Really GREAT read here - Romney set to destroy the centre ground

[NRaleighLiberal]

by Paul Rosenberg, Opinion piece in Al Jazeera English (John Dean tweeted this - I find it fascinating).

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/07/2012712122146656404.html?utm_content=automate&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=NewSocialFlow&utm_term=plustweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount#.UAHbMELhqhw.twitter

"It's one of the central truisms of US politics - politicians running for president run more towards the extremes during the primary and more towards the centre during the general election. But that's not happening this year. This was always supposed to pose a problem for Romney during the primary election phase: how to appeal enough to the right to gain the nomination, without taking positions that would prove toxic during the general election.

One solution was suggested by Romney's own senior campaign aide, Eric Fehrnstrom, the "Etch-a-Sketch" erasure of everything that had gone before. Although poorly phrased, there was nothing novel about this. Rather, it was today's media and technology environment that made this pre-videotape, pre-YouTube, pre-Comedy Central strategy sound hopelessly out-of-step and out-of-touch. Sure, the Romney campaign will still try to erase anything it can, but since it's so much harder nowadays, that won't be its primary strategy.

Instead, Romney is taking a much more radical turn: He's not moving to the centre at all. Rather, he's planning to work closely with right-wing media as part of a strategy to essentially shut off the centripetal force of general elections drawing politicians to the centre. Judd Legum at ThinkProgress brought this sharply into focus with his piece, "Romney advisers reveal strategy: Ignore journalists, pander to right-wing conspriacy websites".

snip

"It's not just the Birthers, or the broader tendency of Republican lawmakers to look for nefarious Obama plots that call for his impeachment. Increasingly, it goes to the very heart of how conservatives view every aspect of the world. For example, a just-published study in Risk Analysis finds that emotionally driven conspiracism is now the most dominant form of global warming denialism. According to the study: "Associations with conspiracy theories (eg: "the biggest scam in the world to date&quot accounted for the largest portion of 2010 naysayer images with over 40 per cent of total responses for this category."

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So much more - well worth reading, and really hits on the cluelessness of our MSM in this political environment.

[Vincardog]

1. Let's hope PResident BO hears this and runs a LEFT campaign. MMJ + Financial Transaction Tax +

Paper Ballots and hand counts = We take back the Congress, keep the Senate and have the WH. Then Single Payer in 2014

[longship]

2. Really like John Dean!

He's very smart and knows exactly what is going on with the Republican party. After all, he was one of them for a long time. Would it only be that other old Republicans would join together and fix the evil political system eating at this country. Namely, today's Republican party -- an evil that knows no end.

I could live with that. I imagine many here would agree.

BTW, Dean calls himself an independent these days, but I have little doubt that he voted for Obama.

[magical thyme]

3. meh. if that's his strategy, it sure didn't take long for him to dump it and come running

to the 3 networks to defend himself last night.

I find it hard to believe that sufficient numbers of people read drudge or brietbart (isn't he dead now?) to win. The conservative base is too small. They're shrinking themselves small enough to drown in a bathtub.