Bounce projection
I've been waiting for McCain's convention bounce, and it arrived with this morning's poll numbers. I've long believed that staying at the top of the news cycle (free TV) is the secret to winning in this country. Give 'em air time, any air time and it'll show in the polls.
It seems to me, listening to the republicans' convention last week and watching their ads on television, that they've raised to high art the device of saying one thing and doing another. It has to be projection. No, not the kind that pollsters do, but psychological projection. Nothing else makes sense. How else in the world can the McCain campaign really be running ads proclaiming that if Obama is elected, those "tax and spend" democrats will run up big deficits? Huh? I've been thinking it's nefarious and they really believe that voters cannot count, or are so blind they cannot see that, at least for the last couple of decades, it's been democrats who've brought spending under control and republicans who've gone on hysterical spending sprees. Projection would explain it though, making it some colossal form of institutional denial, organizational mental illness, defined by Wikipedia:
According to Sigmund Freud, projection is a psychological defense mechanism whereby one "projects" one's own undesirable thoughts, motivations, desires and feelings onto someone else. It is a common process that every person uses to some degree. To understand the process, consider a person in a couple who has thoughts of infidelity. Instead of dealing with these undesirable thoughts consciously, he or she subconsciously projects these feelings onto the other person, and begins to think that the other has thoughts of infidelity and may be having an affair. In this sense, projection is related to denial...like all defense mechanisms, providing a function whereby truth about a part of themselves that may otherwise be unacceptable is shielded.
Well that explains it doesn't it? They're not stupid, and maybe they're not the lying thieves I've been thinking they were for all these years. They're just in denial, projecting, in order to avoid coming face to face with, well, themselves. Poor things. I've had a couple of master projectors in my life and I'm here to say they really don't know that they're doing it, and that being on the receiving end of projection makes you think you're the one losing your mind. Isn't that exactly the way it feels to try to talk to a republican who's afraid of those "tax and spend" dems, when it's their candidate whose solution to the health care crisis is to tax employer-provided health care benefits? ANOTHER HUH?
We must find a way to help them, find some kind of cure for this mass mental illness before we're doomed to another four years of government emptying the treasury and invading our personal lives. But let's try to get the language right, call it what it is, because it has changed. This is no longer my father's republican party. The New Republican Party stands for deficit spending, bigger government (that gets way more all up in our lives), diminishing personal liberty, loss of stature internationally, depleted military reserves and the loss of national safety that comes from all of the above. As the wealthy get wealthier the numbers of poor increase. As the numbers living in poverty increase, so does crime. As crime increases, our safety decreases.
Want more of the same? Then vote for McCain. As for the whole lying thieves thing, we'll let's just say they're a little confused. Want to hear it in their own words? Click here.
Peace, out, y'all.
"New Republican Party stands for deficit spending, bigger government (that
gets way more all up in our lives), diminishing personal liberty, loss of
stature internationally, depleted military reserves and the loss of
national safety that comes from all of the above"
Ah, dear one, you're suggesting that I'm being generous? Of course, you're
right. A little raw, but right. I'm just worried that if they stay atop the
news cycle, they will win. Certainly, the Palin choice was calculated to do
just that. I've come to the conclusion that substance means nothing
anymore. *sigh*
It feels like a mess, but I'm hoping that it's a bounce and not a trend.
Obama seems calm. I want to follow his lead, but we've been burned before.
You're too kind. "Projection" seems much too mild of a term...like an
allowance, a sympathetic excuse, or alibi provision. I think they are much
more aware than we give them credit for, and, in response, we should act a
lot smarter than they give us credit for. How about we just say it's
because they're a
"pack-of-no-good-lying-two-faced-sleazy-manipulative-weasels," and leave it
at that? No sense in being a co-dependent. Great post, Soph.
D Cup, it just seems to be getting worse. Nobody gave a hoot when McCain
used the "lipstick on a pig" remark even though Hillary was still in the
race at the time. Sometimes I think the whole trick is about creating
fodder, *anything* to feed the starving media machine. It's early. The
pendulum swings. The trick is to be the one who's on the upswing on
election day. I don't have the stomach for it. *sigh*
Soph: I agree that the Repubs have lost their way, but as a lifelong
Democrat I also call for the intellectual honesty to admit that neither are
the Dems the party of John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy would not recognize or approve of the party of Harry Reid and Nancy
Pelosi.
The public discontent with Bush and the Repubs is not necessarily
an endorsement of the Dems and the sad spectacle that they have become as
well. Has anyone noticed the 8% public approval rating of the Democrat
congress? The candidates know this, and that is why Obama is running on
"change" and McCain running on "reform". The candidate who truly resonates
with the public, and who promotes and advances an ideology that sincerely
speaks to the generally conservative and fairness ethos of the American
public, will win this election.
But, it is clear that whoever wins, that that victory is not an endorsement
of his party or his party politics.
Ah, dear MAD. As usual you are the cool voice of reason amidst our
squealing storm. Of course, you are dead on. I can't help but think that
some of this change is the result of the 24 hour news cycle and the media
feeding frenzy it's created (it's all Ted Turner's fault?). Pols can't
contain their instinctive impulse to play to the spotlight? Whether or not
appealing to "generally conservative and fairness ethos of the American
public" will be enough to shine through that static, I can only hope.
Soph, life has been a blur for about 25 years. Will we all ever have time
to just sit on the porch, kick up our heels, and have an unhurried
conversation? We can only hope. It is so encouraging (and appreciated) for
you to be a consistent voice of support so those of us here in the
provinces, especially during our times of need. Thanks for that, and for
being you.
Ah, the blur. Yes, I know that blur. I remain resolved to hope, though, and
maybe even throw in a little planning for good measure. Thinking of such
things as leisurely porch sitting and unhurried conversations gets me
through the days, it does.
Thank you so much for posting on projection. This is fantastic. Today the
top of my head nearly blew off when I read Karl Rove's *WallStreet Journal*
piece. Amazing how he could be allowed to analyze the process as merely
"Former Senior Adviser to President George W. Bush" in a Murdoch-owned
journal while he's simultaneously micromanaging the whole McCain campaign.
Anyway, he said, "If Obama keeps attacking Palin," he will lose. If Obama
keeps attacking Palin?? I don't know if Karl Rove's projections are
conscious or subconscious, but I am convinced that he also keeps the works
of Goebbels and Goering handy, and they've never failed him.
Yes, they've perfected it, haven't they? I will say that dear Keith
Olbermann led his Thursday show with the projection point. We just need to
keep saying it. I could go on forever about the tactics that the republican
employ and how they are personal abuse tactics, writ large. Grrrr.
I think the main problem lies with the media and the promotion of a concept
of entertainment as news. The election cycle both in my country "Canada"
turns into a tournament of celebrity no matter how many lies they tell or
their lack of a suitable grasp of the problems that the ordinary voter is
facing. "They seem, and I mean all of them, more likely to pander to our
prejudices than our ideals." Electing a leader of our country is not about
electing someone we would like to have a beer with or someone we would like
to date.
They know they are lying and the only projection is about projecting the
lie.
JWL