The Futility of the Lose-Lose Liberals

I'm continually frustrated by liberals who insist that every Republican move is part of some genius strategy that always puts them on top, and how we're all naive fools if we somehow imagine otherwise.  Somehow, they've failed to grasp that we had congressional victories in 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2006, and 2008. Republicans, in contrast, only had victories in 1994, 2002, 2004.  And without 9/11, I seriously doubt they'd have had any Congressional victories after 1994, and definitely think Bush would have been tossed in 2004.

So in the past nine elections, we made congressional gains in six, while losing three; yet still these people continue to talk about how Republicans keep beating us and we can't win until we finally start treating these people the same way they treat us.  Somehow, losing tactics are going to help us win victories that are so big that even these people will finally be satisfied in acknowledging our success.

And now I read not one, but two comments about how the imbecilic behavior by conservatives in celebrating us not getting the Olympics is somehow part of some grand strategy that we're losing.  And these comments come in two varieties: The ones who insist that these conservatives would be ignored if we didn't talk about them, and those who actually think it's part of some savvy plan for them to appear juvenile and anti-American; and that we're "being played" by going along with it.

Liberal-Created Conservatives

And both ideas are horrible. The first is wrong because it somehow imagines that it's wrong for us to criticize them, and insists that moronic conservative attacks should go unanswered.  Now, I can understand if we were talking about hyping some anonymous blogger, but Laura Ingraham does just fine on her own without our help.  They also say the same of our attacks on Rush Limbaugh, Michele Bachman, and Sarah Palin; and we're told repeatedly that attacking these people only makes them more powerful.

But these people weren't created by liberals, and I happen to think that they're a huge BOON for liberals.  I'm glad these people say the moronic stuff they do and the more we can highlight crazy conservatives, the better we look in comparison.  Had these conservatives not existed, we should have created them.  Hell, that is what conservatives do.  They look crazy, so they have to invent strawmen liberals who are even crazier than they are.

For as much as these sort of people think we should emulate conservative attacks, it's like they really aren't paying attention to how those attacks work.  But shining the light on these cockroaches is the best way of combating them; while allowing them to thrive in darkness is exactly what they want.

Karl Rove's Eternal Mindfuck

And the second group is even more maddening, as they insist that any strategy is futile.  Whether you want to ignore the attacks or attack the attacks, these people will assure you that you're playing right into their hands.

This was particularly emphasized back when Rove was a feared political god.  No matter what Rove did, you were assured that it was all intentional and that we would lose.  But of course, that was actually Rove's greatest trick: To convince you that he was a political genius and that resistance was futile.  But of course, his only real strategy was to fight dirty and toss as much mud as possible, in hopes of distracting his opponent.  Meanwhile, his actual strategies often backfired.

And now that he's been exposed as the impotent charlatan behind the curtain, that idea seems laughable. Yet still, we're told that the greatest mistake we can make is to ever laugh at anything these people do or suggest that they've blundered.  Sure, their juvenile behavior on the Olympics was a huge mistake which only increases the more people hear about it, but we're assured that this is all a distraction and that we're "being played."

Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans continue to poll at the same dismal 30% rating they've had since 2006; while Obama continues to enjoy majority support.  In the past eighteen years, we've had twice as many congressional victories as they have, and their prospects look worse now than ever; yet we're still suckers who will never win until we adopt a fool-proof strategy that no one has ever actually explained.  Brilliant.

Call me crazy, but I suspect that these people really have no other strategy in mind beyond criticizing everyone else as being less intelligent than themselves.  Sorry, but cynicism isn't a strategy.