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"The tyranny of this chase for more and newer [information] is encouraging people to cover things that would normally draw little or no attention."
"The masses are not asses, they will figure it out. You can underestimate their interest, but if you underestimate their intelligence, you're making a big mistake."
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:01 am Posts: 19477 Location: Brooklyn NY
One of the biggest douchebags in American history
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LittleWing sometime in July 2007 wrote:
Unfortunately, it's so elementary, and the big time investors behind the drive in the stock market aren't so stupid. This isn't the false economy of 2000.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Republican Implosion: Karl Rove by kos
Tue May 29, 2007 at 10:51:48 AM PDT
More of Karl Rove's math, from Jeffrey Goldberg's stellar New Yorker look at the GOP implosion:
Quote:
Rove thinks that more voters now are being influenced by technology and religion. “There are two or three societal trends that are driving us in an increasingly deep center-right posture,†he said. “One of them is the power of the computer chip. Do you know how many people’s principal source of income is eBay? Seven hundred thousand.†He went on, “So the power of the computer has made it possible for people to gain greater control over their lives. It’s given people a greater chance to run their own business, become a sole proprietor or an entrepreneur. As a result, it has made us more market-oriented, and that equals making you more center-right in your politics.†As for spirituality, Rove said, “As baby boomers age and as they’re succeeded by the post-baby-boom generation, within both of those generations there’s something going on spiritually—people saying it’s not all about materialism, it’s not all about the pursuit of material things. If you look at the traditional mainstream denominations, they’re flat, but what’s growing inside those denominations, and what’s growing outside those denominations, is churches that are filling this spiritual need, that are replacing sterility with something vibrant, something that speaks to the heart of the individual, that gives a sense of purpose.†Rove believes what he has always believed: that the Christian right and, to a lesser extent, tax- and regulation-averse businessmen will continue to assure Republican victories.
Later on in this piece, Newt Gingrich says of Rove:
Quote:
For this [GOP] disarray he blames not only Iraq and Hurricane Katrina but also Karl Rove’s “maniacally dumb†strategy in 2004, which left Bush with no political capital. “All he proved was that the anti-Kerry vote was bigger than the anti-Bush vote,†Gingrich said.
It's actually quite amazing how poorly Rove is aging as his strategies and insights are not just a source of the GOP's current woes, but make little sense moving forward.
Take for example his fantasy that eBay business people are natural GOP allies --
As a small business person myself, my biggest worries are 1) health care for my family (my rates nearly doubled this year, and they cover less and less), and 2) the influence of Big Business on my ability to operate effectively. In my case, it's the caustic influence of the big Telcos and their efforts to destroy Net Neutrality.
Health care is a universal concern for small business owners. And which small business retailer or manufacturer isn't worried about Wal-Mart destroying their livelihood? The tech sector, in particular, is heavily Democratic, and for a reason -- Democratic policies are better for the small business entrepreneur than Republican ones.
Rove thinks these entrepreneurs will be voting Republican, but reality is much different. And some of the richest entrepreneurial hubs of the nation are some of its most Democratic -- the SF Bay Area, NYC, North Carolina's Research Triangle, Austin, Seattle, and so on.
Now these small business types are also more libertarian leaning, wanting to do their thing with as little government regulation as possible. But the GOP has traded libertarian-leaning voters for that other Rove obsession: the Religious Right.
Rove and his GOP counterparts have treated religious voters as useful idiots, providing money and boots on the ground, all in exchange for hateful anti-gay rhetoric and vague promises to end abortion. But not only are Republicans losing some of that fundy support, with those Christians tiring of empty platitudes and undelivered goods (Ralph Reed's fall from grace appears to have rocked many of them hard), but there's also hints that social justice is starting to play a larger role in evangelical efforts.
And the tighter the GOP gets with the Religious Right, the more it drives away libertarian-minded voters, including those eBay entrepreneurs Rove desperately wants among his ranks.
In other words, those two groups are mutually exclusive.
But that's reality. In Rove's world, even the math looks different.
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
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