Friday, October 24, 2008
Democratic Party is a slow learner, says Dr. Paranoia
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
The good Dr. P. posts the following e-mail:
When Mark Twain said that he does not belong to an organized party, that he was a Democrat, he was not kidding. While the Big Tent does accept all comers, it also inhibits unified action, campaign or otherwise.
This becomes most evident when the author receives, day after day, chain letters from friends – he knows a lot of people – circulating destructive sets of statistics about Obama, his family history, his associates, terrorist background, funds, and donors and spending. The Republican Conservatives are extremely well organized, and unscrupulous about facts as well as about privacy.
The chain letter literature is mixed stuff, totally invented stories concatenated with references of seemingly impartial sources. Thus, today’s letter suggested that the reader check Snopes, an urban legend compiler and computer fraud demystifier, and sure enough someone had combined selected part-quotes of Obama’s autobiography, of reminding himself of a black heritage while growing up as a white person, with descriptions of his terrorist, anti-American and leftist/liberal actions and associations. Misquoted fact and wild surmises cited as facts is the mix one gets daily by e-mail, accelerating in pace, not just from friends but also clever operators who copy inadvertently disclosed recipient lists on e-mail as their own.
Herewith a parenthetical privacy and security protection reminder to the reader – in sending e-mail to groups of your friends and acquaintances (broadly defined ), always list the recipients under bcc:, not under To: (you can put yourself there): or cc: This avoids the printout of all names at the recipients, which is easily copied and abused by an unscrupulous person. As for mailings to relatives, where you want them to know who was notified, suit yourself.
The Republican/Conservative propagandists are clever in leveraging a reader's inquiry into an inclusion in their mailing lists. Some time ago Dr. P. was incautious enough to send a comment to some clever slander by Ann Coulter. From that he ended up on the mailing lists of Newsmax, the magazine that issues daily clever headline and teaser announcements and stories. It sustains reader interest by including a digest of Late Night Jokes (including some about Sarah Palen’s hair), and a separate mailing with sensationalist health stories about new heart disease, diabetes and cholesterol controls. tests and novel cures, as well as newsletter sales material from stock market analysts announcing promising new oil discoveries, “green” stocks and economic forecasts. In separate releases their stars Ronald Kessler and Arnaud de Borchegrave (ex-Newsweek, always interesting) supply longer profiles of world problems, with a slant.
This same letter also brought Dr. P. headlines from Human Events, the old conservative journal, with health and market tidbits (a Pac Man for your arteries, inhibit Alzheimer’s, protect your wealth) interspersed, like a chassis to carry the propaganda. It also brought him Ann Coulter’s weekly column, most recently addressing Joe Biden’s hair, and the Evans-Novak Political Report (ENPR), a holdover from the old column, with somewhat more trustworthy content. All this tastefully accompanied with subscription offers and book prizes from their favored authors.
If some of the stories arouse your interest, it is on purpose; Dr. Paranoia would like the Democratic National Committee, the corresponding Congressional Campaign Committees, the Move On people, their surrogates and other fundraisers learn the basics of how to influence people by getting them interested, and by using suggestions from friends. During this same period he received five or six three-paragraph e-mails a week , a few words sending distress signals and asking for contributions, from John Kerry, Rep. Rahm Emanuel and Nancy Pelosi on behalf of DCCC, Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. Ted Kennedy (DSCCC), Madeleine K. Albright, Ellen R. Malcolm (Emily’s List), Eli Pariser, Eden Rubin, Jason Rubin, Lucile K. (MovingOn). No words of substance, nothing worth reading, copying or quoting that he could reference and send to reluctant friends trying to decide for whom to vote.
The Deaniacs of 2004 had at least some substance on which to build a message, although the medium was largely it. In 2008 the DNC offers nothing, riding on the hope that the population’s disgust with the lies of the Neocons and the administration and the brilliant speeches of Obama will produce miracles. Setting the groundwork is a laborious and necessary task. The Republicans have the heritage of negative campaign inventor Lee Atwater (associating Michael Dukakis with the weekend furloughing of murderer Willie Horton), the organizational work of Newt Gingrich and his 2000 successor Karl Rove, and the ground preparation of their talk show hosts. All that GOP literature he was flooded with was the result of years of preparation, and it will continue to exist, feeding the mindset of the adepts and ready to be used in election years on the unwary. Mark Twain’s observation is still valid. NDC, DCCC, DSCC to note.
“I don’t expect them to learn,” concludes Dr. Paranoia.
The good Dr. P. posts the following e-mail:
When Mark Twain said that he does not belong to an organized party, that he was a Democrat, he was not kidding. While the Big Tent does accept all comers, it also inhibits unified action, campaign or otherwise.
This becomes most evident when the author receives, day after day, chain letters from friends – he knows a lot of people – circulating destructive sets of statistics about Obama, his family history, his associates, terrorist background, funds, and donors and spending. The Republican Conservatives are extremely well organized, and unscrupulous about facts as well as about privacy.
The chain letter literature is mixed stuff, totally invented stories concatenated with references of seemingly impartial sources. Thus, today’s letter suggested that the reader check Snopes, an urban legend compiler and computer fraud demystifier, and sure enough someone had combined selected part-quotes of Obama’s autobiography, of reminding himself of a black heritage while growing up as a white person, with descriptions of his terrorist, anti-American and leftist/liberal actions and associations. Misquoted fact and wild surmises cited as facts is the mix one gets daily by e-mail, accelerating in pace, not just from friends but also clever operators who copy inadvertently disclosed recipient lists on e-mail as their own.
Herewith a parenthetical privacy and security protection reminder to the reader – in sending e-mail to groups of your friends and acquaintances (broadly defined ), always list the recipients under bcc:, not under To: (you can put yourself there): or cc: This avoids the printout of all names at the recipients, which is easily copied and abused by an unscrupulous person. As for mailings to relatives, where you want them to know who was notified, suit yourself.
The Republican/Conservative propagandists are clever in leveraging a reader's inquiry into an inclusion in their mailing lists. Some time ago Dr. P. was incautious enough to send a comment to some clever slander by Ann Coulter. From that he ended up on the mailing lists of Newsmax, the magazine that issues daily clever headline and teaser announcements and stories. It sustains reader interest by including a digest of Late Night Jokes (including some about Sarah Palen’s hair), and a separate mailing with sensationalist health stories about new heart disease, diabetes and cholesterol controls. tests and novel cures, as well as newsletter sales material from stock market analysts announcing promising new oil discoveries, “green” stocks and economic forecasts. In separate releases their stars Ronald Kessler and Arnaud de Borchegrave (ex-Newsweek, always interesting) supply longer profiles of world problems, with a slant.
This same letter also brought Dr. P. headlines from Human Events, the old conservative journal, with health and market tidbits (a Pac Man for your arteries, inhibit Alzheimer’s, protect your wealth) interspersed, like a chassis to carry the propaganda. It also brought him Ann Coulter’s weekly column, most recently addressing Joe Biden’s hair, and the Evans-Novak Political Report (ENPR), a holdover from the old column, with somewhat more trustworthy content. All this tastefully accompanied with subscription offers and book prizes from their favored authors.
If some of the stories arouse your interest, it is on purpose; Dr. Paranoia would like the Democratic National Committee, the corresponding Congressional Campaign Committees, the Move On people, their surrogates and other fundraisers learn the basics of how to influence people by getting them interested, and by using suggestions from friends. During this same period he received five or six three-paragraph e-mails a week , a few words sending distress signals and asking for contributions, from John Kerry, Rep. Rahm Emanuel and Nancy Pelosi on behalf of DCCC, Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. Ted Kennedy (DSCCC), Madeleine K. Albright, Ellen R. Malcolm (Emily’s List), Eli Pariser, Eden Rubin, Jason Rubin, Lucile K. (MovingOn). No words of substance, nothing worth reading, copying or quoting that he could reference and send to reluctant friends trying to decide for whom to vote.
The Deaniacs of 2004 had at least some substance on which to build a message, although the medium was largely it. In 2008 the DNC offers nothing, riding on the hope that the population’s disgust with the lies of the Neocons and the administration and the brilliant speeches of Obama will produce miracles. Setting the groundwork is a laborious and necessary task. The Republicans have the heritage of negative campaign inventor Lee Atwater (associating Michael Dukakis with the weekend furloughing of murderer Willie Horton), the organizational work of Newt Gingrich and his 2000 successor Karl Rove, and the ground preparation of their talk show hosts. All that GOP literature he was flooded with was the result of years of preparation, and it will continue to exist, feeding the mindset of the adepts and ready to be used in election years on the unwary. Mark Twain’s observation is still valid. NDC, DCCC, DSCC to note.
“I don’t expect them to learn,” concludes Dr. Paranoia.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 11:05 PM 
