Who's Kidding Whom? Phony phonies.
Paulie Brading
Senator Gordon Smith has been squelching facts about his record while attempting to take on the role of "just plain folks" to appeal and persuade voters to re-elect him to the Senate. His "fake it until you make it" depends on voter forgettfulness and on voters lack of ability to distinguish opinion from fact. The phony con is his favorite tactic. Well Senator, you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
On June 5, 2008 Congressman Greg Walden voted "no" on county payments that would have helped 33 out of 36 counties. His "impression management" is soaring to new heights with a totally phony campaign focused on off shore drilling. He knows his proposed bill will never make it off the House floor especially in a House of Representatives dominated by common sense Democrats.
Smith and Walden have long histories of intellectual fraudulence. They are experts in playing over in one corner while covering up their votes in another corner. Their campaigns are all about blocking attitude changes within their own party. Smith's campaign is taking a risk by moving away from the Republican base and pandering to moderate Republicans and potential swing voters. Of the two candidates, Smith is playing with fire using the art of persuasion as the art of similarity. He is turning from his base to appear to be similar to a completely different set of voters. Smith has the buzzwords, he's coached and he's skilled at avoiding accountibility for his slight of hand tactics. In Walden and Smith's quest for new identities to fool the voters they are exposing their lack of ethics in the game of influence.
Tonight a candidate for Vice President of the US will fake expertise, she'll be coached, she will have the buzz words and she'll deliver the words written for her with confidence. She will give the impression she is more competent than she actually is. We can look forward to a speech that goes well beyond her actual knowledge.
The game is called "impression management." The art of disguise will likely result in a chunk of voters overestimating her actual abilities.
Game on.
 |
More Recent Posts | |
Albert Kaufman |
|
Guest Column |
|
Kari Chisholm |
|
Kari Chisholm |
Final pre-census estimate: Oregon's getting a sixth congressional seat |
Albert Kaufman |
Polluted by Money - How corporate cash corrupted one of the greenest states in America |
Guest Column |
|
Albert Kaufman |
Our Democrat Representatives in Action - What's on your wish list? |
Kari Chisholm |
|
Guest Column |
|
Kari Chisholm |
|
connect with blueoregon
12:27 p.m.
Sep 3, '08
Of course, as you point out, this sort of fraudulent thinking has been a trademark of The Wise on the Right for about two decades now, and why not? The central belief is that the masses are unable to handle the truth as Jack Nicholson might have said......
Anyhow, the danger is that you start getting crossovers, people like Palin, who are actually consumers of The Noble Lie.
There's a very good summary of Palin's history from the perspective of One of Us in Palin's home town. Ms. Kilkenny fought the then mayor over efforts to remove books from the local library deemed insufficiently Christian by the local Assembly of God church.
You can quickly see that Ms. Palin fits the caricature to a T.
Rugged individualists who hate gummint but reside in a state that gets 80% of its revenue from taxes on oil companies. The runaway spending by Palin as she dedicated huge amounts of public funds to pet projects, ignored needed infrastructure development, fired anyone who disagreed with her, passed out patronage appointments, and so on.
She is, of course much beloved by her former constituents, because her rhetoric, however little it matched her actions, remained always on the correct propaganda track.
<hr/>I suspect that Gordon knows exactly what he's doing, and Walden maybe not so much.....
Sep 3, '08
"...totally phony campaign focused on off shore drilling"
Glad you brought this up. The last thing amerika need is domestic oil production!
Alah Akbar!
Sep 3, '08
(comment above by fictitious Mr. Muhsin shows what a travesty Blue Oregon has become)
Speaking of phonies, here's two Repug talking heads, Mike Murphy and Peggy Noonan, speaking off camera, into an open mic, talking about what a dud Palin is, and how it's going to cost the election for McCain. Whoops! Caught with your phoniness showing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrG8w4bb3kg&eurl=http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/09/03/noonan_murphy/index.html?source=rss&aim=/politics/war_room
Sep 3, '08
Aren't "just plain folks" the nut of it? Politics is about planning/solutions. Different folks see a different number of moves ahead. Just like chess.
The smarter you are, the further ahead you can see. The dumber, the more you look at what's right under your nose, right now. People not looking too many moves ahead is what keeps the Amerikan power elite in power! He's right. Plain- read average- folks are essential to their vision. Damned those techno groids in the Valley canceling our salt-of-the-earth-dumbass opinions!
Is it a coincidence that every culture assigns to religion what it cannot explain, and that "simple folk" are the most religious? When your candidate shows up to start the final stretch with someone that is known and respected as an exploiter of those with stupid religious awe, you might just admit that rationality is not going to influence your campaign, BO.
Or like a Texas bumper sticker put it; I think it was serious. "Vote Republican. It's easier than thinking".
This is why my eyeballs turn purple and ooze puss when I hear a "progressive" puke illogic, and what passes for fact on SE Hawthorne. It's the only thing that makes you different, and you ain't.
Being American means being willing to fight and die for your principles. Particularly if you don't have a clue what they mean.
Sep 4, '08
For those interested in an explanation in detail of the way in which this impression politics works examine the journal by McCamy Taylor on the Democratic Underground. This contribution dismantles Palin's claim of achievment with the TransCanada pipeline. In order for this 'deal' to be made Canada will have control of the pipeline and be able to determine what Alaska is paid. The lower 48 will be charged what Canada determines. Additionally, we are stuck with the filthy tar-sand oil that is ruining an area in Alberta the size of Florida. Palin revoked the north slope leases Exxon has; Obama has opposed the tar- sand project for obvious reasons. McCain and Palin have thus cemented more dependence on foreign energy instead of having independence. So this is their version of our country first. At least that is the impression they want to give.
<hr/>