The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Ah, The Narrative Shifts

Posted on | September 10, 2010 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

After Sarah Palin’s “Biggest Gamble“, endorsing Christine O’Donnell, frequent commenter Kn@ppster posits:

Strange race … Two big-government Republicans, one running as the GOP establishment candidate even though he frequently bucks the party line, the other one running as the anti-GOP-establishment candidate by emphasizing how much more GOP-establishment-friendly her positions are than his.

Interesting analysis.
What this brings to mind, though, is that after Utah and Alaska, nobody is accusing the Tea Parties of being simple GOP sock puppets.
Alinskyism needs to attack an opposing center of gravity. Lacking an identifiable HQ and opting for maneuver warfare, the old Alinsky leviathan remains highly dangerous, but may be surmountable.
As Matt Kibbe discussed last night, and echoes with Armey and Gillespie in this clip, 03 November is crucial. Keeping the attention focused on Washington is the sunlight about which the good POTUS emoted during the campaign, and during this administration only long enough to reach over and shut off the lights. ‘Unexpectedly’, of course.  The hot new swear word of 2010.
The mainstream media only wishes the Tea Parties were GOP puppets, as it would make them easier to control. Commitment to solid principles means that spokespersons are interchangeable. If leader pro tempore A wanders off the straight and narrow, they get laughed off stage. If A gains enough stature that the media can swing into Alinsky mode, two more rise in the place of A.
Keep all this in mind after the election, when the real extent of the Progressive damage starts to become apparent. I, for one, am girding the loins for a revelation that the crap sandwich we perceive today ain’t the half of it.
At that point, the Tea Parties will have to double down, and all of the 2010 campaign rah-rah shall have been mere warm-up.

Category: Conservatism 101, Tea Party

Comments

2 Responses to “Ah, The Narrative Shifts”

  1. Thomas L. Knapp
    September 10th, 2010 @ 8:50 pm

    Smitty,

    It’s always been a mistake to think of the tea party groups as monolithic. Some of them were quickly co-opted by the GOP; some were astro-turf by design; some have shown varying degrees of continued independence.

    I’m guessing that the last group has really been the most influential.

    Here in St. Louis, the tea party group fell into the “quickly co-opted” class — they made a feeble and unsuccessful effort to knock down GOP establishment hack Roy Blunt in the US Senate primary, but all of their events for the last year-and-a-half have been 100% Republican love-fests, right down to going out of their way to avoid acknowledging financial support they got from the area’s Libertarian Party, while acknowledging virtually every other donor.

  2. Thomas L. Knapp
    September 10th, 2010 @ 4:50 pm

    Smitty,

    It’s always been a mistake to think of the tea party groups as monolithic. Some of them were quickly co-opted by the GOP; some were astro-turf by design; some have shown varying degrees of continued independence.

    I’m guessing that the last group has really been the most influential.

    Here in St. Louis, the tea party group fell into the “quickly co-opted” class — they made a feeble and unsuccessful effort to knock down GOP establishment hack Roy Blunt in the US Senate primary, but all of their events for the last year-and-a-half have been 100% Republican love-fests, right down to going out of their way to avoid acknowledging financial support they got from the area’s Libertarian Party, while acknowledging virtually every other donor.