Hudhaifa
08-10-03, 23:49
Powel: "VS is een land gebasseerd op de joods/christelijke traditie"
The Democrats messed up big-time in California, but Arnold had major help from a supposedly neutral media.
By Stewart Nusbaumer
Democrats did it again -- blew an election they should have won easily.
In a super heavy Democratic state with a spoiler candidate to divide the Republican vote, the Democrats somehow managed to lose the California governorship. And decisively!
In both substance and message, the Democrats failed miserably. On the issue front, the Governor's raising of the car tax and allowing of drivers’ licenses to illegals -- that’s right, illegals, not "undocumented residents," not "guest workers," but illegal aliens -- became symbols of a Democratic government out of whack if not mind. As for message, the Party never hammered hard that Arnold was “scared to debate” -- the Terminator in hiding? -- and that he was confusing “Hollywood with California,” noting there are significant differences. The Democratic positions were weak and muddled so voters turned elsewhere, and that elsewhere was Arnold.
Besides this limpness and confusion, there was the intense backdrop of citizen discontent, a growing hostility toward the political establishment that was ripe to explode. The Democrats never seemed to comprehend just how deep this anger was in California. Arnold won the election, then, not because of the issues; he simply rode to victory on dissatisfaction with the status quo which was the Democrats.
In February I wrote “What's Wrong With Populism?” and discussed the need for Democrats to change their elitist tune, and fast! The need for Democrats to genuinely listen to and respect what average Americans say, their opinions and their suggestions, and then integrate what is heard into a progressive, populist agenda. The tripling of the car tax in California did not hurt the wealthy, but with a dismal economy it certainly annoyed the average Californian. Ignoring illegal immigration is what Big Business advocates, but the American worker is threatened and angry by this essentially open border policy. There are numerous populist issues that Democrats should embace but won't.
The discontent and anger was not limited to White Men, as Democrats too often convince themselves. It included women, of course, who also gave a plurality of their votes to Arnold. It included Latinos, nearly half of whom voted for the recall of Democrat Grey Davis and a third voted for Arnold, against Cruz Bustamante a fellow Latino.
“Gray Davis took California from a 70 billion surplus to 38 billion deficit in 5 years,” said a Californian who voted for Schwarzenegger.
"The State of California is a mess," another discontent exploded in the face of a TV reporter.
If the system cannot function, “then the people will turn to a man on a white horse,” said former California governor and present Oakland mayor Jerry Brown on MSNBC.
At one time in Germany, this savior was someone called Adolph Hitler, presently in California the savior is someone called Arnold. (Interestingly, both emigrated from Australia.) Californians are angry about a sinking economy and a ballooning budget deficit and high taxes, but maybe most of all, they are angry that they are fearful of the future. So they wanted change. The Democrats did not respond to their fear and anger, except with the same old politics -- give the Latinos this, the Native Americans that, etc -- so voters moved on. Not necessarily to something different, but to simply another.
Severely disconnected from the masses of Californians, the Democratic Party has paid the price of having its governor recalled -- the first governor recalled in America in 82 years! It was one pathetic Democratic performance.
In addition to widespread voter dissatisfaction which was the raw fuel that propelled an incompetent Gray Davis out of office and blocked a dismal Cruz Bustamante from entering, there was another crucial factor that shaped the outcome of this election. I’m talking about the media.
The function of media in the United States is to make money, as much money as possible. It does this by selling advertising; the larger the audience, the more money it makes from advertisers. In America, a movie star, especially an action-hero movie star as popular as Arnold Schwarzenegger, attracts much larger viewing audiences than a dry, uncharismatic politician, regardless if he is governor or lieutenant governor of our largest state. Arnold was better for business, for making money, so Arnold was everywhere in the media.
Immediately after the only debate, a heavily restricted debate, every television news station carried Arnold’s press conference live giving him an unfair opportunity to shape opinion. Day after day, Arnold’s face and voice was on television. The print media gave him significantly more space than the other candidates. Even radio presented an unbalanced coverage of the election.
For the television lights to shine on his candidacy, Arnold didn’t even have to give interviews, didn’t even have to lay out a plan of action, and hardly had to debate the other candidates. Humongous coverage, more than even Ronald Reagan could fantasize, came running and all Arnold had to do was smile and repeat a few memorized lines. With Arnold's media coverage dwarfing that of the other candidates, and with the Democrats stuck in the past, the fate of the election was sealed.
Whether the media realized this lopsided coverage was unfair does not really matter, its purpose is to make money and Arnold was money.
Arnold won the election because of the failure of Democrats and the unfairness of media in pursuit of star power for corporate profit. But we shouldn’t be surprised since health care, higher education, and regular political campaigns all operate according to the profit motive in America. All have dominating financial interests where business does not belong. This recall election was simply another sphere where money dominated, the media in pursuit of the dominate money. And Democrats helped by saying little of interest and doing nearly nothing.
Stewart Nusbaumer is editor of Intervention Magazine.
The Democrats messed up big-time in California, but Arnold had major help from a supposedly neutral media.
By Stewart Nusbaumer
Democrats did it again -- blew an election they should have won easily.
In a super heavy Democratic state with a spoiler candidate to divide the Republican vote, the Democrats somehow managed to lose the California governorship. And decisively!
In both substance and message, the Democrats failed miserably. On the issue front, the Governor's raising of the car tax and allowing of drivers’ licenses to illegals -- that’s right, illegals, not "undocumented residents," not "guest workers," but illegal aliens -- became symbols of a Democratic government out of whack if not mind. As for message, the Party never hammered hard that Arnold was “scared to debate” -- the Terminator in hiding? -- and that he was confusing “Hollywood with California,” noting there are significant differences. The Democratic positions were weak and muddled so voters turned elsewhere, and that elsewhere was Arnold.
Besides this limpness and confusion, there was the intense backdrop of citizen discontent, a growing hostility toward the political establishment that was ripe to explode. The Democrats never seemed to comprehend just how deep this anger was in California. Arnold won the election, then, not because of the issues; he simply rode to victory on dissatisfaction with the status quo which was the Democrats.
In February I wrote “What's Wrong With Populism?” and discussed the need for Democrats to change their elitist tune, and fast! The need for Democrats to genuinely listen to and respect what average Americans say, their opinions and their suggestions, and then integrate what is heard into a progressive, populist agenda. The tripling of the car tax in California did not hurt the wealthy, but with a dismal economy it certainly annoyed the average Californian. Ignoring illegal immigration is what Big Business advocates, but the American worker is threatened and angry by this essentially open border policy. There are numerous populist issues that Democrats should embace but won't.
The discontent and anger was not limited to White Men, as Democrats too often convince themselves. It included women, of course, who also gave a plurality of their votes to Arnold. It included Latinos, nearly half of whom voted for the recall of Democrat Grey Davis and a third voted for Arnold, against Cruz Bustamante a fellow Latino.
“Gray Davis took California from a 70 billion surplus to 38 billion deficit in 5 years,” said a Californian who voted for Schwarzenegger.
"The State of California is a mess," another discontent exploded in the face of a TV reporter.
If the system cannot function, “then the people will turn to a man on a white horse,” said former California governor and present Oakland mayor Jerry Brown on MSNBC.
At one time in Germany, this savior was someone called Adolph Hitler, presently in California the savior is someone called Arnold. (Interestingly, both emigrated from Australia.) Californians are angry about a sinking economy and a ballooning budget deficit and high taxes, but maybe most of all, they are angry that they are fearful of the future. So they wanted change. The Democrats did not respond to their fear and anger, except with the same old politics -- give the Latinos this, the Native Americans that, etc -- so voters moved on. Not necessarily to something different, but to simply another.
Severely disconnected from the masses of Californians, the Democratic Party has paid the price of having its governor recalled -- the first governor recalled in America in 82 years! It was one pathetic Democratic performance.
In addition to widespread voter dissatisfaction which was the raw fuel that propelled an incompetent Gray Davis out of office and blocked a dismal Cruz Bustamante from entering, there was another crucial factor that shaped the outcome of this election. I’m talking about the media.
The function of media in the United States is to make money, as much money as possible. It does this by selling advertising; the larger the audience, the more money it makes from advertisers. In America, a movie star, especially an action-hero movie star as popular as Arnold Schwarzenegger, attracts much larger viewing audiences than a dry, uncharismatic politician, regardless if he is governor or lieutenant governor of our largest state. Arnold was better for business, for making money, so Arnold was everywhere in the media.
Immediately after the only debate, a heavily restricted debate, every television news station carried Arnold’s press conference live giving him an unfair opportunity to shape opinion. Day after day, Arnold’s face and voice was on television. The print media gave him significantly more space than the other candidates. Even radio presented an unbalanced coverage of the election.
For the television lights to shine on his candidacy, Arnold didn’t even have to give interviews, didn’t even have to lay out a plan of action, and hardly had to debate the other candidates. Humongous coverage, more than even Ronald Reagan could fantasize, came running and all Arnold had to do was smile and repeat a few memorized lines. With Arnold's media coverage dwarfing that of the other candidates, and with the Democrats stuck in the past, the fate of the election was sealed.
Whether the media realized this lopsided coverage was unfair does not really matter, its purpose is to make money and Arnold was money.
Arnold won the election because of the failure of Democrats and the unfairness of media in pursuit of star power for corporate profit. But we shouldn’t be surprised since health care, higher education, and regular political campaigns all operate according to the profit motive in America. All have dominating financial interests where business does not belong. This recall election was simply another sphere where money dominated, the media in pursuit of the dominate money. And Democrats helped by saying little of interest and doing nearly nothing.
Stewart Nusbaumer is editor of Intervention Magazine.