November 03, 2004
51% - Part III
filed under: Hey, What's The Big IdeaThere's a lot of worry going around that Bush II will kickstart a new theocracy, and a newly vicious culture war. Because, the thinking goes, 51% of the electorate already has chosen to support it.
I don't think this is quite right. I don't think 51% of the population supports, or even fully understands, Bush's far-right agenda. I think there were two things that gave Bush the victory yesterday: wingnut Right-wingism was one of them, but the other was the GOP's control of The Story.
Many in that 51% voted for Bush because they bought into The Story: that Bush is steadfast, courageous and sure, and that Kerry is squishy, and weak, and French. Bush made them feel that they would be safer with him.
Sure, he pumped up his evangelical base, and got great turnout over the culture wars. But then, we got great turnout over his incipient theocratic fascism. I call that a wash. I think the tie-breaker was those who felt, in their gut, that he was a more solid bet, who bought into "well, he is decisive and I feel like we need that."
These are not GOP far right wingnut true believers. These are just scared people who don't know much beyond what they see on the news. We get better at controlling The Story, the collectively accepted narrative, and the right candidate to sell it with at the right time, and we'll peel them back over to our side.
Posted by rjt at November 3, 2004 04:52 PM