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You might have read today that John McCain doesn't want Michelle Malkin on his blog conference calls. Naturally, she's pissed - a lot of these comments are in line with the conservatives she caters to. Perhaps if she hadn't kept referring to him as Juan McCain she'd still be on the phone list, but as it is she's losing her press credentials with the GOP.
Same thing with Ann Coulter, who still faithfully blogs for Republicans and against Democrats, but can't bring herself to say anything good about McCain. And Rush...well, he sure hates Obama, but perhaps McCain can buy him if he strokes Rush's ego enough. Good luck on that one, Rush. Meantime, rank and file conservatives I talk to call McCain everything from 'an asshole' to a 'commie traitor'.
Moving on, what can we do to capitalize on this misery and dissatisfaction among Republicans and damage them at the polls? Well, the best thing we can do is talk to them. I'm NOT suggesting we start hanging out at Free Republic on the weekends or spamming polls at Fox News. But whenever we are in conversation with republicans, we must remind them (subtly) what McCain stands for so they remember why they don't like him.
a. Amnesty Conservatives HATE the idea of illegal immigrants. They think illegal immigration should be practically a hanging offense (in fact, it's a civil misdemeanor, making the illegal entrant liable for a $250 fine). Correspondingly, ANY kind of compromise that allows illegals to stay in the country - regardless of the fines they have to pay or background checks they have to pass or whatever - is regarded as Amnesty.
So when chatting to conservatives, the surest way to put them off voting for McCain in the fall is to just mention the McCain Kennedy immigration reform. You don't have to support it, defend it, like it or anything else...just say 'So...how about McCain? What did you think of that McCain-Kennedy Immigration reform bill?'. OK, you WILL have to listen to a lecture from an angry conservative.
But that's OK. It's a magic word that destroys votes for McCain every time they hear it. Call up Rush Limbaugh...'Hey Rush, what did you think o McCain-Kennedy?' ZOT - McCain loses another 100 votes. write a letter to the paper - 'Dear Editor, I just can't decide on whether to vote for Obama or McCain or Ronald McDonald. I wish you'd cover the issues better. Is John McCain going to sponsor another immigration bill with Ted Kennedy? Will Obama really deliver healthcare? These are important issues! Yours, Joe Blow'.
Mention it on your blogs - the less political the better. The thing is, there's no point in trying to get a conservative to vote for Obama - never gonna happen. But mention 'amnesty' and it puts them off voting for McCain, big time.
b. Global Warming Conservatives just do not believe in it. It's not happening. And if it is, then it's a good thing. Really, it's all a conspiracy among scientists (those elitists) to defraud you, the taxpayer, of your hard earned cash that is rightfully your, so those scientists can get grants instead of doing real work. They go to college because they know that being a scientist who subsists on grants is a great way to make money. Conservatives would never do this because they have too much self-respect, and they know that too much education makes you stupid (someone actually said that to me the other day).
So magic phrase #2...'at least he gets global warming'. Damn him with faint praise. I don't like McCain's war policy, but at least he gets global warming. McCain doesn't know what to do about the economy, but at least he gets global warming. Of course, our candidates have got global warming for years, and far better than McCain. Al Gore is a democrat. But at least McCain gets global warming.
Every time a conservative hears this, it just reminds them how UNconservative John McCain is, because true conservatives want to drill for oil in ANWR (even though this will take 10 years and only meet 2% of our requirements), and they KNOW that global warming is an evil lie. Being reminded that John McCain 'gets it' just reminds them how much he DOESN'T get conservatism.
c. McCain's wrong on the war Lastly, let's recall that he's wrong on the war. The trick with this meme is not say what is wrong about his stance...just say he's wrong on the war, you don't think he can bring it to a successful conclusion. the less you say, the more your conservative listener/reader will project their own prejudices onto it. Do they support Ron Paul? Then McCain is definitely wrong on the war. Are they more of a Bush type? Then they probably think McCain is wrong on the war. McCain-haters all secretly think he had his brain reprogrammed in Viet Nam anyway, and that he's sold out thousands of missing POWs in exchange for hookers and blow.
It's vital not to express what you think is the right thing to do about the war; that just invites disagreement. Just express a general air of pessimism and say you think John McCain's wrong on the war. True conservatives don't really care about the war; they want victory, of course, but since most of them are non-military weenies (or have been thrown out of the armed forces, in some cases), they're quite happy to let thousands more of our troops get killed and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis get killed, because the war gives them a convenient excuse to grumble about the Democrats and say we are going sell them down the river while the country is taken over by Islamofascists or something.
'McCain's wrong on the war' is a statement that actually does not mean a damn thing, without specifics. But it does arouse and emotion of failure and connect it with McCain in the minds of people who loathe the guy anyway. Forget logic and reason when dealing with conservatives. The way to win with them is to make vague statements that have strong emotional content but not much specific to disagree with.
Bonus meme! 'Reagan would do things differently.' They LOVE Reagan. He was a total ass as President, but he made them feel good. Bush sort of made them feel good but when Reagan was president there were no wars, there was a bunch of money floating around (because our monetary policy was a hopeless mess) and they remember their 20s and 30s when they were having a good time and getting laid more often.
If you're talking to a conservative (or writing a letter to the paper, or messing with Rush Limbaugh's head) saying 'Reagan would have done things different' is a asure winner. They WILL agree with you. You can add on pretty much any bullshit afterwards - 'he's have cleaned up our economy/solved terrorism/got the country back on track/made the world safer/brought me a pony' - and they'll agree with it. Reagan is conservative's idea of God and is more important to them than Jesus because Jesus was some hippy-looking dude who talked about poor people and so on. Reagan talked about good and evil and had a nice haircut. He was much easier to believe in.
Just mention Saint Reagan. Every time they hear his name, conservatives are conscious of just how unlike Reagan McCain is (or anyone else in the GOP), and their desire to vote for him or the party in November evaporates. At this point you can start saying total bullshit like 'throw the bums out' or 'it's really time to clean house' or something equally meaningless and they'll agree with you.
In summary, the way to get to a conservative and get them where it hurts is not to argue that the Democrat is good - they always have a bunch of arguments ready for that. The way to hurt a conservative is to remind them what a let-down McCain and the GOP are. 'McCain - well, he did push that amnesty, thing, didn't he? I wasn't sure about that. He talks a lot about global warming. But he's wrong on Iraq. Reagan would have done things differently.'
Congratulations! in 4 simple sentences, you've demoralized another conservative voter...and they probably think you're being sympathetic. At this point, you can say anything from 'How about voting for Bob Barr, the Libertarian' to 'I'm gonna vote Obama, send a real message to those schmucks in the party that they won't forget in a hurry.' If you're feeling especially aggressive, you can even say 'I'm not voting for another Republican ever again until they start acting like a conservative party is supposed to' (whatever that means).
As I've said, they really want to lose this year. They just want to be off the hook for 4 years and they're happy to let McCain, and to an extent the entire congressional party, be the scape goat for their sins. So let's encourage them in that belief.
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