Obama Voters Explain Their Brilliant Decision
December 3rd, 2008What Exactly IS “Congress”?
I just took a look at Howobamagotelected.com. Man, is it funny. And sad. I’m sure you’ve seen it already. A conservative group sponsored a scientific poll, comparing the knowledge of McCain and Obama voters. And of course, the Obama voters came out behind.
That makes sense. Liberalism appeals to coddled ivory-tower eggheads with high IQs and the common sense of lemmings, but it also appeals very strongly to people who are either unintelligent or ill-informed. Like many conservatives, I have had the experience of explaining undisputed, verifiable facts to self-proclaimed liberals, and then having them tell me they agree with conservative positions. Awareness tends to lead to conservative opinions. But we live in a nation which no longer educates its people, and a huge percentage of Americans know almost nothing and make decisions purely on the basis of emotion or a desire for approval from others.
People tend to become more conservative as they age. That’s because we learn as we get older, and as a result, older people know more than young people. When you’re old, you know better than to run with scissors, make the minimum payment on your charge cards, or let random men in pickup trucks blacktop your driveway for “bargain” prices. And you may also know better than to vote for socialists who spout empty slogans and promise a return to the utterly discredited notions that destroyed the prosperity of Europe and caused more suffering than Nazism.
The more you know, the harder it is to fall for a leftist pseudo-messiah. Prison inmates are, on average, exceedingly dim, and they overwhelmingly support liberal policies. That ought to tell you something.
If the public had been better informed, Obama might well have lost. He’s a real zero, there is no reason whatsoever to expect him to be an able President, and McCain’s qualifications were clearly much better.
It’s an interesting situation. I used to think that the power of the new media would guarantee a fair shot for conservativism, and that as a result, the country would continue sliding to the right. But I underestimated the right’s power to fall on its sword–actually, to jump up and down on it like a pogo stick–and I also underestimated the old media’s willingness to openly whore for its chosen candidate, and to stifle the new media and blunt its effectiveness.
The conservative Blogosphere used to be a factor in politics, but that’s no longer true. We are dead. We are nearly powerless. No one pays any attention to us any more. Pajamas Media is part of the reason. There used to be a healthy exchange of links on the right, but when PJM contaminated the data stream, and especially when it became obvious that PJM was an utter failure, and the principals became desperate and started circling the wagons, the linkage became incestuous. I predicted this when PJM was created. People who used to communicate and exchange links quit. Glenn Reynolds started putting up ridiculous blind links to PJM’s mother site, in vain hopes of turning it into a significant web destination. Links that used to go to pieces of quality writing went to unremarkable blog entries of little merit.
Let me ask you something. Say it’s October of 2008, and I come up with something as damaging to Obama as the Rather memo was to CBS. Do you think the major PJs would link to me? Please. No one beyond my small circle of readers would ever hear about it.
There are bloggers I just don’t communicate with any more, and PJM is the reason, and I’m not alone. I wish they would just let it die instead of pretending it’s viable. PJM is never going to be anything but a flop. It has had years to succeed, and so far, we have seen nothing but failure. Certain pockets have been lined, and that was probably the only real purpose of the enterprise, and the funding has dried up (according to insiders), so why not close the lid on the coffin and say you gave it a darn good try? I suggest the Pee Wee Herman approach. Say “We meant to do that.”
The conservative old media didn’t help. They have a zero-sum mentality, and they deliberately ignore people who pose a threat to their franchises. They let a few new people get near the cameras–especially attractive but boring girls with no talent or knowledge or insight–but on the whole, we’ve been kept out. The tokens got all the gravy.
Meanwhile, the left was turning the Internet into the biggest cash and propaganda conduit in the history of American politics. Obama even managed to use it to suck up gigantic illegal donations from our enemies in China and the Muslim world. With no repercussions. Doodad Pro will never be called to testify before Congress. Obama got away with countless crimes, and nothing will ever be done about it. Meanwhile, John McCain got hoisted on his own remarkably ill-conceived campaign finance reform petard. Great law, John. That worked out real well.
It amazes me to see how the right threw away the Internet. We used to own it. And it’s a huge loss; it is still the future. If the Internet were TV, 2008 would be like 1950. The explosion, in its fullness, is not here yet.
Our online inferiority is going to be permanent; it will take years to begin digging our way out. The lingering PJ magic is still at work, like a daily dose of Roundup and Nonoxynol-9. The conservative old media has learned absolutely nothing, except this: the right is in trouble, so they need to work even harder to protect themselves from competition. The left wiped us completely off the map, and we helped. We are not a factor. We have been utterly crushed, and we aren’t smart or altruistic enough to do anything to fix it. I congratulate Markos Zuniga and George Soros. When your enemies are as inept as we are, a victory is nothing to brag about, but they beat us really, really badly. Their knees are on our throats, and they deserve credit. They sold our nation an Edsel, and Americans think it’s a Ferrari. We couldn’t sell raw meat to sharks.
I know it makes the cheerleaders mad when I say this stuff, but here’s something to think about: they have always been wrong. There is a difference between thinking positive and refusing to face reality.
I’ve been wrong, too. I was wrong when I said the future for the right was rosy.
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:05 AM
[…] The Hog isn’t doing politics any more. Heavens, no. Wouldn’t even think about it. […]
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Painfully, gut wrenchingly, kick-to-the head true.
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 AM
[…] Hat tip Steve, who is dead on in his assessment. […]
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:22 PM
The candidates matter.
The platforms matter.
The state of the nation matters.
None of these helped McCain, whom precisely no one in the conservative base liked. They all helped Obama, whom everyone in the liberal base loved.
Obama won because the US is bogged down in two protracted, expensive wars with an economy that is between deep recession and depression.
That is the only reason he won.
PJM has the seriousness and relevance of a fart in an elevator, but the blogosphere on the right was pissing up a rope from the beginning.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:30 PM
The candidates matter only to the extent that the public knows what they are and what they will do. Obama’s voters don’t have the slightest idea what he is, and the conservative media, including Internet sources, was completely impotent in its efforts to change that.
The economy should have been an asset to McCain; the entire mortgage mess was caused by liberal policies, and an Obama advisor was at the center of those policies. Most Americans have no idea who Frank Raines is. If they had, and they had understood what he did to our economy, they would have voted for McCain. Liberals ruined our economy, and we are now turning to them to save it, presumably with the same policies that put us where we are now. We voted to throw gasoline on the fire.
According to most sources, the war was a back-burner issue in this campaign. I doubt it had a great impact on the election.
Check Google News right now. There isn’t a single story on the “World” page about the Iraq or Afhganistan wars.
Saying PJM is irrelevant is somewhat misleading. Look at what the left did with the Internet in this election. We could have done the same things. PJM is irrelevant in the sense that it’s a complete failure to which no one pays attention, but it’s relevant in that it helped the conservative Blogosphere lose all credibility and influence.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Steve,
Preposterously low interest rates and the abdication of all bank and financial company regulatory scrutiny and oversight is what led to this.
With banks borrowing at below 1% and lending mortgages at 5%-7%, precisely what is their incentive to do anything else but turn their balance sheets into a leveraged carry trade?
And if you can borrow unlimited funds as a consumer (see above), as many times as you want, why not flip houses or plow the refi $$ back into…whatever. It was all good.
I’m sorry that so many of my buddies on the right are falling for the Fannie/freddie argument…they were a problem, but at best are little more than white noise.
Mr. Greenspan’s handiwork and no cops on the beat….
We never stood a chance.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:49 PM
There is nothing peripheral about the Fannie Mae mess. Go check the percentage of mortgages they’re responsible for. And the low lending standards you’re talking about are the direct result of liberal policies handed down from above.
Added: the percentage of US mortgages financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is about 40%.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:13 PM
“I have had the experience of explaining undisputed, verifiable facts to self-proclaimed liberals, and then having them tell me they agree with conservative positions.”
I’ve had the same experience, minus the agreement. Some of them are so emotion-based that they’ll grant you the facts and then refuse to question themselves anyway. “I think it all depends upon how you look at it…” is a direct quote from one of them.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:22 PM
and bush and mc cain BOTH tried to get fannie and freddie some oversight but raines and frank and gorelick all said everything was fine. Yes, I also have “fallen” for the facts, silly me.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:24 PM
PJM is a “black flame” – it sucks up a lot of oxygen, but sheds little to no light.
On the plus side, Bill Whittle got a (small) gig with National Review Online. I see that as a positive development, though I’m not sure what it means, long term.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:28 PM
I really like Bill Whittle, he has real talent… and is gut-wrenching watching him on PJM Video. What a waste….
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:40 PM
“Preposterously low interest rates and the abdication of all bank and financial company regulatory scrutiny and oversight is what led to this.”
Oversight blocked, mind you, by Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and other Democrats. Frank and Dodd prevented any legislation improving oversight from getting out of committee, and let their colleaugues accuse Republican lawmakers of racism for not wanting banks to make home loans to people who couldn’t afford it. Telling banks “Don’t worry about the bad loans, Fannie and Freddie will cover it” was a recipe for disaster, and when Bush (and McCain, for that matter)tried to get more oversight put in place, the Democrats cock-blocked him. Do you really need to see the YouTube video again of Barney Frank saying, “I don’t see anything to be concerned about”, along with all the other Democrats that did their level best to prevent proper oversight through obfuscation and bogus accusations of racism? Not to mention that his ex-boyfriend was on Fannie’s board in the 90s–is that not a clear conflict of interest for someone in Frank’s position? The guy was literally in bed with the people he was supposed to be regulating.
The only mistakes the Republicans made were playing nice with these turkeys because they didn’t want to be painted as uncompassionate or racist, were too focused on feathering their own nests in the early part of the decade after Jeffords jumped, and then exacerbated their complicity by not roasting Frank and Dodd over a media spit during the election.
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:50 PM
I think you overestimate the effect of PJM.
Otherwise, you are spot-on.
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:13 PM
I’m a decent Christian, and all, but i’m ready to fight a civil war over the lies and stupidity of the left. I want them gone – off my part of this continent.
The left is the direct opposite of everything this country was founded on, and i believe any founding father would have pulled the pin on the revolution/civil war grenade years ago. Would I fight my friends an d neighbors? Yes, I would. It’s THAT important.
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:25 PM
It’s not just that people get smarter as they get older but that they typically get wiser. There isn’t much wisdom on the left, for whatever reason.
As for right-leaning websites elbowing each other out, I can’t understand that. It seems the bigger sites want to only link to news stories and not opinion (except their own), but it’s not like a newspaper or magazine with limited space, or a radio show with limited time. There could be room for everything, satire included. I think Conservatives have a complex of not being taken seriously, which is too bad. The wacky left is the exact opposite, they believe any goofy thing that comes down the pike and take themselves very seriously.
December 3rd, 2008 at 5:10 PM
I can only agree about PJM – so much promise, wasted. It has turned itself into a vast echo chamber, sparsely populated with shit-flinging monkeys ready to hurl at anyone stepping even a tiny bit outside their proscribed boundaries, led by a handful of self-aggrandizing cheerleaders who are, to be very kind, stupid.
I think there is a better chance of promoting conservatism within the Democratic party at the moment than there is of reforming and energizing it from within PJM. PJM seems wholly concerned with generating eyeballs through appeals to the lowest common denominator; the resulting horde of retards makes the GOP look like a freak show.
Of course, the utter lack of any Conservative leadership, anywhere, isn’t helping any.
December 3rd, 2008 at 5:33 PM
I like Bill Whittle but I have never watched PJTV cause my satellite internet service would be on my case for downloading too much. I would like to see, that is read, what he thinks about things. He is a great thinker.
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:35 PM
PJM seems to have just sunk into the generic mass of multiple-authored, mass media websites. Sure, some bloggers like Instapundit have moved over to their servers, but that just makes them a hosting service too. Nothing unique.
I think what made sites like Kos so big is that they came along rather early on and developed their reputation early as well. That reputation would be one where everyone had the Crazy, and you either linked to them because you agreed slavishly with everything on that site, or you linked to them because you were a self-punishing right-winger who just couldn’t get over his or her outrage that these insane morons managed to breathe on their own much less figure out how type on a keyboard. Like some famous person said, I don’t care what you say about me as long as you’re talking about me. A new rightwing site is going to have to do something special to stand out against the big popular sites, and so far most rightwing sites that are trying to do this aren’t anything special.
Anyway. On my website, which has hardly any readers, I mostly only link to articles on news sites if I can link to a blog that said something funny or interesting about the article, or if I can say something funny or interesting about it. I always try to credit where I found a story — linking back to the blog I usually found it on — unless I found it myself. Otherwise incestuous linkfests don’t interest me.
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 PM
“People tend to become more conservative as they age.” Winston Churchill said something to the effect of “If you aren’t a liberal at twenty, you have no heart. If you aren’t a conservative at forty, you have no brain.”
December 4th, 2008 at 3:34 AM
Okay Steve …isn’t it time that you pseudonym-ed a political blog? Again! This is good stuff. I like your new stuff. But I liked your old stuff, too.
.
…which, I see, has been festering. Hmm. No. Not festering: aging nicely. And confess: you can blow this stuff out without even *trying* to.
.
Do it. Just …do it.
December 4th, 2008 at 8:12 AM
It’s really about Godlessness.
As the Godlessness of our country increases so will liberalism and decline.
But this was foretold and is part of the plan.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Andrea wrote, “Sure, some bloggers like Instapundit have moved over to their servers, but that just makes them a hosting service too. ”
Writing comments like that will keep you on my blogroll for decades. Hope your ostensibly non PJM servers can handle my 5 readers migrating over…they’ll like you even better than me!
December 4th, 2008 at 12:40 PM
Re: Scooter:
“As the Godlessness of our country increases so will liberalism and decline.”
Living in godless South Korea was bad enough. I don’t wanna live in Zimbabwe. Please, Lord, turn America around.
December 4th, 2008 at 10:21 PM
Argh. My grandaughter told me today that every member of her 8th grade class is required to give a speech on how G.Bush ruined the economy……
December 5th, 2008 at 4:02 PM
And I suggest you help her write it. Something along the lines of “GWB ruined the economy by not having Franks, McDermott, et al shipped off to Gitmo and fed to alligators.”
December 7th, 2008 at 12:26 AM
Thanks, SDN. Maybe I just will.