Some interesting battles breaking out on Twitter this AM, even if I say so myself - having played a big role in fueling them! No need to link all the back and forth, but it amounts to a discussion about what works. The problem as I see it, is too many inside the Beltway Republicans have convinced themselves that they are all that.
For some reason, they fear and look to shut down the Joe the Plumbers (who I personally feel has been over-played by now) and the Jackies from the recent Palin book signing dust up with Nora O'Donnell.
Reading them, one would think there is no Charles Krauthammer, no David Brooks, or Newt Gingrich and so many others talking politics, or conservatism in the news everyday. We have plenty of thinkers and more elitist talking heads today than we've ever had. The problem is, they do not penetrate the culture at large. The average American is not interested in reading a white paper on economic trends. Such things do not connect with them. And they are the voters you need to get to the booths come election day.
The Left rode and never dismissed Cindy Sheehan for years. Yet, she called Bush a terrorist, a war criminal and worse. But try to find an elitist, or establishment Democrat putting her down before she came back to bite them years later. They didn't because they realized what she could do that they could not.
She was the vehicle that carried their anti-war agenda into the culture in a way no DC insider could ever hope to do. For better or worse, people connected with her because she was one of them. In that sense, it is the same thing that is going on with Sarah Palin right now. She connects with people to the extent they see her as one of them. But if you ask an elitist inside the Beltway Republican, well, we can't have that!
What utter nonsense.
Until elitist Republicans get over this fear they have of the media turning our latest personality into a perceived liability, Republicans and conservatives are never going to be able to reach out into the electorate as broadly as they need to do to win. Get over yourselves. You are not America, you are only one slice of it. And the rest of it doesn't want you shoved down our collective throat because you fancy yourselves so much.
Instead of at least ignoring these personalities that pop up, you join the mainstream liberals in putting them down. You, as much as anyone, try to take their legs out from under them as if you are ashamed, somehow. Knock it off. We're sick of it. The elitists have ruled the Republican roost for years. Look at where you have led us? We're out in the cold, cut off from the culture as a whole.
You needn't support them if you don't want. No one really cares, frankly. But stop trying to knock them down. You are not better than them. You do not have all the answers figured out and to the extent that you might, you don't have a clue how to communicate to the masses that go to the voting booths.
If you can't do anything else, then just do your thing in Washington and, for God's sake, shut up! Stop trying to kill the one thing that can give Republicans and conservatives a fighting chance - we the people! It's written into the damned Constitution for a reason. Go back and read that if you're fresh out of white papers. Just leave us the hell alone and we can all win together in 2010. Rest assured that divided we will fall. In spirit, that's written somewhere, too. Go look it up if you've nothing better to do and stop running down average people who are every bit as intelligent and worthy of having a voice as you. It's called democracy. You might want to look that one up while you're at it, too!
