Boiling down the politics

[jducoeur]

If anyone with more graphics talent than I is motivated to do a little political CafePress bumper-stickering, a suggestion for one that is simple, pithy, and possibly effective:

[Palin] = [Bush]

with face shots in place of the names. It's a visceral expression of an important message -- that Palin shares most of Bush's worst qualities, when you really look at her.

Optional caption text, nice version: "Look at the record".

Optional caption text, nasty version: add "Change, my ass".

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

A lot of people secretly still love Bush. For the same reasons they love Palin, really. They wish that they had a little more money in the bank and perhaps not so many people were dying in Iraq, but they still love Bush -- except when the pollsters ask leading questions, then it's obvious what you 'should' say.

...he's just such an irascible kid! That lovable scamp, always having some screw up or another and then grinning when you catch him at it. Palin's just like him, except she will be better!

[jducoeur]

Well, 30% of the country still (unaccountably) thinks he's doing a good job. I assume that those people are essentially unwinnable: that requires a disconnect from reality so dramatic I can't even understand it. But remember, we're not talking about leading questions here: in the straight thumbs up / thumbs down, 70% of the country disapproves of how Buch has done as President.

And really, I can believe that there are more who *like* him, but that's not necessarily an impediment, so long as they've accepted that he was a bad choice for President. Indeed, that's not a bad meme to propagate, and not a bad one to hang around Palin's neck -- the notion that "Just because I'd like to have him/her over for dinner doesn't mean he/she would make a good President".

The essence of the McCain/Palin bounce is that they've managed to turn the election from being about issues to being about personalities: the key to winning at this point is to drag it back the other way again. It should be possible to brand them with "likeable but incompetent for the job" -- there's plenty of supporting evidence for that...

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Yes -- it's important to demonstrate, viscerally, how incompetent and dangerous rule by McCain and Palin would be. However, equating them to Bush raises additional emotion which may make that task difficult. There's a lot of cognitive dissonance to overcome among people who elected Bush in years past; they don't want to be reminded they were wrong.

I guess my point is, sink them on their own faults. There are plenty. And people who make decisions based on facts are already on the ball; it's time to start winning over people who trust only their gut. (And that's a good thing - the gut's a great decision-maker. It's just that you have to explain things to it a different way.)

[jducoeur]

Fair point, and closely related to osewalrus' article that I just linked to...

[johno.livejournal.com]

Damn, I've cleared the link.


There is a cafe press shop selling stuff with a pic of Palin with the phrase "We don't need another bush in the Whitehouse."

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

See, now that's sexist.

I mean, I get the joke the person intended. But the connotations are really...not helpful.

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

That's beyond sexist, that's downright misogynistic.