Baseball Crank: POLITICS: The Power of Protest.

August 12, 2009

POLITICS: The Power of Protest.

Patrick Ruffini responds to Marc Ambinder's contention that opponents of Obamacare will fail for the same reason that opponents of the Iraq War failed to dent President Bush's popularity. Key passage:

When Bush was at 70%+, his prosecution of the war was first branded "divisive" because something like 500,000 anti-war activists were marching on CNN. And it was a short hop from branding the war "divisive" to branding it a disaster.
Much the same is now happening with health care. The public option is, at the very minimum, now perceived as divisive. As controversial. As anything but the sweetness and light upon which Obama uniquely depended on to govern.

In the long run, the side that most insistently believes in its own arguments usually wins. This neatly sums up the outcome of the 2008 election, and the current state of the health care debate. I don't think every swing voter would categorically embrace everything that's happened at the town hall meetings (on either side), but the fervor of one side over the other sends important signals to unaffiliated voters that the doubts outweigh the reassurances on Obamacare, and to armchair quarterbacks everywhere, that the President is on the defensive and dogged by opposition.

He also notes the impact on swing Congresspersons...one thing about Members of Congress is, they may swear up and down in public that the town hall protestors are some sort of paid shills, but the reality is that people who show up motivated at an August town hall in an odd-numbered year - or lay out money and organization to get others to do so - are surely going to do the same the next November. That lesson is never lost on vulnerable Members of the House or Senate.

Posted by Baseball Crank at 7:06 PM | Politics 2009 | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Well, I have written my congressman. My first sentence read: have you given any thought to what you will be doing after your years of public service?

Because, if you support this abortion of a bill, I any everybody I can muster will do everything we can to see that your tenure in Congress ends.

Wish me luck!

Posted by: DD at August 13, 2009 7:34 PM

Hey Crank have you seen 1) that the little girl that asked O'bumbler questions was, coincidentaly, the daughter of a major Obumbler fundraiser 2) that they are paying people up to $600 a week to be
"supporters" of Obumblercare at public meetings and 3) that the person carrying around an Obumbler/Hitler placard at a town hall was in fact a staffer or volunteer of Democratic Congressman Dingle

Just wondering when our friends on the left will finally be honest and admit to the propaganda and misinformation that forms the basis for every lefty position. Oh wait its probably time to attack Sarah Palin again-you know the politician who actually accomplished something in her career and who fought corruption in her own party.

Posted by: dch at August 14, 2009 11:19 AM

Obumbler/Hitler placard at a town hall was in fact a staffer or volunteer of Democratic Congressman Dingle

I don't know if he was, in fact, a staffer or just a constituent of Dingle. However, I do know that, while the media has been portraying them as 'right wing crazies', they are in fact a member of LPAC (LaRouce Political Action Committee), a left wing group whose goal is single-payer.

Far be it for the media to stray from it's 'right wing' narrative and tell the truth.

Check out the "Stop Obama's Nazi Health Plan" link on their website:

http://www.larouchepac.com/health

Posted by: Agent W at August 16, 2009 7:36 AM