A Republican strategy lesson from the summer of 2004:
excerpt:
What culture war offensive isn't doomed to failure from the start? Indeed, the inevitability of defeat seems to be a critical element of the melodrama, on issues from school prayer to evolution and even abortion.
Failure on the cultural front serves to magnify the outrage felt by conservative true believers; it mobilizes the base. Failure sharpens the distinctions between conservatives and liberals. Failure allows for endless grandstanding without any real-world consequences that might upset more moderate Republicans or the party's all-important corporate wing. You might even say that grand and garish defeat — especially if accompanied by the ridicule of the sophisticated — is the culture warrior's very object.
The issue is all-important; the issue is incapable of being won. Only when the battle is defined this way can it achieve the desired results, have its magical polarizing effect.
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Losing is prima facie evidence that the basic conservative claim is true: that the country is run by liberals; that the world is unfair; that the majority is persecuted by a sinister elite. And that therefore you, my red-state friend, had better get out there and vote as if your civilization depended on it.
* but there are risks...
"I advocate the use of force to rescue Terri Schiavo from being starved to death. I further advocate the killing of anyone who interferes with such rescue."
- Hal Turner. (Mar 25, 2005 04:15:35 GMT)
"Web Site Updates Temporarily offline. I am traveling to do something important."
- Hal Turner (Mar 26, 2005)
sources:
Oliver Cox commenting at The Poor Man: "This article by Thomas Frank adds excellent background. It’s just a pity no-one reads this far down…"
Tillie639 commenting at Daily Kos: "It's gone from the website now. This is extremely unnerving."
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