Wednesday, June 29, 2011

WWGOPD?

So I see that Chris Christie is losing support at home:

More than half of New Jersey residents say they wouldn’t back Governor Chris Christie for a second term, disapproving of his choices on a range of policy and personal issues, from killing a commuter tunnel to using a state-police helicopter to attend his son’s baseball game....

Atrios says, in reference to this:

It's been mildly amusing watching the press fawn over every Republicans with a pulse, touting them all as "possible contenders."

But, see, this works for Republicans even if one individual Republican or another slips in the polls -- it creates the general impression that we're a right-leaning nation and that "everyone" (except willfully perverse hippies and elitists) agrees with the general Republican message and roots for its champions. And that even allows Republicans to spin bad polls as somehow not representative of public opinion. (Yes, Christie's approval rating is down, but that's because he was elected to make the tough choices, and he's making them -- he's doing precisely what the voters wanted. And besides, there's been all this acclaim for him....)

Now, if Democrats had the sense to do what Republicans do, and the ability to pull it off, they'd have begun touting Nancy Pelosi as a possible president about twelve hours after the polls closed in 2006. And they would have kept touting her and touting her. Independent groups would have produced Palinesque propaganda videos showing ordinary people rooting Pelosi on and praising her style. Friendly pundits and Democratic pols on talk shows would have echoed the "President Nancy?" message. And a lot of the public might have accepted the notion that she's really, really well respected because, y'know, everyone seems to say so.

I suppose the Obama hype during the campaign and in the early days of his presidency is an example of this -- and it may be why he's not recording Bush-style numbers in the polls these days. But if Democrats could do it for every Democrat in a position of prominence, or as many as possible -- in other words, if they did what Republicans do routinely -- maybe the notion that being a Democrat (or even a liberal) is some sort of bizarre mental disorder could possibly be reversed.

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