Cos I'm no country rube that's gonna believe in their so-called

Billy Dee Factor.

I don't even tune in to the six 'o clock news

Cos the establishment media don't shape the basis of my views.

But if folks wanna buy it

Then baby go right on and sing yourself the blues.

But I'm not the kind of dude

Who contentedly suffers the bullshit of fools.

Call me a (small-c) cynic, but I'm pretty sure that if Democrats started employing Rovian tactics, the media would seize upon it to make a big show of rejecting such petty, personality-based politics and roundly condemn Democrats for trying to distract the public from more salient policy issues.

The Republican noise machine would then join in the chorus by saying, "Hey, if the Liberal Media is going after the Democrat Party, then the Democrat Party must be sleaziest sleazballs who ever sleazed."

The next day Brian Williams will start his newscast with, "Tonight, A Special Round-Table Discussion: Are the Democrats the sleaziest sleazeballs who ever sleazed? We'll talk to Karl Rove and Dick Morris..."

I must be getting old and cranky (perhaps I've been McCainazised!) but I can't stand the euphemisms. Why don't the Republicans just get it over with and call Obama "uppity". As a matter of fact, maybe everytime they call him presumptuous or arrogant his spokespeople should ask if they would please stop calling him uppity. That might put them back on their heels and at least it would be honest.

-When I hear people like Brian Williams or Charlie Gibson speak without a script, the shallowness never ceases to amaze. They're far from evil or manipulative - they're just dumb (it's not ad hominem, just descriptive), and much of their behavior is explained by that

GlennGreenwald-

Indeed that is so and as evidence of that, simply look where these people usually emerge from, the grotesquely vapid network 'morning' shows, where journalism is anathema to the underlying theme of product placement and celebrity gossip.

Charles Gibson's career, for example, was spawned exactly in that time slot.

Brian William's, according to Wikipedia, earned an annual salary of no less than $10,000,000.00 way back in 2006.

The Washington establishment compensates it's spokes-liars handsomely.

These are the most tried and true, even scientific, propaganda techniques at work, but as Glenn so deftly points out, they can only succeed with the willing help of their media clowns.

A simple and revealing test: based on the last couple of weeks worth of GOP repetition "coverage" what words about Obama come immediately to mind? Presumptous, celebrity, elite, arrogant, etc.

Now what words come to mind about John McCain?

See?

It's time for Democrats to play this game a whole lot better.

The reason Rove and his ilk are effective is that they combine truth and lies into overall lies. They are able to do this because they understand that the personality of the candidate does matter to voters, for good reasons and bad. One good reason is that personality, or "character" as some like to say, will influence how the person will respond to situations. We need go no farther than to cite Bush, whose combination of arrogance, deliberate ignorance, self-righteousness, self-delusion and pride got us into the Iraq mess in the first place, and caused his intransigence on changing tactics when it was obvious to all except his sycophants that the initial tactics weren't working.

Most people don't confuse self-confidence, even if touched by arrogance, with "I am always right." Republicans I know regard Bush's self-righteousness as the biggest problem with him, even when they agree with him on issues. Obama needs to be careful to avoid getting that kind of reputation.

I agree that there are parallels to the attack on Kerry, but I think this is a deeper sign of the insanity and pathetic state of the GOP: having tried and exhausted every other attack line on Obama, they are now trying to demonize him for being popular. Let that sink in for a second. In an election that is decided by people voting for the candidate they like, Obama is being attacked for being too well-liked.

Of course, the McCain camp might say that people like him for his personality and not his policies. But wait - isn't that implying that the sacred "American People" are somehow shallow, superficial, or easily led astray, that they don't know what's good for them and need a grandpa McCain to give them some tough love? Someone should point this out and start a meme of "McCain hates the American people," post-haste.

Ultimately though, I can see what McCain is banking on. He wants the old people, the disgruntled blue collar workers, the conservative forum-dwellers, in short, the people who feel left behind by culture as a whole to come out in droves because they're angry angry about all those young people these days with their messy hair and fancy shoes and their newfangled "eye-pogs," and who's this Obama fellow they're all talking about? I don't like it, not one bit. By painting Obama as the captain of the football team, they're hoping that these others will take on the role of the freaks and nerds who try to sabotage the prom just to "show them."

Also, three cheers for quoting Mat Taibbi (you misspelled the name though). He was my favorite writer at the eXile, and I devoured his work voraciously. His piece on Bob Kerrey and our nation's perception of Vietnam is still the most penetrating insight into how Americans think about politics and the world that I've ever read.

"What does it say about you if you don't even blink when the society you live in tells you that murder is bravery and deceit is candor? There isn't much room for this stuff to get weirder."

http://www.swans.com/library/art7/zig065.html

I think Digby's thoughts also come into play here. It is the hidden racist component to the "presumptuous" meme that is actually carrying the water.

"...Obama, his campaign and many of his supporters think they are better off by rising above it."

And indeed they are. But that doesn't mean McCain still can't be swift-boated, just not by the campaign.

Incidentally, has anybody else noted that McCain is pretty clearly showing all the signs of early stage Alzheimer's? You know, the rages, the getting muddled on basic facts, the inappropriate language?

Just sayin'