but I’m not an idiot.
I believe her when she says she is not an idiot. That said, the condescension that flows through her piece, as well as the utter lack of self-awareness that she was exhibiting what she was condemning, made it totally unnecessary for her to remind everyone that she's a liberal. That came through loud and clear long before.
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No, They're Not On To Us 8 Comments (0 topical, 8 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
My point is not that Moe is wrong when he says the left would never follow her prescription.
My point is threefold.
1) SHE does not come close to following her prescription.
2) The prescription she offers is wrong. She doesn't say "don't think of them as sheep," she says "don't tell them they are sheep, in part because we have sheep too."
3) She claims to be offering the prescription because she understands what they do not. She expresses wonder that Republicans play to the pride of Americans, like this is somehow dishonest-- which implies that she thinks it is wrong for Americans to be proud. Then she goes on to spell it out more directly. 'Americans want to hear that America is great? That Americans are good? Why on Earth? Your guess is as good as mine!'
Her case boils down to "don't change what you think, hide what you think." And in making her case, she demonstrates that it is almost impossible to hide what you really think.
...by your disagreement. :)
Seriously, Gerry's made some good points, but in my own defense I have to note that I used the words 'relying on', not 'using'.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC.
Staci's point is that the humorless left will never be able to win elections with their humorless sense of superiority. And she skewers her side with her humor. Moe, who has a sense of humor, gets it. Gery, apparently humorless, doesn't. In Gery's view, only if she renounced her liberal views and swallowed our conservative positions wholeheartedly, would her piece be worth considering. Moe is right that it will not play well in her own playground. But I sure enjoyed it. But then I enjoy a laugh.
...when George W. Bush is watching you shower?
--
"It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race." - Chief Justice John Roberts
Oh, they just say that. A moment's thought will convince you that he can't possibly be watching everyone who is the shower.
No, you only come up on his screen if the computer hears you singing, "I will sacrifice my life for Allah."
Well, that and anything by the Dixie Chicks.
Drink Good Coffee. You can sleep when you're dead.
Have you ever been in a position where you absolutely knew that you should stop doing or thinking whatever it is that you are doing or thinking and had a pathological inability to quit? I think that's where Staci is at.
She knows that liberals are condescending and too 'progressive' to be elected and that it is preventing them from winning that poll that matters. She is, however, unable to stop thinking that we are stupid and uninformed, or that their 'progressive' education ideas are superior, so she is forced to say that they should hide it. Her true feeling just can't help but keep showing up.
You are right Gerry, her true colors came through and she wrote a parody of her own position.
I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100 percent.
particularly here:
If that were posted on MyDD or DailyKos or whatever, the writer would be banned so quickly it would make your head spin.